Guelph Ontario

 

From 1997 until about 2001 I was doing a lot of location painting, and my parents were nice enough to lend me the car which I used to go to work in people's gardens, a job I very much enjoyed, and I went to various locations around southern Ontario. Guelph is a small city with a University that is about 1 hour west of Bolton. I posted one painting of the Canada day decorated cannon from Guelph, it was the same day I did this paining, with a steady drizzle of rain. The white car really makes the painting work, it contrasts against all the low contrast misty background. 5  x 7" cold press, watercolour, 1997?

Perhaps this was done on another visit, I do remember going there at least twice to paint. The weather is obviously better than the other two paintings, here it is partly cloudy with bright sun. The perspective on this painting is pretty neat, it was always one of my favorites from this era. The name of the team was Guelph Griffons. I have more paintings from this area of the University campus. 5  x 7" cold press, watercolour, 1997-2001?

I must have been inspired by the composition and contrast of this scene. From the looks of it, this is fall weather because of the lack of foliage and apparent brown leaves on the tree in the background. If that is the case maybe I went to Guelph three times, or this is not Guelph! I have this vague feeling it is somewhere else, although I wrote Guelph on the back in pencil at some later date. Anyways, we can call this 'anywhere Ontario'. The red bricks make a nice complement against the army green of the artillery. I managed to suggest a lot of detail in the piece without too much fuss. For a small painting it carries a lot of punch. 5  x 7" cold press, watercolour, 1997-2001?