My in-laws are renovating an old bar/inn in the tiny town of Frenchman Butte, not far from Lloyd Minster. My husband Jon was going up there to help last weekend so I thought I might as well go... plus it was another opportunity to paint some of the country-side. Oh and, we got to see AMAZING northern lights on the drive up!! 

I brought a canvas that was nice and wide to try and capture how vast the prairies are (even the hilly parts)! It still wasn't wide enough so I ended up skipping the odd farmers field in order to fit the shape of the land and river curve on the canvas (in retrospect, I'd be better off painting it more accurately). It was quite challenging and I hope to try it again and possibly improve! I chose a few key buildings from the town to be included like the Museum and the old church building, but there are more buildings than what I painted. In fact, the in-laws roof would have been in the bottom corner had I included it.

I sat up on the highest point (church property) overlooking the town. It got quite cold and windy but was a very pretty day. It was so peaceful and I was surprised how quiet the town was for a Saturday morning. So quiet that Jon could hear me when I yelled “hello” down the hill.

We also got to sleep in the fifth wheel (that we borrowed this past summer for art camp)... so it was nice to have a comfy, familiar spot to sleep. It starts to make you wonder if you should sell everything and move to a mobile/RV park but then I return to my senses (where would i store all my art?!!)

Here are some pics from my adventure!