NDG Sunny Day Melting Snow

 

This afternoon was very sunny and warm, hovering around zero causing the snow to slowly melt. Loyola park had been well trampled on by kids and pedestrians, a stark contrast to the fresh snow that I painted a few weeks ago. I had one of the new paint brushes with me, the Neptune number 4 script brush and it was fantastic for making expressive accurate lines. The path was melted snow, showing asphalt through translucent layers of ice.

NDG Loyola Park Path Melting Snow 5 x 7.5" cold press watercolour January 2021 (No. 2533a)

 

In Loyola park there is an elementary school in fact it is similar to the one my Mom once attended as a child although recently rebuilt. I don't know if she was a noisy child, but the kids on their lunch break sure were noisy! I was glad to move on, I walked to the end of Fielding near Patricia street and found a small park with a dig park, skating rink, play area, and this structure with a pointed A frame roof. The colour of the brick and the big shadows from nearby trees (off to my left) were casting interesting colours. I really put the brush to work here to capture the complicated structure which had an obtuse roof angle, and it had the perspective too. 

Note: The sky was done well here, after over a year of trying! I started at the horizon with PB15:3 and a touch of the new lemon yellow (PY175), then quickly moved to pure PB15:3, then a mix of PB15:3 with PB15:0, then pure PB15:0. If you look at the horizon it was that yellow haze, but at the top it is a rich blue. The yellow haze is because Montreal traffic has picked up again after being mostly quiet during the pandemic.

NDG Park William Bowie Structure 5 x 7.5" cold press watercolour January 2021 (No. 2534a)