Come Paint With Me rocks new artists
A tourism grant from the Simcoe County Spark program is helping a Midland area artist fulfill a dream.
Growing up in Honey Harbour, Alexandra McLaughlin has always felt a strong connection to Georgian Bay. A mother of two young children, she made the decision to leave her first career as a paramedic and focus on her art and family five years ago. With the launch of her art-tourism venture, Come Paint With Me, McLaughlin has found a new way to share her love of art and introduce more people to the natural beauty of the region.
Billed as the ultimate plein air painting experience, Come Paint with Me takes groups of up to eight artists on a six-hour nature tour and painting experience. Participants meet at the Midland Town Dock for a boat tour around Honey Harbour and Beausoleil Island, then disembark at another island for a nature tour and painting session. Novice painters get a water colour tutorial while more experienced artists are left to paint independently. The island chosen for the day’s painting session varies based on wind and weather.
The “new to painting” package for $400 per person includes admission to Georgian Bay Islands National Park and all art supplies with special rates available for groups or experienced artists. McLaughlin has worked with Beam Paints, an Indigenous Women owned business on Manitoulin Island to create a signature water colour palette of 11 hues chosen to capture any Georgian Bay landscape in any weather. The paints are specially formulated with pigment harvested from Manitoulin Island hematite, tree sap, Manitoulin honey and other natural ingredients.
The first group of painters headed out last week, and bookings are now open for August and September dates. McLaughlin is scheduling no more than two sessions per week to allow time for rain dates should that become necessary. Information regardingpackages and available dates may be found at alexandramclaughlin.com/ come-paint-with-me.
The Simcoe County Spark Mentorships and Grants program is a joint initiative of Tourism Simcoe County, Regional Tourism Organization 7 and the Tourism Innovation Lab which aims to find, foster and support new tourism ideas that will attract visitors to our area. Fourteen applications were received with the top five being invited to pitch their concepts to a panel of tourism leaders and entrepreneurs. McLaughlin’s Come Paint With Me was one of three winners of a $3,000 grant to help launch their new ventures.
