On the way back I took Victoria avenue from Lachine to ville st Pierre, it has a wide bike path on it with some sombre views of the Hydro Quebec electrical station. A plane flew over and I memorized its shape to add later once the sky had dried. The entire background was done wet-in-wet and then I laid the painting on the ground as it dried. After doing another painting, I could apply the dry-brush effects of the power station, making sure to vary the colours and shapes while maintaining a kind of repetitive pattern. It turned out better than I hoped, and the plane added a nice compositional touch.

Plane over power station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

As the background dried in the first painting I did this quick painting standing in the same spot but looking west. I did the whole background making sure it wasn't too wet, then was able to apply the barbed wire fence over top using dry-brush. I had not initially noticed the vine on the fence until nearly complete, so I threw it in to provide some visual interest, and to give the painting a bit of character. The idea that the vine was using a security fence to grow up was kind of neat.

Barbed wire with vine, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

A long line of greyish-violet train cars with graffiti sat in front of bright yellow fall trees. I should have done this on the horizontal, or used an 8 x 10" but I hadn't any with me. The weather was colder than anticipated and with just thin gloves and a light jacket on I decided to pack it in for the day. Tomorrow is thanksgiving day and it calls for rain but hopefully there is some opportunity to paint.

Yellow trees graffiti train car, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

Train bridge and the colours of autumn

On a breezy and cool autumn day I was one of the few cyclists out on the canal path, most of the hotshot 'spandex' riders must have packed it in for the year. Of course, I ride and paint all year around or at least try to, this part of the path is usually inaccessible by bike in the winter due to snow and ice. The train bridge was done with a layer of neutral violet, then over-painted wet-in-wet with earth colours (PBr7, PR101) and some bright red-orange wash to make the rust pop (PO73). The autumn colours in the background are variations on yellow and orange, close to full chroma with brown and olive accents.Pulling the whole composition together is the classic black iron fencing that runs along most of the canal. 

Bike path under train bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

Looking the other direction, the train bridge forks out and heads east to the downtown, it goes over st Patrick street. The sun was trying to get through the greyish-violet sky which created an eerie glow and made the neutral yellow look really interesting. Purple and yellow are thought to be complementary, although there is no scientific reason for it other than if you mix the two colours you get a grey. I made the colour with indo blue (PB60), violet (PV55) and yellow ochre (PY43). The rings around the sun are orange (PO62), yellow (PY97), then the grey-violet mix, all done wet-in-wet. When demi-dry, you drop in the yellowish brush strokes which blossom into glowing-clouds. It takes a bit of practice to get the moisture levels right and have it blend together in the soft, feathery example in the painting.

Sun through clouds over train bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

The geese tend to hang out under the train bridge, in fact, this one stood there posing for the whole time I painted which is rare. When painting a scene like this it is important to amp up the chroma and contrast because the visual system is adjusted in the gloomy, overcast weather. Not to mention, the idea is to covey the excitement of the scenery. In the first painting of the blog, you see the colours were artificially amped up to create the glow. Here, I felt that the goose on the log was carrying the composition enough. Of course, I love to paint the train bridge, hopefully they never paint over the rust. 

Goose under bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

Quirk-a-holic

From time to time the palette needs a little cleaning and I do these abstract paintings on watercolour paper, its an acid free pulp-paper product from Deserres the local art supply chain. Originally the paper was for the Montreal Metro series, but I went with 100% rag paper for that series and did all the paintings on location. The paintings are quirky and after doing a lot of work last week, the title came out to be quirk-a-holic instead of work-a-holic, which are both better than being an alcoholic! To do the painting I outlined the pieces in various colours then filled them in like a paint-by numbers. Leaving space in between gives it a tetris or jigsaw puzzle feel.

Quirk-a-holic, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, October  2024

Dagwood's restaurant at night

 

It is such an interesting shape, and with an unusual variety of colours. I have painted this Dagwood's restaurant many times before, this time is was very dark. I applied the sky first, and outlined the building and background elements in dark paint. It was a matter of building up the washes and textures to give the impression of artificial light. My gloved hand made an imprint on the left side, which tends to happens when I paint on location since I hold the paper in front of me. I quite like the way this one turned out, you can almost imagine walking up and getting a subway sandwich. I changed the name to my initials mostly to save space, although I did copy the style of the actual lettering.

Dagwood's at night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

Somebody let the scientist out of the office to howl at the moon

 

At last freedom from the office... but the sun was long gone. A bright 3/4 moon hung over some apartments near the busy corner of Sherbrooke and West Broadway. A bus rumbled by. Considering the poor lighting condition for painting, the colours turned out remarkably well. When painting at night the paints all look black and grey so you have to sort of know in advance what it will look like and where the colours are on your palette. I had my bike light which I flicked on once just to check that the sky was on the right hue of blue. Trees at night are almost jet black the later it gets.

Moon over bus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

Standing in the same spot, but looking east, there was a view of the eerie lights on campus. There were multiple sources of light including from the building itself, the lamps, and the windows in the administration building in the background. I usually start these paintings with the sky to establish the value contrast then work from there, making sure to keep some areas open for highlights.

Eerie lights on campus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

It didn't seem possible to paint something like this but I gave it a go anyways. The tree was illuminated from the front by a strong flood light which cast a shadow on the facade of the administration building. The windows of the building were illuminated from within by a warm amber glow that cut through the tree shadow on the wall. I used a multi-layered approach to try and piece together this scene and it turned out okay in the end. What was really impressive is how hard our administrators work. There I was painting late at night, while the admin people were still up there working hard with the lights on. Or they just left the lights on.

Night shadows, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

On my way back to the office...

Today I had to press on at the office so I went out to get a quick Poke Bowl for dinner, there is a new spot down the street across from Trenholme park. On the bottom right is the outdoor sign and chairs from the restaurant, and in the background are many trees of Trenholme park illuminated by the last light. The colour transition on the road is purple (PV55, PB60, touch of yellow ochre PY43), then blend to orange (PO62, touch of yellow ochre).

Trenholme trees last light, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

When I turned around to put the painting away and head back to my office, I saw this scene, and thought what a shame to pass on it. The grant proposal isn't going to go anywhere, and its due in like two weeks anyways. I amped up the red brick mixes by combining burnt sienna (PR101/PBr7) with orange (PO62) and red-orange (PO73), and did the clouds with purple mixes lined with magenta (PR122). Maximizing contrasts was the key to creating a punchy colour scheme, and the composition was a nice L shape. You have to go for it on a painting like this, don't hold back or it will look bland.

Sunset clouds with apartments, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

As I headed back to my office with my bike I was really impressed (distracted?) by this scene of the sun set, purple clouds, and the glowing red gas station underneath. For the sake of art I could not pass it up and did one last painting. It was so wet I had to carry it back while walking. Usually when trying to do a painting like this on location I tend to doubt myself, its going to be difficult, it will probably fail, I don't know how to do it... but this time I confidently realized how to do this scene and just did the painting. Considering how cold it was, and all the other factors its a difficult one to pull off. At any rate, I finally got back to the office and kept working, too bad you can't include paintings in a grant proposal.

Sunset clouds over gas station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

Finally some decent fall colours make an appearance

It was a cool and breezy fall day with a mostly blue sky and bright sun. These are the train tracks that go across Elerdale street on the way to the Westhaven neighborhood where there is the Snowdon bakery and the City fruterie. Usually I only paint around here during the week so it was neat to be here on the relative peace and quiet on a Sunday. I like the colour scheme of this painting, the earthy warm colours meld well with the soft blue and pale cyan sky. The clouds turned out well, and I added my signature in graffiti.

Fall colours and tracks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

Harley street is the main drag with the stores. Across the way are long blocks of apartments, with tall trees. This one was a reddish orange with green mixed in. Its a subtle thing to paint since the red is intermixed with pale olive green. On the scanner it all comes out looking more red than the actual painting, where it has an orange tint.

Colourful tree Harley street, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

 

Just some hints of the fall colours, this painting shows the train tracks where commuters would normally board the train at rush hour. The sign was a lot taller than shown, it was all the way up in the sky but I decided to compose it lower to fit in the scene. For today's painting I avoided burnt sienna in the foliage mixtures (although it was used almost pure for the train tracks), and also minimized yellow ochre. Most of the foliage was made with variations of green (PG36), yellow (PY97), orange-yellow (PY110), orange (PO62) and red-orange (PO73). For dark areas I dabbed in some perylene green (PBk31). The goal was to lighten up the foliage mixtures a notch as compared to yesterday and I think it worked out well, although there was nothing wrong with yesterday's paintings either. I prefer to look at art like a journey where you try to move forward and continue to explore.

Tracks and sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024