The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival invites you to capture the exhuberance of the blossoms this March on easels en plein-air under a canopy of cherry blossoms. As the blossoming of our cherry trees is such an incredible visual display the festival will present Plein-Air Blossom Painting as part of the celebration to honor this awe-inspiring tree.

The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is an exciting new cultural initiative celebrating the return of Spring by cultivating an appreciation for the natural beauty that surrounds Vancouver at spring time. It promotes Vancouver's spectacular beauty and natural resource of 36,000 cherry trees in our parks, boulevards, as well as private gardens; no other city in Canada is so well positioned to host such a celebration.

Following the tradition of the Group of Seven, emerging and professional artists will paint the blossoms during the month of March guided by the Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) and Self-Guided Walks map published by the Vancouver Sun with the forecasted peak bloom dates. The Plein-Air Blossom Painting sessions will produce an exciting and eclectic exhibition that will wrap up the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival in April at a local gallery. The "Vancouver in Bloom" exhibition allows Vancouverites to enjoy the blossoms all over again until they bloom next season.

The festival is hosting Plein-Air Blossom Painting sessions under the canopy of blossoms at some of Vancouver's best displays of cherry treeswith instruction in plein-air. The first annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival invites you to participate along with Teaching Artist, Liza Visagie (www.lizavisagie.com). Should you have any experience in plein-air painting and/or photography, the festival is looking for artists interested in working as a Plein-Air Teaching Artist volunteering for a minimum of three hours one day a weekend over the month of March. An honorarium to be paid to teaching artists. For more information, please contact Linda Poole at 604-739-3431, email Linda.poole@telus.net or visit www.vcbf.ca

Special feature by guest contributor Shannon Thompson