Bolton and London Ontario

Going through the old painting collection I found this Bolton scene of the small valley behind my Parents house on the north hill. The painting was done from a photograph as opposed to on location, which was more common for me to do in the mid nineties. I remember doing this painting because I had been reading Zoltan Szabo's book called 'Watercolour Techniques' and he recommended a few colour combinations. I asked Mom to pick up some of them at the art store and sure enough they had the colours which included burnt sienna, antwerp blue, sepia, and a rose coloured paint. It felt remarkable to use these colours, so bright and powerful. Zoltan Szabo's advice on using french ultramarine with burnt sienna would be something I used for the next 20 years of painting. Antwerp blue, a version of PB27 with poor lightfastness, and sepia a mix of raw umber and carbon black, were not to my liking, very dark and staining so I made less use of them. The rose paint was also very useful, I continued to have rose paints in my palette. 

Bolton Valley  8 x 10" 300lb cold press, watercolour 1993 (No. 0038)

As I was going back and forth to London Ontario for my undergraduate degree at Western University, and making lots of paintings there. This scene was done on location, out in the cold, during the thaw. I made good use of the burnt sienna, along with neutralizing complement french ultramarine. It is a very monochrome painting but still full of light and energy. It was always one of my favorites from that era.The data was written on the back, along with a title 'The break up'. Other paintings of the Thames river include Fall Colours, and a view of University College.

The Breakup, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour 1997