Lab Book #25: One Third of Art is Art (Eclipse Flowers)

Finishing off the doodles in lab book #25 made for three paintings including the recent Painting the Phone Book, and last year's Words Belong Here. I will try to get better photos of the last two when the sun is shining and the wind is absent, which are rare conditions these days. These paintings are much larger than my scanner so I have to use the old digital camera. Over the many years of thinking about art it occurred to me that there are three parts to art: the personal, the social, and the art. The personal has to do with the feelings and experience of the artist themselves which they can have in complete isolation, or they can share with others, such as this blog! The social includes things like blogging, but also meeting other artists, participating in shows, taking or teaching lessons, etc. The last component is the art itself, a physically disembodied representation of time spent with the brush and paint. If you go to a thrift store and see an original painting, you are seeing the art without the personal or social aspects. Notice when you read a book on a famous artist, there are usually reams of information about how the artist felt, how they acted, what other people thought of them, what mental state they were it and other aspects that are more or less irrelevant to the art itself. Some artists like Van Gogh intermingled the concepts, placing himself in the paintings with his ear lopped off and bandaged up, or Frida Kahlo who painted herself interred in bed after a horrible accident, for example. The personal meets the art. As a young artist I never really saw anything but the art, I figured if I paint perfectly then people would come knocking on my door. But as I observed how the gallery owner worked her clients, and after I participated in a few art shows, it dawned on me that the social elements are at least as important as your personal feeling or the art itself. The person with the paintbrush stuck in their ear represents a young artist contemplating art. In the top portion of the painting, I represented a number of astrological themes, including solar eclipses fashioned as flowers, expanding universes, quasars, galaxies, planets and asteroids. One character is standing there with a moon eclipse covering their face, with the NDG train tracks in the background that was based on the solar eclipse location painting.

Lab Book #25: One Third of Art is Art (Eclipse Flowers), watercolour 22 x 30" cold press, July 2024

Bike Path Curve Blue Bin

On the way back from lunch I found a spot to stand under a tree, the tree had a red line across it which means it will be cut down eventually. To paint the bike path I applied the orange-yellow first (PO62 + PY154), then painted the purplish mix around it (PB60 + PR179 + PBr7). The asphalt had an almost metallic sheen to it, and a subtle granulation formed on the Strathmore Aquarius watercolour paper. Discontinued now, I've just about literally used up the last of the paper. As usual I wanted to include the blue bin, its a mix of phthalocyanine pigments blue and blue-green (PB15 and PG7). There is a better pigment to do that dark turquoise (PG16) but its not one that I normally carry on my palette and the aforementioned mixture is good enough to do the job.

Bike Path Curve Blue Bin, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024

Campus scenery hot day

On a hot afternoon I got outside for a bite of lunch and made these paintings of campus. The first is a more traditional scene of the old style building in the background and some other green elements like a tree and the grass. The roof is a blue-green paint called viridian hue (PG7), which is a modern version of viridian (PG18). The tree is a different green paint called bamboo green (PG36) with some orange-yellow (PY110). Companies sell what are called convenience greens that are pre-mixed but I make my own on the palette depending on the need.

Campus Greens, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024

This scene is looking straight down at the interlocking brick walkway. I liked the ants crawling around, and wanted to try and capture the intense contrast of the sun-lit brick next to the shadow brick. The sun lit brick was red ochre (PY43/PR101) with orange (PO62), while the shadow was a complex mix of red ochre, dark red (PR179) and blue (PB60).

Campus Ants, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024

Mile End Summery Scenes

On a hot day I made it out to Mile End staying on the flat Maisonneuve and Rachel paths. This scene is looking at Pitati Pitata a famous poutine restaurant on the corner of St. Laurent. A colourful mural adorned the side of a building in the background.

Pitati Pitata, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024

 

A bubble-like dome sits on roof of this building, and someone painted a brightly coloured mural on front. Otherwise its old bricks and old construction. The scene is on Rachel street just outside of the park Jeanne Mance. People were out in droves today enjoying the warm sun and refreshing breeze. Several Canadian flags were out in the park, with at least one group of people dressed in red and white and prepared for a party.

Dome with Mural, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024

Lab Book # 25 Painting the Phone Book (Doodle Machine)

 

Now that Lab Book # 25 is complete I've brought it home temporarily to make a few doodle paintings, although I already made a Lab Book #25 painting earlier last year. The current painting is titled 'Painting the Phone Book" in reference to a saying about an actor with a good voice, you might say 'I could listen to them read the phone book', meaning it doesn't matter what they say you just like the sound of their voice. These doodle paintings are kind of like that, its just a fun thing where I get to paint whatever I want ont he paper. The outline for this one was done in graphite grey (PBk11) a pigment that is created from graphite and used in watercolour. The rest of the colour scheme is yellow (PY184), raw sienna (PY43) and touches of magenta (PR122), purple (PV23), dark magenta (PV19), and some blue (PB15). Throughout the painting there are various creatures showing a variety of emotions, and a few familiar motifs like the flowers in bubbles and yellow emoticon faces.

Lab Book # 25 Painting the Phone Book (Doodle Machine) watercolour 22 x 30" cold press, June 2024