A tennis ball, a stick, a blush brush and more: Check out what these artists use to paint

Hosted by Sook-Yin Lee, Landscape Artist of the Year Canada brings together the country's top professional and amateur artists in a battle of the brushes to see who can best capture the country's most iconic landscapes, from gorgeous farmland to an epic view made famous by the Group of Seven.

Working in their own mediums, each week a new set of artists create their own rendition of the landscape in front of them in only four hours, with two finalists moving on to the series finale where they can win the $10,000 grand prize and have their work put on display at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Along the way, artists brought many creative ways to paint with them. See how the competitors work with a variety of implements from a plastic sheet to a tennis ball in the video above and check out Landscape Artist of the Year Canada now streaming on on CBC Gem.

A tennis ball — Ian McLean

"Artists use different kinds of tools at all times when they're working," says Ian McLean. "I guess for me I want to see something of the unexpected, maybe some unexpected marks. So sometimes I'll use something like a tennis ball," he laughs. It doesn't always work out, he says, but "when it does, it's very exciting."

An ice scraper — Laura Zerebeski

Instead of using palette knives, contestant Laura Zerebeski turns to something you may have in the trunk of your car. "I've got this paint that I'm applying with an ice scraper because frankly," she says, "palette knives are expensive and you don't need them."

A blush brush — Kylee Turunen

"I use this for blending," Kylee Turunen says to a surprised host Sook-Yin Lee. "I just wanted a fluffy brush, and my makeup brushes seemed very fluffy!"

A big sheet of plastic — Nadine Prada

"I like to experiment and the big piece of plastic tends to create really beautiful textures," say contestant Nadine Prada. But working with a plastic sheet, especially on a windy day by the water, can sometimes be a bit tricky: "It needs to stay wet so [paint] will transfer to the piece. We'll see what happens. This is where you say a few prayers to the art gods."

A stick from a local tree — Andrew Cheddie Sookrah

"I am bringing out the energy from this space with this stick which I picked up from over there," Andrew Cheddie Sookrah says as he scrapes the surface of his painting with a stick. "It came from one of these trees, so what a natural way to start my painting with a part of this tree."

Charcoal powder — Phil Irish

Phil Irish improvised a variation on a technique he usually uses on the spot with some powdered charcoal that he threw against glue on canvas. "I usually do it with paint instead of charcoal, but I think it would be really cool. Basically I used that entire jug of glue, some water, some charcoal and some gesture."

Stream Landscape Artist of the Year Canada now on CBC Gem.