Office tag blue yellow red

Due to the achromatic (pale beige) nature of my office, I made a special painting with maximum colour brightness to spice things up. Being on a graffiti kick, I used a graffiti-inspired design, with a bit of influence from Japanese woodblock print. The initials and date (PJD25) were made to look like they were applied with a stamp. Since spray-painting my name on the office wall probably would have got me in trouble, I opted for the st Armand paper that I aquired from the local paper makers down by the Lachine canal before they moved their business out of Montreal. I met the paper makers, an old couple who had been hand making paper for decades, and they sold me a couple of stacks of paper in various sizes. They start by recycling old rags and clothing, processing the paper fibers, and pressing them out on a giant press device that I saw in person. To do this painting, I used the colour splash technique with a large watery blob of blue (PB15) and scratched in lines with the pointy end of the brush. After a few days of drying I applied the numbers and lettering with pyrol vermillion (PR255), waited a day, then brushed on copius amounts of bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184). The colour scheme was inspired by an abstact painting I did in 202 called Palette Cleanser #42. 

Office tag blue yellow red, watercolour 16 x 24" st Armande paper, November 2025

Curio Folio: Copy Paste

Before computers were invented there was a short-lived office product called copy paste. I never heard of this until I visted the MARMALADE* down town Montreal last week. It was on a special display of old office equipment that included things like the "bubble chair", and the "stapler-tooth brush" which I will have to blog about one day. What made copy paste special was that you could squeeze it out onto a document, smooth it out using a fork-knife, and once it dried into a gelatinous resin, it peeled off leaving the original text intact. By applying the resinous mold onto a blank piece of paper it recreated the image. This of course pre-dated the xerox machine which ultimately made copy paste obsolete. The other problem was that copy paste fumes made office workers giddy, to the point of wanting to play musical chairs and dance the rhumba on top of desks, and it had a small risk of causing the hiccups. It was also excellent for copying currency, movie tickets, postage stamps, and just about any other valuable item, making it a tool for criminal forgers. At least I got to see it at the MARMALADE, and the staff allowed me make a painting of it. Actually, the original painting is still at the museum, they let me copy my painting using the copy paste, which is what you see on the blog. I felt giddy. 

Curio Folio: Copy Paste, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

*MARMALADE stands for the Museum of Art Relics Mementos Absurd and Legendary Artifacts Definitely Excellent  

Yellow and more yellow

After finishing an abstract painting that I will post shortly, I had some left over bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) in a small cup. Carefully bringing it on location I used it up on a few paintings, including these big yellow trees near campus. For variety, a touch of yellow ochre (PY43) was mixed in, and small dabs of pale green (PG36) and orange (PY110) were added while wet. Afterwards, the trunks, branches and background details were added at home. I quite like the effect, it has the intensity of the autumn yellow leaves that are so prevalent around town this year. 

Big yellow trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Here is yet another painting of Dagwood's restaurant near campus, it has an interesting shape being nestled into a small triangle between the end of Monkland avenue where it meets Sherbrooke blvd. A bus briefly stopped at the lights but it carried on and I had to mostly paint it from memory. The lemony colour of the cladding on the restaurant is from the bismuth vandate yellow, it looks unrealistic but still really neat... as if the building is made from candy, or its a layered cake with icing on top. 

Dagwood's lemon, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Full moon alley

One of the many alleys along the Maisonneuve bike path in down town Montreal, this one was illuminated by a strong flood light with an eerie glow from the full moon. Standing on the sidewalk next to my bike, it took a decent amount of time to complete this scene, plenty of bikes and pedestrians walked by, and music could be heard the local club. A work crew was putting down construction signs along the bike path, making loud clangs and bangs. The sub-zero Celsius temperatures did not deter the lightly-dressed party goers from standing around smoking and chatting, nor did it deter the watercolour painter.  

Full moon alley, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025

Various Westhaven scenes

Down by the train tracks where Courcelle street crosses, there is a park and a commuter station, its a location I have painted many times due to its proximity to campus. Today I composed my favorite motif, the garabage can, with the train tracks and a yellow crossing sign. The crossing sign was embellished to make it look like the person crossing was in danger of being hit by the train. The composition uses a series of triangles to make an energetic zig-zag pattern. For the yellow sign, it was a mix of yellow ochre (PY43) and benzi yellow (PY154). 

Garbage can train tracks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Looking east along the train tracks, and there was some graffiti by SODAX and PJD25 on a rail-side structure. SODAX was talking about changing her tag name... so we will see if it changes up in the future. PJD25 is kind of boring, although he sometimes writes FARTY. 

Tracks and graff, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

This condo on the corner of Courcelle and Harley street has been boarded up for years, and today I saw them finally tearing it down. Hopefully they can replace it with some new affordable housing stock, or maybe a small park which is needed in the neighborhood.  Or, they should build one of those artificial skydiving centers where they have a jet stream blowing upwards in a tube and you can levitate for awhile. But I'm guessing its going to be condos, 

Corner demolition, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Dépanneur NDG night neon

Just near the Vendome station there is Dépanneur NDG, which has this gaudy neon-red sign that illuminates the lower part of the facade and staircase. Violet and blue neon adorned the entrance way, casting an eerie glow. The window above looks into a cafe, with reflections from the green traffic light across the street. I worked a lot on reflections and transparencies this year to make windows look more realistic. In the background, you see an earthy dark blue and brown scene with some windows lit up and a car reflecting the street lamp. The main trick to this painting is getting the initial lines correct, there needs to be vertical lines going parallel, and horizontal lines on a one point perspective. The last touch was to use a small number 2 brush to lightly dab in high chroma red-orange (PO73) and cyan (PB15) onto the neon, careful to leave small bits of white showing through to convey a neon effect. There is not a whole lot of room for error in a painting like this, its a scene that I have wanted to paint for a long time and glad I finally did. 

Dépanneur NDG night neon, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025

Nearly full moon, cool evening

The plan was to head out on the evening of November 5th to paint the full moon, however, the forecast was overcast and possibility of rain. So I headed out on the evening of November 4th, with the moon at 97.4% full, 62 degrees in the sky, and partly cloudy skies according to timeanddate.com. The moon angle was so high actually, it seemed to be almost directly overhead. In this view, I am looking up at the moon which is shining through the clouds. A number of techniques had to come together to make this painting work...its been a lot of nights out painting the moon. 

Full moon through clouds, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Catching this view of the moon over the demoed mall on Côte Saint-Luc, I made a painting of the pile of rubble illuminated by the moon, with an apartment in the background. By embellishing some of the highlights on the edge of the building and debris, it gives the illusion of illumination. Most of the local light was actually from the LED overhead lamps that are quite strong. 

Full moon over demoed mall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Painting night skies is quite a challenge, in this example I left tiny dots of paper showing through to convey the Orion constellation which was visible over the Glen Hospital. The paint streaked in a funny way, but I kind of like the effect. Its not often I get to see stars in Montreal. 

Orion over hospital, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Looking towards the top of the radio tower, and the moon was passing over its top. I chose the tough route for this one by applying the shape of the tower first, then painting the sky in between the spaces. In retrospect, I could have done the whole moon and sky first, then over-painted the tower with yellow ochre. Its a question of whether the paint dries in time or not...these paintings are done in one go. It worked out pretty good though, and the red lights pop against the cool blue background. I left a small dot of paper showing through at the center of the red light to give the impression of it being bright. 

Full moon radio tower, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025