View from hillside, Montreal

By now people really want to get out and about, it has been about 6 weeks of the pandemic lockdown. On my way back from getting groceries at the bulk store, I stopped along Jean Brillant street to sit in the sun up on a hillside. There was no one there at first I had the whole forest to myself, but then a few people got my idea and sat around the area. Luckily it is a large open area so everyone was socially distanced enough. I just painted what I saw in front of me, which was grass, roads, cars, houses, signs, and lots of trees.

To begin this painting I established the outline and the shadowed areas using a black paint called bloodstone genuine which is a mineral pigment by Daniel Smith company, made from heliotope stones. It causes 'granulation' which means the paint has a rough and textured appearance. If you look close at the stone wall of the houses, and the two big trees, you will see this effect. Once the grey scale drawing was complete I filled in the colours, adjusted the shadows, and added the details like the smaller trees, windows, bricks, the top part of the car seen below, and the stop sign. I had to establish a clear outline first because of how complex this painting was with the downward looking perspective and myriad of trees. I like the car details, I plan to include more cars in the paintings if possible but they are very hard to depict accurately.

5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, April 2020