Montreal Neurological Institute (Journey Southward)

The most common type of commission painting is a painting of a pet, a family member, an old house, or a vacation photo. In this case the project was to depict a transition of a colleague from one University (McGill) to another in the US. The painting has scenic elements from Montreal in the top left, the Institute in the central portion, and a symbol of the family going for a hike in the foreground. The tree colours were a bit of an embellishment to make the feeling of a fall scene. Unfortunately the colours are a little washed out in the photo of the  painting because I had to take it inside, using conventional lights instead of taking the photo outdoors in the full sunlight as I would normally.

This painting was extensively planned. For every hour of actual painting I spent about 2 hours planning, for a total of around 20 hours. This included meeting with the client and working with online resources to get the proper imagery. There was also several sketches and a preliminary mockup to work out the final design and colours. In the end it came out pretty much the way I had hoped. The painting was framed and given to the colleague at the end of a conference with a large audience. I gave a little speech and explained the work. People had been complaining about the weather and the relatively gloomy fall we had, so I made a quick joke about artistic license and how there was no rain in the painting.

22 x 15" cold press watercolour. October-November 2016