Gas station Little Italy, looking back

Looking back on some of my old paintings, this one was from an interesting time, 2019 leading up to 2020 when the global pandemic hit. Some back story on why I did this painting, it was an idea I got from Hiroshige's series called 'The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō'. Hiroshige was a Japanese illustrator and print designer who was active throughout the middle of the 19th century. During this time, Japan had opened up to tourism, which resulted in Japanese culture reaching Europe in a big way, that was called Japanification. The idea was that Japanese art, music, theater, crafts, poetry and ideas flowed into Europe and even into North America. The Dutch painter Van Gogh came across a collection of Japanese prints which were popular among impressionist painters, Monet had quite a collection too. Van Gogh's plan was to sell them at a profit but he was a lousy business man and ended up copying them and including them in his art. So to make a long and winding story short, I discovered Hiroshige's prints via a book on Van Gogh acquired at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam where Cilei and I visited in 2018. And back to the painting, my initial thought was to paint 57 gas stations in Montreal, but it turns out gas stations are pretty boring to paint although I got a few good paintings. Instead, I ended up doing the 68 stations of the Montreal Metro system, a series completed over 2020 to 2021 or so. In fact, I keep painting scenes of the Montreal metro when I get the chance. 

Gas station Little Italy, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2019

Looking back: London Ontario, bus stop, rainbow wall, cows

I've probably posted some of these before, but still worth a mention as I look back on the London Ontario collection of paintings. This one shows a bus stop and yellow mail box, composed with a tree on the left. It was a clever composition and took a delicate touch to get the foggy glass effect, and yellow shadowing correct. 

Yellow mail box bus stop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

At the time I was not aware of the symbolism of a rainbow flag, which likely refers to LGBT issues in this context. I just liked the colours, and everything else in London Ontario was grey and beige, especially in the Spring time when this was painted. These were all done around the year 2000 give or take. 

Rainbow wall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

I rode my bike around town to make these paintings on location, although I used a backpack to carry the equipment including a small camping chair upon which I would sit unless there was a bench handy. So a lot of the paintings I did had a bench or ledge to sit on. It was not until the year 2020, when I did the Montreal Metro series that I began painting standing up and using my bike pack to hold the gear. 

Cows sitting in field, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

 

Looking back: London Ontario campus cool weather

Around the year 2000 I was at University of Western Ontario and often painted the campus. Here is a scene of the small observatory that would have been used to look at starts back in the day. Not sure if it was still functional at the time. 

Observatory, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

These smoke stacks were part of the campus power plant, the stadium field is seen in the foreground. This one was done some time before the winter if memory serves. It was one of my favorite paintings at the time. 

Smoke stacks stadium, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

I can tell the sun was going down from looking at the painting, judging by the amber glow, and yellow-orange tree tops. There was still snow on the ground. I was not shy about painting in the winter, some of my first location paintings ever were in the middle the cold winter of 1995. This one was probably around 2002. 

Middlesex college sundown winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

I seem to remember this being one of the last winters I spent there, it is more ambitious than some of the earlier paintings, even containing small figures. When I started location painting, I would select scenes that I knew I could paint. Over the years, I took more chances, challenges, and slowly learned new techniques from trial and error. 

Middlesex college birch tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Looking back: London Ontario a few more scenes

Just a few more paintings in the London collection, actually who am I kidding, there are like about 50 left to show! I will travel the next several days so the blog will be silent but two of my biggest fans will get to see me and Cilei, and a few paintings, in real life (IRL). This scene is Middlesex college, despite its nice outwards appearance it was a real dump inside and the University of Western was renovating it around the time I left. The best part was the Grad Club (a campus pub) with a great patio where we used to hang out. 

Sunset Middlesex College,watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

Seeing this painting again made me laugh a bit, so I loved painting auto shops even 25 years ago. Its surreal to think about it as 25 years ago, I can remember painting this one on location.  I was really into painting backlit scenes, not afraid to take on the shadow elements, and a range of greys. I like how the van has light reflecting off its lower portion, but its reflecting blue light from the sky on the upper portion. 

London Auto light and shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

Same scene, its Middlesex college but with recent snowfall. It took a touch of skill to get the tree done, I worked out some of those techniques at a conference in Keystone Colorado around that time. 

Snowfall Middlesex College, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 

Another funny one, so I was painting orange traffic signs back then too! Its interesting because in the background there is a Blockbuster Video store partly visible, and a for rent sign over top. At the time, these video stores were on their last legs as businesses. I composed the scene to have orange-blue contrast. The yellow elements in shadow, I think its a sign and a mail box, were well done, its a hard shade of yellow to make. I have to admit looking back on my work from this era has the feel of seeing a different artist, and therefor being able to appreciate it more than I probably did at the time. 

Construction blockbuster, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

Looking back: London Ontario a few more memories

I always liked this one, it shows a bunch of bee bomb flowers in the background with an ashtray in a clay pot in the foreground. The textures and shadowing are quite realistic. Its done around 2004 in London Ontario at the Graduate Club, a University of Western pub. 

Bee bombs ash tray, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 

A complex scene of concrete structures, buildings, and an ornate lamp. I was on a kick of painting lamps for awhile. The sky is neat, it has the blue-cyan transition, probably using combinations of French ultramarine (PB29) and cerulean blue (PB35). 

Lamp concrete downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 

Just outside the building I lived in for about 5 years, Bayfield hall, this shows my favorite dumpster, a crab apple tree, and a large utility shed. The sun was almost down and I really caught a nice amber-tint on the scene. 

Dumpster and shed, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 

One of the last times I set foot in the lab, as I was preparing to leave London Ontario for Montreal. I spent a lot of time here working away on experiments for a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology. Part of the hospital can be seen through the window. That cylinder on the ground is a liquid nitrogen storage tank. 

Lab bench, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,  

 

Looking back: London Ontario, seasons, campus, grad club

Looking back through my collection of paintings from 20+ years ago, here is a scene of a fancy building in London Ontario with a slate roof. The snow was melting that day I recall, and the painting conditions were excellent. Its a subtle range of neutral beige, yellow and violet, with stark contrast of sun-lit snow. I had a nice touch back then when things came together. 

Slate roof snow melt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

A neat composition, with poppies in the foreground and the art building, new at the time, in the background. I did a series of paintings from this location from different angles, probably towards 2003 or 2004 the year I left London for Montreal. 

Poppies art building, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

From a similar location, but back in the tree line, I caught this view looking at the rear of the art building and Middlesex college in the background. The University of Western campus was really well maintained. It looks like Spring time.  

Forest art building Middlesex college,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

A more detailed view of the iconic clock tower, seen behind green trees, probably a summer painting. 

Middlesex college overcast, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

And one of my favorite places to go, its the grad club... graduate club, not much of a club, rather a pub where students and professors hung out and drank beer on tap. A large tent with many long picnic tables on a large stone patio off the back off the Middlesex college building. Its here that I once bragged to my friends about painting at least 5,000 paintings, to which they reacted with disbelief. And rightly so, by my recent count I was probably only at around 500 paintings by then! Now its getting over 8000, but like 25 years later lol. I'll have to arrange a reunion just to give them a more accurate update, and maybe have a pint. 

Grad club, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

Looking back: London Ontario, street scenes

As you might know, I tend to paint a lot of garbage cans, bins, dumpsters, you name it. This was one of my favorites, almost photo-realistic, it was done on campus (University of Western). They had immaculate waste containers, a tasteful pea-stone and concrete cylinder equipped with one shiny black garbage bag. 

Benches and bin, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~2002

It was the colour contrast between the purple shadow and yellow parking lot devices that drew my attention. You can see the same type of attention to local shadows as the first painting of the bin, and it may well have been painted on the same day. I would walk around campus and surrounding areas making paintings bu carrying a backpack and a camping chair. 

Yellow parking boxes, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press ~2002

Finally, a scene of the new (at the time) art building which was built down on a flood plain. So a drawbridge-style entrance was build to get into the front door (the building was surrounded by a kind of moat). I liked the framing of all the traffic posts, with some tulips in the foreground. 

Art building facade, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~2002

 

Looking back: London Ontario, different seasons

These painting were all done on location around 2000 give or take a few years. I was more into abstract surrealism at the time, but made a few location paintings now and then. I remember sitting at home during winter nighttime, really wanting to go out and paint, so I headed to the parking lot under a strong overhead flood light. The snow-covered car with its red tail lights really stood out against the surrounding snow and murky dark-cyan sky. 

Car in parking lot winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

These apartments were out in the farmer fields of north London, I wonder if any of those fields are still there? I guess that developments were made, like around Bolton. It was lightly raining, some time late autumn or early spring I'm not sure exactly. It seemed like the painting was a disaster but when I got it home and it dried, it looked fantastic. 

Apartments light rain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

I thought, if the lamp post is crooked, then I will paint it crooked! Its the same parking lot as the winter painting, but you see an autumn-orange tree in the background. 

Parking lot autumn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Looking back: London Ontario, lamp, road, poolside

Looking back on my old paintings from London Ontario, here is one from around the year 2000 done with a photo-realistic technique. The amount of detail is remarkable, considering its a very small painting done on location. It was done in a neighborhood near the Masonville mall area in the north part of London, I was obviously sitting within the gated area, you see the fence in the background. 

Ornate lamp, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2000

At this point, the paved road became a dirt road, its called Dingman road because I wrote it on the back of this painting, along with the date, 1996. I recall this day, I was fed up with the city and wanted to ride my bike as far as I could until I found farms and dirt roads! So, including the sign was part of the theme. 

Dingman road, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1996

A shallow wading pool, sometime early spring when it was empty. Painting the chair was a tough task, this was another painting from 1996 when my skills were still developing. I started painting in 1989, then began painting on location towards the end of 1995 and never really stopped. This park is near Paperbirch crescent along the train tracks. 

Pool side chair, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1996

Looking back: London Ontario, mallards, winter, campus, trains

Probably done around 1997 on location in London Ontario, these are some early winter paintings. The mallard ducks were having none of it though, people had been feeding them and they were happy to hang around! 

Mallards winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~1997

Nowadays I would have put my initials on it, but here I added UWO, or, University of Western Ontario. I was probably sitting on the bleachers to make this painting. Middlesex tower is visible in the background.

 UWO scoreboard, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~1997

A view downtown from along the Thames river, looking at an office tower with trees in the foreground. I did not have perylene green at the time, but made a pretty good dark green probably with viridian hue (PG7) and alizarin crimson (PR83). Alizarin crimson has very poor stability and I completely dropped it in 2020, switched to perylene maroon (PY179) and quinacridone magenta (PR122). 

Office tower winter trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~1997

Another one of my favorites from the era, I was standing with my bike on a train bridge looking towards downtown in the distance. The sun was just coming through the overcast clouds, making a blue-grey tint in the distance, and reflective highlights on the train tracks. 

Sun glow city train tracks, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~1997

 Vague memories, but I believe its after the winter of 97-98, so April or may of 1998. It has a great atmospheric quality, although I had a bad habit of painting things crooked. It wasn't until the epic 68 stations of the Montreal metro series that I finally learned to paint buildings straight. 

Glass tunnel campus early spring, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1998

Looking back: London Ontario, winter, roots, guppy

Its rare but this painting had the date painted on the back, February 1997. That would be a little over a year of painting on location, and my second winter of painting outdoors. I actually started watercolour painting in 1989 but only did florals and photo copies until 1995. 

Ice breakup Thames, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 1997

I believe that this old CN train building is gone now, its where I used to buy train tickets on the bottom floor to go back to Bolton, via Brampton. I used to add vodka to the painting water, but it this temperature, around -10℃ it turns to slush any-ways. Nowadays I use salt in the water.

Old CN building, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997

A pine tree in the park, surrounded by snow. I made sure to mark the temperature down (-10℃). At the time it was a record for me, to paint in such cold weather. My record now, for painting on location in the winter, is -26℃ (-14.8 F) with -39℃ (-38.2 F) windchill, the painting is called icy cold on campus. 

Winter pine tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997

Here is a scene from around the backwoods of north London Ontario, looking down a cliff to a small river, with tree roots hanging over the ledge. I like the atmospheric effect of the river and distant trees, with a neat patterns of root formation. 

Roots on cliff river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2002

Probably done in Montreal, here is a painting of one of my guppies, with a fancy red and orange tail. By the way, due to all the rain non-stop I have not painted outside for a few days, but I have queued up some new Curio Folio ideas due to popular demand!  

Guppy, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Looking back: London Ontario couch, campus scenes

Here are a few more London Ontario scenes, from the year 2000 give or take. If I had to pick one my personal favorite paintings from that era, its this one, a couch and garbage bag out on the curb. With an amazing attention to detail, the textures are wonderful on the beat up old furniture and shiny garbage bags with yellow pull ties. A shrubbery, car and front porch can be seen in the background. 

Couch garbage bags on curb, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

Three of my favorite things to paint, construction vehicle, truck trailer, and a portable toilette! I was mixing cerulean blue into the shadows which gave a soft, pleasing tone. Unfortunately it was hard to control and could become heavy and mucky in many paintings. Its a good trick for grey or blue/green shadows. 

Construction trailer port-o-let, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

A campus scene from up on the hill, looking towards the music building. In the background you see spring time trees with lime green foliage appearing, and the London downtown skyline. I have a stack of the "A" paintings from London, I will scan through them and post from time to time so we can all take a trip down memory lane. 

Campus passageway spring, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

Looking back: La Réunion

The island of La Réunion is a French territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean, to the east of Madagascar. Once a remote, uninhabited island, it is now home to a bustling community of Creole and French citizens. The Creole are a mix of people from Madagascar and surrounding islands, and descendants of the slaves that worked sugar cane and spices like vanilla and cinnamon. Those crops still grow on the island, although the main industry is tourism and it has military significance due to its remote location. They have other kinds of crops too, if you catch my drift. I had a chance to visit there in 2010, and made this scene on location a top the old volcanic crater on the north side, where the city of st-Denis lies. Being a top a volcanic crater gave wonderful views of the surrounding turquoise-blue-green water. The south side of the island has an active volcano that erupts every now and then. 

La Réunion house ocean view, watercolour 8 x 11" 2010 

Down closer to sea-level in the main part of the city, I made this painting of a restaurant hotel called Roland-Garros after a famous French airplane pilot. I tried to capture the volcanic jungle-covered mountain in the background with one of many palm trees blowing in the wind. It always seemed on the verge of raining here, and when it did, the rain came down heavy. 

Roland-Garros,  watercolour 8 x 11" 2010

Finally, another scene I painted on location, its the volcanic ridge line looking due south, with a spectacular sunset and powerful, rippling waves crashing in from the sea. If you look closely enough, on the right center at sea level, there is a small highway sign, because a highway actually runs along the coast line here. Hanging over the sea, it made for some harrowing driving especially when waves crashed through. When I saw this scene, I thought of "Sunrise on the Sagueny" a painting by Canadian artist Lucius R. O'Brien. I've often thought about going to the Sagueny here in Quebec and painting the same scene that O'Brien did in 1880. If I do so, it would be a night scene with stars, so "Stars on the Sagueny" or something like that. 

Intense island,  watercolour 8 x 11" 2010 

Looking Back London Ontario: clock tower, downtown, campus

Here is one of the many paintings I did in London Ontario, on location, while I studied at the University. Trust me, I studied too, in between painting sessions! It shows the commercial part of downtown. Part of me thinks this was done in Stratford Ontario, so maybe I am mistaken about the exact location. 

Clock tower downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

This was definitely London Ontario, it was done at the hockey arena which was new at the time. These concrete spheres painted red adorned the sidewalk area, with a birch tree in a concrete planter. 

Decorative spheres, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

This was one of the earlier paintings, probably 1997 while I was still doing the undergraduate degree in Chemistry/biochemistry. The gull looked expectantly in my direction, as they tend to do. The lettering was tough to do, the white font is the paper showing through, so you have to try and paint around the letters. 

Western Mustangs field with gull, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

In the background is the UWO campus community center, with a tree and snow in the foreground. Done on location in winter obviously, I was winder painting outdoors since the beginning of my location painting in 1995. This one looks to be around the year 2000. 

Winter tree campus community center, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press (300lbs)

A later piece, 2004 I believe, it shows Masonville mall parking lot with a movie theater in the background. An exceptionally difficult scene, and it seemed to be overcast which would have made it even tougher to accomplish. I've often wanted to do a similar scene in Montreal but can't seem to find a large over-filled parking lot like you have in most of London Ontario. 

Masonville mall parking lot, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press