Our trek through landscapes that inspired Canada's Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven

Rice was on sale recently at our local grocery store. Normally that wouldn't interest me, but when I saw these rice bags my "art mind" clicked into gear.

"Wow", I thought, "those are strong, zippered canvas bags ... and a good size". If I replaced the rice with rocks they would make great weights to hold down my plein air easel in strong wind. Why buy rock bags from art stores when you can get them for free with a purchase of 3.63 kg rice?

You see, one of the several hazards of plein air painting is having a gust topple your easel. This happened more than once to Anne. I still recall the gust that lifted her easel and face-planted her freshly painted oil into the sand. Her work was instantly transformed to multi-media. She was lucky that an onlooker had photographed and shared a photo of her work just prior to the accident.

Before wind (left). After wind (right)

Personally, I'm impressed with the sandy version of her oil painting.