When your passion is for painting in watercolour, Stratford in February poses a significant challenge: water freezes and your paints refuse to budge.
Solution? Find inspiration indoors or gather your brushes and paints and head to where winter has already given way to spring. The southern coast of Portugal is one such place and six Stratford artists are currently enroute.
“Traveling with a paintbox is not a new concept,” explains tour organizer Nancy Walsh. “Artists for centuries have been keeping a record of the world they see as they travel. What has changed is that with the advent of the digital camera, many artists will take pictures as they travel and then paint when they return home.”
Not so for this group of painters.
The tradition of painting in the open air is one that is very important to Victoria Shannon who acts as the group’s instructor and expert in all things watercolour.
“Seeing how the landscape moves and changes over a morning is something that cannot be recreated in a studio,” said Shannon.
Walsh, who is also a painter, agrees.
“Victoria’s workshops are perfect because whether we are in a busy market or a farmer’s field, we have the time to watch and to experiment,” she said.
In February, the southern Algarve region of Portugal is awash in almond blossoms. Fishermen can be seen unloading their day’s catch in every small harbour along the Atlantic coast. Sandstone cliffs are washed and windblown to sculptural perfection leaving long stretches of sun-bleached sand.
Portugal is both ancient and modern, where a horse and cart rumble over cobblestone streets while students pass with cell phones in hand. Great cathedrals tower above as life carries on below.
There is much to see and much to paint and these local painters plan on sharing their work when they return home.
As Stratford gathers on May 9 for St. James annual fundraiser, May Fayre, one display will feature Portugal in watercolour.
“We love the idea of sharing our work and hope that this will become an annual tradition,” said Walsh, who has already begun to make plans for a painting trip to Ireland for next year.
