Action at Vendome Station, sort of

While painting this patch of Queen Anne lace in the parking lot across from Vendome station, I heard a lot of commotion, fire trucks going by. They had stopped in front of Vendome but there was no smoke or fire to speak of. Staying focused, I finished the painting, probably spent too much time on the SUV in the background, although it looks pretty realistic, then turned to paint the fire truck scene. 

Queen Anne lace parking lot, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

 

The bike path is visible in the bottom right, a bus was in the foreground, with two firetrucks in the background. Getting the perspective correct and proportioning the buildings was key here, I held up the brush on an angle to get it right. With all the heat and humidity the paint was tacky and messy, which made the detailing especially difficult, but I got it done. In the background you see the crane where I painted the sunset smoky sky last month. 

Bus and fire trucks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

 

The fire trucks were sticking around long enough for me to get a painting done before they left. Most of the detail on the truck is close to the way it was, although the truck took off before I could really complete it so I finished from memory. In the background is the mega hospital, while the main entrance to Vendome is in the middle ground. The red is called cadmium red hue, a convenience mix meant to replicate cadmium red without using cadmium pigments which are toxic. I bought the tube about ten years ago before I knew about pigments, now I know its a mix of pyrol red (PR254) and yellow nickel titanium oxide (PY53). Titanium oxide pigments are white, then they add a metal ion like nickel to give it a yellow tint. When mixed with pyrol red, it gives a slight warm red. Really I just want to use up the tube and completely switch to pyrol vermilion in the future (PR255). 

 Fire truck Vendome, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025