Pirajussara, Brazil

Here is a painting of a scene looking out the back window of a family member's house in a city called Embu in Brazil, the neighborhood is called Pirajussara. The remarkable aspect of this scene was how the community was building their homes and businesses on the rugged hillsides and in among the dense trees and foliage. There were kids flying kites, and traditional music was being played on a guitar with singing accompaniment from one of the balconies.

The weather was hot and humid making it difficult to capture detail, most of the work had to be completed in one or two layers. I also was standing up to complete the work with my equipment on a windowsill. The key to this composition is the large tree in the center, it anchors the treeline in the rear onto the line of houses on the bottom. I did the big tree first, and then painted the treeline, while sketching in the outline of the houses using pale blue paint. Waiting for it to dry took about 15 minutes, then I could get a bit of detail on top like in the roof tiles and some brick work.  Emphasizing yellow was important to give it that sun-drenched feel.

8 x 10" cold press watercolour, January 2017

PS, the painting says 2016 on it, this was not correct, I have a habit of writing the previous year on things for awhile in January!

Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, Brazil

In downtown São Paulo, there is a very large park with a swan lake, lots of trees, an art museum, a planetarium and other cool features. There are also a lot of vendors selling coconuts and popsicles. We stopped for some pão de queijo (pronounced ponjay kayjoe) which is a salty baked cheese bread, and another treat called a coxinha (ko-cheen-oh) a kind of fried thing with hot cheese in the middle. This painting was of the main lake where the swans were, looking towards the massive downtown area which is a super dense collection of condominiums as far as the eye can see.

 Painting water is always a challenge especially when using watercolour, which is kind of ironic when you think about it. There is no white paints in traditional watercolour, so highlights on the surface of the water need to be done by leaving the paper showing. In this painting I tried something a bit new for the water, I dragged a brush sideways across the bottom very fast, creating that energy filled ripple effect.

2017 January, watercolour, cold press. 8 x 6"

Itu, Brazil

Here is the only painting I was able to make on our recent trip to Itu, a small town in Brazil. It rained the rest of the time unfortunately. You can see from the sky here that the rain was just about to start. In this area shopping is the main sport, there are many stores selling shoes, clothes, sunglasses and everything you need to look like a surfer. Succumbing to the trends I also picked up some surf shorts and a cool T shirt at a local store called Montreal Magazine of all things! The buildings are mostly colonial-era architecture as seen in the painting, re purposed for retail.

What grabbed my attention for this scene was the colours of the buildings and how they contrasted with the storm clouds. The main awning featured in the middle was a salmon-brick red, the one beside it an emerald jewel green, and the building a cotton candy lilac. There were a lot of people walking too, but I omitted them for clarity, try to imagine a crowd, and motorcycles and cars going by constantly. The other plus was that there was a marble ledge in front of a store that I could sit on.

January 2017, 8 x 10" cold press watercolour

Be Mine

Before leaving for Brazil I did this quick painting from some doodles in a book from a few years ago. I have been trying to finish the doodle book for what seems like a year and finally it is done, the last doodle was the monkey-dog you see in the top left portion of the design. I put the heart in the last second, it was not in the doodle book but for some reason it seemed to fit the theme. At the time I was listening to the album Sergent Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band and the song 'Within You Without You' was playing. that song is a psychedelic experience to match this painting.

Here is a good example of using contrasting atmosphere's, on the left a dark and cloudy background, on the right a blue sunny day. Going with that idea, I made sure the elements on the left were red-green-grey and a little bit scary, on the left things are primary colours and looking more excited so to speak. Controlling the design, colour, and attitude is important to create any work of art.

8 x 10" cold press, Watercolour, January 2017

Stress Deprivation

This one was completed just at the end of 2016, done from doodles that go back to 2014 when I had attended a scientific meeting of some sort. The theme is hard to describe, it kind of reminds me of an old favorite, "Alien Hand" I did years ago, and also "Woven World". I like the interconnections of it all, with the flowing lines going from horizon to main object. The pointy object that points downwards (mid left) was probably a deliberate choice to create a sense of sadness and anxiety. Sharp objects create angst, and pointing down signifies sadness. The first idea I read from an American book on painting composition, while the second idea was learned from the Chinese art and calligraphy classes I took 20 years ago.

Creating realistic skin tones requires a lot of practice. The best way in watercolour is to start with a blue/purple underwash and overlay with warm peach and reds when dry. Extra shadows and details can be added in successive layers. I used that formula here to make the main object, and the whole world, seem somehow alive.

7 x 10" cold press watercolour. December 2016

Love and Fear (Video by David)

Here is a cool video made by our friend from Sao Paulo, David who is a professor and an expert video jockey- this involves going to concerts and projecting images in a dynamic fashion using a turntable and on the fly video editing in sync with music. There is a new version with music built into it. Clicking on the image should play the video. This brings new meaning to the term visual arts! The painting itself is a watercolour I did awhile ago, probably 1999 if memory serves, there is a previous blog on this painting. The theme is about apprehensions and love, symbolized by a character stuck inside of a lymph node.

2016 video (of a watercolour painting!)