Riding my dad's bike up the line, I got to make a few paintings on a nice sunny day in Caledon. He even had a bike pack similar to mine, so I could prop the bike up against me and use it as a portable studio like I do in Montreal. The amount of land around here is unreal, there are vast expanses and vista views of the horizon everywhere you look. In the foreground is some old corn, some still standing, with rolling fields and a small work shed in the background.
Old corn and shed, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2025
This was just a good place to stand and paint, not too close to the road, and not on private property. There were some better scenes but I was not going to set up and paint right on the gravel shoulder with the cars whizzing by. I had some vanadium yellow (PY184) on the palette to help make chartreuese, which conserved the benzi yellow (PY154). Vanadium yellow is very potent and mixes a bright chartreuse, although it is also opaque and otherwise not a good mixer. I bought a small (5mL) tube awhile ago, if it seems useful I will buy more just for spring and summer.
Path through field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2025
At the low points there are marshes with reeds in the fields. These reeds looked dry, like from last year. All the fields are likely to be corn fields, the farmers will probably plow and plant them soon enough.
Reeds in field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2025
To get the dark olives greens in the background trees I used a mix of shadow green (PBk31) with deep yellow (PY110). It can get really dark and muddy, so benzi yellow was added to the mix. You can buy these so called 'convenience greens' which are pre-mixed by the company, but many of them are far too green to be useful. You might be surprised to know that most 'greens' you see in a landscape are much closer to yellow.
Old corn and dandelion, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2025
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