'So pumped': Artist knocking off two more months in wilderness painting project

Sudbury plein air artist Christy Smith is spending the next two months — December 2018 and January 2019 — painting in the great outdoors.

When she's done, she'll be three-quarters done her 12-year quest to paint the outdoors every month of the year. Smith hopes to finish off her project in 2022.

Before she started her latest painting sojourn Dec. 1, she spent some time insulating her 10 foot by 10 foot hut in the woods in the Sudbury area.

“What an opportunity to observe nature and reflect its beauty in paint, is about to await me,” she said in an email to Sudbury.com prior to her departure.

“I am so pumped. Everything is done. We have made 15 sledded trips of gear, art supplies and food for the next two months. This is my #8th and #9th (of my 12-year plan to paint Sudbury outside 365 days). I have painted 210 days to date. I will now add another 60 days to this, giving me 270 days painted.”

Smith wants to give everyone the heads-up that she's holding her yearly Spring Awakening Art Exhibition in May 2019 at Fielding Park to showcase the fruits of her 60-day wilderness adventure, as well as a trip she made to Yukon and Northwest Territories earlier this year.