Habitat 67

Down in Parc Jean-Drapeau you can see back on to the main island of Montreal. In this scene the Pont de la Concorde can be seen on the right with downtown Montreal in the background, and on the left is Habitat 67, the bizarre condo complex they built back in 1967, now they sell them for like 10 million each. The building is full of gaps and layered condos, so the white square in the middle is just sky. In the foreground the St. Lawrence river rolls by, rapids reflect the brilliant sun.

The scene here was backlit by a strong sun, that means the sun is behind the scene (as opposed to beside it). This presents a few problems, mostly the sun is in your face and on your skin, so you had better have some sun protection. I seldom sit in the sun to do a painting, usually I try to find shade, but this scene was only open at a small point where they had installed a park bench and cleared some of the shrub in front. I like painting backlit scenes, the challenge is to capture the colours in the shadows.. the bridge has this rich minty green, the buildings are deep grape and mocha, the trees a mixture of kiwi, melon, melon, and zucchini.... ok I feel hungry now. Another pointer... to get the shimmering light-effect on the water.... fill your brush with some dark blue, not too wet, and drag the brush sideways (makes a scraping sound), practice this and you can build texture on water... brick, trees you name it.

7.5 x 11" cold press, 2012