How I Saw It

Here is yet another palette cleanser, a small abstract painting done while cleaning the paint on my palette. After a morning of location painting the palette was quite messy although I do clean it on location with a large hogs hair brush to keeping the mixing areas clean when doing several paintings in succession. The other thing I find appealing about these kinds of paintings is that I can see some really bright colours, and just paint shapes and things that I enjoy. When location painting the artist is taking all the cues from the scene, with the goal to have exacting standards. In this painting, I reminisced about the things I saw on my bike ride and converted the memories into an abstraction. For example, the stacked blocks on the right were the Habitat 67, and the green spans were the old Champlain bridge.
 

How I Saw It, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, May 2022 (No. 3019a)

Saturday painting trip, five bridges and other scenes

 From the vantage point of the south canal you can see five bridges crossing the St. Lawrence, well, four and half actually. In the front is the old green Champlain bridge that they are tearing down span by span, and just behind it is the new Champlain bridge with its suspension wires and tall pillars. Looking into the distance you see the Victoria bridge with its dark brown spans, and seen just underneath it is the small Concorde bridge with its turquoise paint. Of course the furthest bridge is the Cartier bridge. In the foreground you see some of the construction equipment tucked behind the shrubs, and the bike path that goes along the south canal. The idea of painting many bridges in one scene is not new, Hokusai did a famous print called Seven Bridges where he cleverly hid seven bridges in a landscape.

Five Bridges, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore aquarius ii, May 2022 (No. 3016)

 

This scene shows a train bridge that merges onto the Victoria bridge, as seen from the south canal bike path. It was getting pretty hot and humid by now, the sky was an eerie blue grey. Despite the rust this bridge looked functional although no trains went by. When painting these industrial scenes it is good to keep the brush work and colours very solid and a little scruffy looking. Under the bridge in the background is the main part of Victoria bridge.

Two Bridges, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3116)

 

Soon I found myself on Ile Notre Dame which is connected to Ile St. Helen. It is part of Parc Jean Drapeau where the car racing track is located. In the summer when it is not used for car racing the local cyclists make good use of it as you can see in the painting. I made sure to sketch out the cyclists early on so that the colours of their lycra could really pop out. In the distance you can see downtown Montreal and even Mont Royal.

Cyclists Around the Bend, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore aquarius ii, May 2022 (No. 3017)

On the way back I stopped for some shade, water and little snack in a long narrow park called Sir George-Étienne Cartier Square. I have ridden through this park many times because it connect Ville St. Henri to the canal bike path which you can see a bit in the middle ground. In the background are more factory-turned-condos and the iconic rusty turquoise water silo. To paint the tulip bed with the interesting wood sculpture I used a series of small interlocking brush strokes. When painting flowers and foliage it is best to use light and airy brush strokes to convey the delicate subject matter. In contrast, the industrial elements are done with rough and more direct brush strokes.

Tulip Bed Cartier Square, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3117)

Campus Landscaping

 With the weather much improved trees and grass are turning green and the campus landscaping team is working hard. There is a large, wide garden berm that holds short pale green plants arranged in the letters of the University's name. Over time the plants will fill out and be easily visible for the passerby's. The path in the middle leads to the quad area where I have made many paintings before. It was supposed to be overcast today but was instead a near blue sky. To do this painting I sat at a picnic bench which was handy, lately I have been doing most of the location paintings standing up with my mini-studio shoulder bag. Looking forward to some long weekend paintings coming up.

Campus Landscaping, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3114)

Blossoms near St. Lawrence River

The trees are making blossoms all over Montreal, crab apples and lilacs mostly. For lunch hour I took a quick ride down to the St. Lawrence river, it is not far by bike from my office, and made a quick painting of the blossoms. There was actually a row of dozens of trees in an L shape but the painting just captures a few of them, with pine trees and the river seen in the background. 

 Since the colours worked out so well this time, I will make a brief note to self about how it was done. To paint the rose colour, I used magenta (PR122) that was slightly neutralized by adding a touch of pyrol red (PR254) and carbon black (PBk6), and diluted with a decent ratio of water. Basically that is a way to create pastels, you take a high chroma colour, and cut it with some neutralizer and water, essentially you are adding grey. The tree foliage was made with some fairly concentrated green-yellow, dabbed on by holding a 2 cm wide brush straight up and down. The tree shadows on the ground were perylene green (PBk31), and the tree trunks a classic mix of red brown (PBr7/PR101) and indo blue (PB60). The sky phthalo blue red shade (PB15), the river PB60 with raw sienna highlights, and the grass a mix of yellow (PY154) and green (PG36).
 
Blossoms near St. Lawrence River, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3113)

Moon over Cultural Center

 

On the way back from getting some groceries I saw the most amazing moon peeking through the sky. I grabbed my paint kit and headed out but the moon had gone behind the buildings and was not visible. Undaunted I marched out to the cultural center area where there are better sight lines and sure enough there was the moon. In the background is the cultural center, in the foreground right is the sports complex with a light on its wall. Unprepared for night painting, I did not have my head light or pyrol orange (PO73) which is the ideal paint to mix with indo blue for the night sky. I made due with pyrol red (PR254) but it made a way too dark purple. At any rate, the painting has lots of drama, and I saw a few more locations that would be neat for the next time the moon is out.

Moon over Cultural Center, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3142)

A Few More Abstracts

While cleansing the palette I made a few more abstract paintings. This one was exploring the contrasts between warm and cool colours. Blue is the obvious cool colour, while the yellows and browns are warmer. Yellow can symbolize sunlight, while blue symbolized ice. There isn't much science to back up the warm/cool colour theory but these contrasts can evoke an emotional response in the viewer.

Lemons or Ice Cubes? watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, May 2022 (No.3011a)

 

Recently the Leafs, that is, the Toronto Maple Leafs (shouldn't it be leaves?) were knocked out of the playoffs yet again. The Leafs fall just like the leaves fall in fall. Or something like that. In the painting I combined earth orange and yellow with cyan and turquoise. It is arranged like a snakes and ladders grid. This is painted on the back of the first one, I often paint on the backs of paintings when experimenting.

Ending the Seasons, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, May 2022 (No.3011b)

Saturday Paint Trip, Under the Bridges

On the south side of Nun's Island there is bicycle and pedestrian access to the ice control bridge, called an estacade in french. The path is has been renovated lately so it was like riding on silk, a rare experience in Montreal. In the painting I am standing under the bridge at its beginning, looking towards the west up St. Lawrence river. It was nice to cool off after a hot morning ride down from NDG.

Under the Estacade (ice control bridge) watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3112)

 

The other side of the ice control bridge connects to the south river canal. It is a narrow lane for ships, although seemingly not in use. The wall of the canal has a wide road on it that is open for cyclists. Under the new Champlain bridge I found some more shade and this great view of the bridge curvature and Montreal across the river. It was a daunting painting, the effects were so subtle that I had one chance to get it right, no fussing. It looks like a space-aged painting from another planet!

Under the New Champlain Bridge, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore aquarius ii, May 2022 (No. 3017)

 

In this ambitious design I included three and a half bridges. From back to front are the Cartier bridge,  Victoria bridge, new Champlain bridge and a segment of the old Champlain bridge. If the painting extended a little bit on either side you would see nothing more of the old bridge, they are systematically dismantling it leaving just some remnants of the foundations. Oh, and you can just make out the EXPO67 dome if you look carefully

Three and a Half Bridges, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3111b)

 

By now I was feeling the heat, a full summer's day in the middle of May? To give you a feel of what the path is like, this painting shows the row of dry looking scrub trees, a wide gravel path, and the monolithic Champlain bridge looming in the background. This path goes in either direction for many kilometers but I decided to get home instead before it rained. It never rained, but my legs sure were tired, so maybe in the future I can ride a bit further on this path and make more cool paintings of bridges.

South river canal path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3108b)