Sunday Painting Trip, Angrignon and Verdun

 Leaving relatively early this morning I got to park Angrignon before it was too busy with people. I wore a mask anyways for most of the trip due to the spike in cases in Quebec. Most people seemed unconcerned. Another odd thing is the weather, it is neither fall nor spring, but in between the two. Rusty yellow leaves still cling to the branches but most of the foliage is dark and brown. This scene captures the 'twilight-fall season' or whatever we can call it- most of the colours were neutralized with carbon black (PBk6) or indo blue (PB60) with a few splashes of earth pigment and the phthalo green. 

Park Angrignon, Twilight of Fall Season, 6 x 8" cold press, November 2020 

After crossing Verendrye and over a foot bridge to Douglas Hospital I continued on to the St. Lawrence River where I could find some great places to sit in the warm sun. My social distancing was set to maximum here I had almost 20 meters of space between me and the path, it must have been on old factory lot or something. These wispy reeds were dominating the landscape and it was my challenge to depict them in watercolour. For composition I made sure that at least a few of the reeds were overlapping the background, which catches the tip of Nun's Island, and the south shore.

St Lawrence River with Reeds, 4 x 6" hot press 300lbs, November 2020 

 

During the last painting I figured out a decent combination to get that particular beige of the reeds, it was raw umber (PBr7), quinacridone magenta (PV19), touch of carbon black, then dilute with water. This produced a slightly violet leaning beige. I had to shield my eyes from the sun using my sun polarized sun glasses and baseball cap for this one. Not to mention I was sitting on a very steep grass embankment. The view here would be Goat Island, just at the end of the rapids. My dad just told me a story about his brothers when they were kids, they would paddle their boats up and around the rapids and the gap between Goat island and Heron island.

 St Lawrence River, Rapids with Sun Glare and Reeds, 8 x 10" cold press,  November 2020 

 

 

There are several benches along the path, I was lucky to find one and have nice place to sit. Down this embankment there were about a dozen people relaxing and enjoying the scene. The tree was the focal point of this painting- it had yellow-rust colour leaves clinging to the branches. Underneath was a proliferation of burr plants. The rapids were swirling around in the background, it looks like the tree is almost going for a swim!

 St Lawrence River Tree with Rapids 8 x 10" hot press 300lbs, November 2020

 

 After a light snack, I did one more of a small orange oak tree just off the left of this scene. Capturing that particular shade of orange was tough and it got a little over-worked. This 'fall-twilight season' palette is tough! Lots of brown and grey mixed with earth tones.

St Lawrence River, Orange Oak, 4 x 6" hot press 300lbs, November 2020 

 

Finally I wanted to do 5 paintings today so I did one more on the way back. Upon scanning them today I realized I did 6! Time flies when you are having fun I guess. These are the massive power lines running along the aqueduct at the north side of Verdun, just along the bike path. The plan was to make it looking dystopian and rough, but in the end it looks quite light and bright. Somehow the electrical towers look good? It is hard to notice but the towers are a very dilute, neutral turquoise made with phthalo green, blue, and carbon black with lots of water. What a day, it felt like summer in November.

Verdun, Power Towers, 4 x 6" hot press 300lbs, November 2020