Olympic Park, São Paulo, Brazil

This is a painting from São Paulo done two years ago it predates the upcoming Olympics and has nothing to do with it in fact. The locals call it that because the park is filled with sports equipment and has a sports complex there too. Surprisingly there was many pine trees there and pine cones on the ground the same as you would see here in Canada. São Paulo used to have a very temperate climate with lots of rain and cool weather in the winter. Now a days it is quite hot and arid the year I was there it had a drought. This one was done at Christmas time (the seasons are opposite there, in the Canadian summer it is winter there).

Painting outdoors is different every time, the humidity is one of the biggest factors that will affect the way the paint behaved. When humid, the colours dry slowly making layering difficult and details fleeting. When the air is dry the paint dries quickly making layering easier and details feasible, but then the edges get really firm. On this day it was dry but pleasantly coolish with a breeze, although the air temperature was over 30 Celsius and the sun was punishing. I had to sit in the direct sun for this one because there was not shade in the area, so the clock was ticking so to speak. Sitting in the open sun like that is not so good for the Peter, he is made for a cold climate! Anyways, that reminds me of Gibraltar 1998, I sat on top of the Rock in full sun painting this crazy scene looking down the mountain, I'll have to post that some time.

5 x 7" (13 x 18 cm), cold press watercolour, December 2015