Cultural Center Looking at Benny housing, NDG

Finding spots to sit while avoiding people has become increasingly difficult as a lot of folks are emerging from their cocoons and walking about. This scene was done in the parking lot behind the cultural center looking at the Benny housing neighborhood and that big apartment building on Sherbrooke seen in the background. A little corner of the parking lot can be seen bottom right. Despite the initial solitude, no less than two cars, three families, and several dog walkers went by. Although I had selected a place to sit which could not be easily approached, when people see you painting, they all want to look, now they get within 3 or 4 meters and try to see!

This painting is part of the overall 'pandemic blues' series which was all done during the lock-down. I used a rough press paper block from Fabriano. A block is where the manufacturer puts many pieces in a stack (25 in this one) and lightly binds them together so that you can paint on one, then peel it off when you are done, revealing a fresh new sheet. In theory it is fine, but the paper tends to buckle and split off because you cant wet the back of the paper. When one side of a watercolour paper is wet, and the other side is dry, it tries to buckle like a potatoe chip. I am glad to be finished with these papers now. There are several more new ones I need to post.

This painting was also a big chance for 'red opalite' to shine. It is a limited edition mineral pigment from Schmincke, I used it in the bright orange brick surfaces. The scan shows a bit of the granulation, if you could feel the painting, the bricks actually feel mildly like sandpaper! The last three paintings were each meant to be a pigment test on the Schmincke paints- lapis lazuli was the shadowed side of a warehouse by the traintracks, green porphyry was a spring lawn near a highway overpass, and red opalite was brick buildings in Benny farm area. I have to charge extra for these paintings because the paint was a rare limited edition ; p

Oh yeah, the birds in the sky were done because I dropped a bit of black paint in the sky, and if that ever happens you just make it look like birds. Believe it or not I read that in a book somewhere.

5 x 7" rough press, watercolour, April 2020