Somerled Condo Fruit Tree and Entrance

 

Our condo building fronts onto Somerled Avenue and has a bus stop right there, and an auto mechanic and grocery store across the street. I can just pop out of my apartment and sit on a low brick retaining wall to get full sun and some things to paint. Admittedly there are not too many great scenes here but it is refreshing to get out of the home office and have some air. In this one, you can see the overhang and stairs of the front entrance, the black railings were omitted. In the distance is an apartment building. The decorative tree is there in the middle as the focal point around which the other elements are arranged. In the Summer this tree makes little red berries you can eat. There is also a bus stop tucked away behind the tree, and a car going down the avenue. 

Painting clear blue skies with phthalo blue paints is tough because this paint is highly staining, meaning that it stays where the brush touches the paper. I went as fast as possible here but the sky is still blotchy as if there were clouds. Also, the edges around the big tree with yellow leaves are too jagged. I am going to try wetting the paper a little bit next time, and try and nail the perfect clear blue sky. I first noticed how clear and blue the sky had become during the pandemic in the Grocery Store lineup painting, and after painting the 27 stations of the green line metro, I got pretty good at it, as seen in the terminus paintings.

In other news the red alert continues for Montreal and other parts of Canada. I found an article on Montreal Blog, that described things we can do in a pandemic red alert, while they didn't mention painting that said it was okay to explore the city and its parks if you were alone. The main thing is to avoid gatherings of people and wear a mask. 

Somerled Condo Fruit Tree and Entrance 4 x 6" hot press, watercolour, October, 2020