Floating

Floating into the new year with style I got to use my new Windsor Newton series 7 sable brushes - it really is amazing that they make a difference in the amount of paint they carry and precision of the points. I used different sized brushes for the different effects, the numbers I have being 00, 2, 4 and 6. Having the extra paint in the brush let me do the seamless three-toned wash in the sky in the background, and then the different sized seed pods floating around. The last detail I threw in was the skyline at the bottom, I was going to leave that out because of Chinese art which typically leaves the open space, but then I put the detail in, and kind of regretted it at first. But now I really like the look of it, it kind of looks like New York's east river with some dandelion seeds floating around.

5 x 7" hot press, Watercolour, Jan. 2019

Connection Sphere

Spheres are here, in the clear, is that weird? In this painting there is an unusual perspective used, like one you would see if you were sitting in the middle of a balloon. Every surface seemingly curving up down and away from your vision. To achieve this effect I looked up a diagram of how a sphere looks when translated onto a two dimensional plane and then used the format from memory to create the skeleton of this small study. Prior to doing that I populated the painting with the blob shapes, and finished with some grass and trees and the sky. Or did I start with the grass and take it from there ?

5x 7" hot press, watercolour, Jan. 2019

Turnip on the Beach

Good time for a little dip in the water. Boiling water ! This turnip is getting a vacation in the Caribbean before going into the stew pot. For some reason the 'Potato Beach' painting I did awhile ago was quite popular so I thought about trying out another version of it, this time with a turnip. I painted the turnip first in still life, using two lamps one in front the other behind. Then I made up the beach scene from memory. I wanted the vegetable to look like it was sticking its toe in the water, even though it doesn't have a toe.

5x7" hot press watercolour, January 2019

Cabot Square, Montreal

It was an adventure filled hour, complete with a ceremonial parade. I found this scene in the newly renovated park just outside of Atwater metro stop called Cabot Square. There were a lot of locals there an they were very interested in looking at my painting and talking to me. The park was all cobblestone with trees, benches, the statue and the gazebo that seems to be in every urban Montreal park. The paint wasn't drying too well so the shadow effects were a challenge, you see the purple blurred into the background and then I painted a shadow shape over top when the whole thing dried. As I neared completion a ceremonial Islamic parade came by, everybody was dressed in black and there were flags and brochures they handed out. Some of the young children sat next to me and looked at the painting out of curiosity. I had to get it finished and move on because the entire park filled with about one hundred people. That in itself would have made a pretty amazing painting but I don't know how they would have felt if I were painting their ceremony. Maybe next time I can try and catch the urban drama you never know what you see downtown.

10 x 8" hot press block, watercolour 2018