We spent our winter holiday aboard The Canadian departing from Vancouver and arriving in Toronto 4 days later. I felt like we were in Snowpiercer with the winter snowy landscape from outside the windows. Having little to no signal for parts of the journey, it also doubled as a spiritual retreat. We were left alone with our thoughts and reflections. We met interesting people and had random conversations with strangers at the bar cart.

I also took the opportunity to paint on the view cart. The scene was changing constantly, I’m no expert at painting on the go. I took many reference photos to study leisurely while the landscape passed me. It was very relaxing.

Here are some of my paintings on the go and some I worked on when we returned from our holiday. Painting during the winter feels so eerie. The sun doesn’t shine as bright and it likes to hide early. Maybe being indoors for most of the winter sparked my interest in plein air painting. Does it count as plein air if you are inside a train cart? I’m not sure. But as soon as the weather allows I will give it a try.

M