MOOSE MOUNTAIN PROVINCIAL PARK - With the summer starting to wind down, artist DeLee Grant of White City showcased her paintings and photographs at the Artist Colony in Moose Mountain Provincial Park this past week.
“I felt very fortunate to have my application accepted to spend a week at the Artist Colony,” says Grant, this being her first time as a guest artist at the colony.
"We came up here this winter because you couldn't go anywhere else," explains Grant. “We booked a little cabin for a week and it's beautiful here in the winter.”
“The trails were open and the weather was fairly mild so we were able to walk on some of the trails
and also did quite a bit of painting the week that I was here so it was lovely.”
Grant not only paints but she also dabbles in photography.
“When I was working full time and raising a family, I leaned more toward the photography side just because it's less time consuming,” says Grant.
“I've always loved painting so when I retired 14 years ago I had more time to focus on that. I'm more passionate about my art the past 15 years.”
Grant says she has painted all her life, honing her skills over the years.
“I remember my favourite class in Grade 1 was art class,” explains Grant.
Although landscapes are her favourite subject, she also enjoys painting birds and animals and her absolute favourite way to paint is en plein air, which means in the open air.
“I'll go out to a location and set up my paint equipment and I paint from life, whatever that might be. It might be a sunset or the forest trail.”
Her inspiration comes from nature itself.
“Every year we go to Utah and I go in a plein air festival and we had full intensions of participating again but COVID put the brakes on that,” explains Grant.
She spent part of the afternoon on Aug. 21 taking full advantage of the beautiful afternoon and did some painting outside of the cabin which brought a lot of curious onlookers.
Grant has had visitors travelling through from Ottawa and Vancouver, and had local lake residents bring their company in to have a look around.
“I had a real variety of people stop in while I was here.”
Grant says in the past she has even sold some of her works right off the easel.
Grant also teaches painting classes as close as in Regina and as far away as Assiniboia, as well as to some to art and culture groups.
She loves to teach and pass on her knowledge of the art with others.
Grant says she also still likes to take classes herself from other artists, especially when she's learning a new medium. She enjoys improving her skills and never stops learning.
Please go to DeLee Grant's website to see more of her works at www.deleegrant.com.
