Before last week, I had not yet painted outdoors except within a few metres from my own front door. I wanted to practice a bit before going to the Plein Air event at Cape Bear Lighthouse and Marconi Station on Sunday, July 13, and I am fortunate to live nearby, so I went there on the Thursday afternoon prior as a test run.
My cheap collapsible plastic stool broke underneath me halfway into the painting, just as some lighthouse visitors were approaching to see what I was up to. After having a laugh at myself, I shortened my easel and continued a while longer while sitting on the ground, even though my back was protesting. I assessed my supplies, figured out what to replace or change or remember to bring along (bug spray!), confirmed the rest of my stuff would work, and produced this little study:
Cape Bear Lighthouse en plein air 1
by Rebeka Darylin, July 10, 2025
5″ x 7″ acrylic on canvas panel, unframed
$50
Sunday, I went back to Cape Bear for the event, feeling more prepared. It was great to see so many artists and art appreciators had come out! Unfortunately, I realized I’d forgotten to bring a patio chair to sit on in lieu of the broken stool, so I set up at the end of a picnic table. This time I remembered to do a quick sketch first!
Cape Bear Lighthouse sketch
by Rebeka Darylin, July 13, 2025
I ended up working rather more slowly than planned on the painting itself. It was quite windy (not surprising for a point of land jutting into the ocean, but also windier than Thursday’s test run) and I really struggled with my paints drying on my palette and on my brushes.
Cape Bear Lighthouse en plein air 2
by Rebeka Darylin, July 13, 2025
8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas panel, unframed
$140
By the time it was finished I was too tired to move to a different spot and paint the coastline as I had wanted to, so I plan to return and do that soon!
On Tuesday, I went to the Creative PEI Artmobile Pop Up event at Murray River Leona Giddings Memorial Library, where I decided to try my hand at a collage landscape:
Untitled
by Rebeka Darylin, July 15, 2025
8.5″ x 11″ collage on paper
Thursday’s plan was to assist Lorraine Vatcher of Red Cliff Gallery to teach a painting workshop on the grounds at Cape Bear Lighthouse, but we were under a heat warning and it was cancelled.
Then Saturday was Plein Air and Poetry day at Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead and Macphail Woods. Spouse dropped me off between other errands (we’re a one-car family). Many artists were already set up and painting when I arrived late… and I forgot my chair again! I had remembered to put it in the car, but then I forgot to take it out with the rest of my supplies.
By the time I had circled around the Homestead considering views seen from benches and picnic tables and taking pictures of possible spots, it was approaching time for everyone to go into the lunch and poetry, so I sketched. Lunch was fantastic, and I got to know more of the artists in attendance.
After lunch, I was feeling inspired and ambitious (and thinking I ought to try something other than a building after the two lighthouse paintings) so I grabbed a map of the trails and followed one of my new artist friends through the MacPhail Woods and down to the stream.
The views were beautiful, but extremely challenging to me: so far I have painted mostly open landscapes, focusing on capturing a sense of distance. I had not worked on that sort of enclosed landscape before, and it was made more difficult to simplify into a sketch by the way the light was scattered through the trees and sparkling on the water, shadows moving as the wind blew through the canopies.
I wandered downstream, soaking in the feel of the place. I took pictures to work on translating into drawings and paintings later, so I can figure out how to approach that kind of landscape on site in the future.
Climbing back up the slope between the stream and Macphail Park Road was harder than I expected, with easel and backpack full of painting supplies, and then it had gotten quite hot at the Homestead by the time I got back there, so I plopped onto a bench in the shade, rehydrated, did a couple more sketches, and planned future artworks while I waited for Spouse to pick me up to go home.
The busy week caught up to me by Sunday. I had a bad flare up of crappy sleep, fibromyalgia pain, chronic fatigue, and assorted digestive unpleasantness, so it’s taken me longer than intended to get this blog post written, but I’m feeling back to “my normal” today.
So far, I’ve done this much of a painting of the Homestead:
Outside the Veranda Tearoom (Macphail Homestead) (in progress)
by Rebeka Darylin, July 2025
8″ x 8″ x 0.75″ acrylic on cradled wood panel
The Macphail Art Exhibit runs until this Sunday, July 28. I am one of 20 artists displaying over 70 artworks. You can check it out for free inside Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead at 271 Macphail Park Road, Orwell, PE, open Wed-Sun, 9:30am to 4:30pm.