Saturday Painting, Fresh Snow

 

Today was a lucky combination of a fresh snow fall, sunny day, and just slightly below freezing temperature. It made for some spectacular scenes around town like the one above, painted from a high vantage point looking west over highway 138 (Rue St. Jacques) and highway 20. I was sitting close to the large storage Uhaul warehouse and Canadian Tire. It is close to where I sat for the secret spot this summer, but that actual spot is now fenced off with tall wire barricades because they have construction material there. Like everything else in NDG they will no doubt pave over and build over the secret spot, but I hope not. They are actually going to plant thousands of trees down in this area that you see in the painting, and stretching to the east, along with a new bike path.

Highway 138 and 720 Looking West 4 x 6" cold press watercolour, January 2021

 

I found my way into a large expanse, a local soccer pitch that was completely blanketed in fresh snow. It is located behind the Renaissance thrift store which is currently closed, so the whole area was silent and without other people. It was so quiet I could hear the trees rustling and the birds chirping. I did this scene of a soccer bench emerging from the snow, it cast an electric blue shadow on the pristine white snow. The trees behind the fence and the distant building provided the perfect background. I signed PJD and for this year, I wont be writing 2021 just '21. On my larger paintings I may spell out my full name. I probably wont go back to the scrawl signature I used for so many years.

 Snowy Pitch NDG 4 x 6" cold press watercolour, January 2021

artists notes to self: 

Water: today was -1C and I could complete the first painting with just water. Halfway through the second painting the water and paint was freezing, so I added about 50% of the salt water stock to the fresh water (the stock is 50g salt in 300g water).

Clothing: the wind was moderate, and my gloves were adequate- outer layer medium thickness insulated gloves, with a pair of base gloves which I could use for handling the brush. Just a light insulated jacket and under layers to complete. The boots were inadequate, left one leaking slightly. 

Paper/paint: I could use the cold press today. I had previously soaked them for twice as long during preparation 20 minutes to enhance their absorption and let dry. The paint absorbed well. I replaced raw sienna with yellow ochre and it worked a lot better in the cold, same thing, I replaced perylene maroon with quinacridone violet. The raw umber is too solid at this temperature. Some paints are working better than others at freezing temperatures.