Saturday Painting Trip: Lachine Canal and St. Lawrence River Views

 

According to the weather forecast today was about +5C but according to my face it was a lot colder! One unintended benefit to wearing a mask is that it protects the face against windchill. Not that I needed the mask today there were very few people out and about, I had most of the paths and parks all to myself today. This scene is on the Lachine canal just before you get to Lachine, I was on my way to the St. Lawrence River when this scene caught my eye, there were large beach ball objects with fluorescent chartreuse (lime green) and prominent graffiti on the overpass. As I sat to paint, a pair of mallard ducks went by, I fit them in to the bottom of the painting. Just this morning I was studying the artist colour wheel by MacEvoy from Handprint, looking a the best way to make chartreuse from my paints. By coincidence this scene came up and I used bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) with a touch of phthalo green yellow shade (PG36). The drake mallard's head was with phthalo green blue shade. 

Lachine call with Lime Balls, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, Novembrrr, 2020

Here is a westward view up the St. Lawrence, the sun was low and cast a tangerine glow across the landscape. There was a strip of bright white reflecting off the distant water. Judging the right colour and value for this type of water is very difficult, you have to consider that it will dry about one or two values higher (lighter), and the blue will dry a bit greenish. When this was wet, it had a clear blue tint but when it dried it had a dusty lilac appearance. It creates a nice colour balance with the orange, yellow and brown though, I quite like it. 

Westward View, St. Lawrence River, 7 x 8" cold press, watercolour, November, 2020

 

Finally I painted a scene looking across the St. Lawrence towards Kahnawake. The shrubbery in the foreground was a deep orange/yellow with splashes of green. Today's cloud cover was heavy, with a clear gap at the horizon. This created a ceiling of purple/grey, with an intense bright sky underneath. To capture the colour of the river I used a darker blue, with some magenta and carbon black, but it dried a little flatter and greyer that in reality. While it was wet I dropped in the golden highlights reflecting off the waves. 

View St. Lawrence, towards Kahnawake, 6 1/4 x 8" cold press, watercolour, November, 2020