The Basin of Culture, Chambly, Quebec

I recently visited Chambly Quebec and was lucky to find a real basin of culture. At least, the signs posted on the street said that we were in the basin of culture. After awhile in the small town just 30 minutes south of Montreal, I started to wonder where the actual 'basin of culture' was to be found. The tourist information did not help. At least there was a bar in the town, and they served cold Molson Export (but no blanche de chambly, to my shagrin).

Painting the masts of the ships required a lot of careful planning because the white of the mast is actually the blank paper showing through. All of the stuff around the ship masts (the lake the trees the mountain) had to stop at the edge. This requires a bit of practice, otherwise the edges look false, and the objects in the background (in this case the mountain) looks choppy. The deck also had to be painted in the same way, that is, leaving the shape of the deck blank when the lake was painted. Of course, if you wanted to cheat you could use white paint and simply apply it as a layer on top, but you can not do this in traditional watercolour, or else the 'basin of culture police' come out and arrest you.

watercolour 5x7" cold press, summer 2008

What Does it Mean

This painting makes a play on all different sources of light. The city in the background is illuminated in a warm red, the trees in the middleground lit by the cool blue moon light, and the sign in the front basking in the yellow light from the lantern. The pond in the middle reflects all three light sources. As for the question posed by the painting's title (What Does it Mean?), the sign shows symbols that I copied off a bottle of chinese black ink, and incidentally, I do not know what it means.

Producing these lighting-effects is complicated, but essential for art that really glows. To create the illuminated moon, I start by putting down a pale blue wash with a circle in the middle left without paint (the moon). To this wash, I outline the moon with a slightly darker blue tone to give the moon the illusion of brightness. Then I surround the pale blue wash with the darker blue/purple of the sky. The red colour of the city was actually placed first, and the dark sky was painted over top, creating the shape of the city line, and also providing a red glow in the sky.

What Does it Mean, watercolour 5.5 x 7.5" cold press, 2008 (No. 1721)

Mellow Yellow (out of yellow)

This scene came from my imagination, another painting where I sat down in front of a blank piece of paper and let the brush do the talking. Of course I could come up with an explanation for the work...the painting represents the downfall of the sport-utility-vehicle in the modern age where the oil economy (represented by the evil totem in the background) rules our behavior (represented by the fountain and the sidewalk in the foreground). Maybe I should be an art critic.

The painting has a really smooth look to it. This was achieved by keeping all of the paint fairly moist, and working fast. The entire painting was finished in one sitting, so none of the paint had a chance to dry (dry paint ends up having sharp edges). Also, I was literally out of yellow paint at the time, so the only source of warm colours was burnt sienna and red. Of course, the lack of yellow represents the decline of gasoline in the modern age.

Mellow Yellow (out of yellow), watercolour 11 x 10" cold press, 2008 (No. 1448)

Tadoussac, Quebec, Canada

At the junction of the St. Lawrence and the Saguenay rivers, Tadoussac is a small town famous for whale watching. The painting shows a hotel down near the beach which has been there in various forms for decades. The time of year was fall, you can see some of the leaves have changed to orange. In the distance I drew in a whale (the small black fleck towards the left). Although the whale was not actually there, one can see many whales from the beach, and even more on the many cruises available.

This painting has a lot of 'depth' to it, which is to say the illusion of distance. One way to create the illusion of distance is to put warm colours in the foreground (the bottom of the painting), and cooler colours in the background. You see that the warmest red is right at the bottom (left) of the hotel roof. Also, on the bottom right I put in a warm brown wash in the trees. Nearly every landscape I do has a splash of red at the bottom to help with the illusion of depth.

Tadoussac Red Roofs and Whale, 5 x 7" cold press paper, fall 2007 (No. 1148)

L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Not too long from now the jazz festival begins in Montreal (late June) around the location where this painting was done. The oval building is L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) downtown location, and to the left most part of the painting you can see the edge of the sloped roof of the place d'arts building where most of the international jazz fest main events happen. Perhaps when the jazz fest begins I will have the chance to do some painting of the crowds of people and the jazz musicians.

A shadow is made up of two things: the colour of the object itself, and the reflected colours of the surroundings. In this case the object (the UQAM building) is a pale orange, and the surrounding (the sky) is blue. The shadow on the building was a combination of cerulean blue (an opaque sky blue) and rose madder (light pink) and a pale orange colour matching the colour of the building. The same thing applies to the shadows you see in the trees, which are a dark blue version of the warm greens found in the leaves.

L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, summer 2007 (No. 1095)

Alicante, Spain

This painting was done from high atop a castle on top of a mountain in Alicante Spain
which is on the Mediterranean coast just south of Barcelona. The walk up to the castle was very beautiful, and I remember a cyclist who was peddling up the really steep hill, only to ride all the way back down, turn around, and do it again. It was tiring enough just walking never mind riding up and down in the 35 celcius heat. I was sitting on top of one of the walls, looking down onto the beach.

To make the perspective work
I included the little 'ant' sized people on the beach, you can see some walking, others lying down. If you look really close you can see the details of their jewelry, clothing, eye colours etc. OK, I was just joking about the details. The colour of the water was this amazing teal green with cool blue, I achieved this in the painting by starting with a lighter green and overlaying the blue (french ultramarine).

Playa del postiguet (from castle), watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1998 (No. 0895)

Blue Flames Consuming the Stylized Image of a Woman (study)

This painting is a small study of a larger painting under the same title. I actually could not think of a good name for the work, and so came up with a kind of literal description 'Blue flames consuming the stylized image of a woman'. The larger work which is 22x30", was turned down by the gallery in London, to my dismay, and so I went home and changed it all around. I should put up the large version some day.

To make the fire, I used a combination of wet and dry techniques. First I blend different shades of blue together with some orange, and when it dries I drag a brush loaded with paint gently over the surface of the picture, creating the textured fire effect.

Blue Flames Consuming the Stylized Image of a Woman (study), watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2002 (No. 1678a)