NDG Secret Path, Blue Flowers

 

Spending most of 2020 wandering around NDG looking for places to paint away from the crowd I thought I had discovered everything. Today I turned left off Broughton, and reached a small clearing on Easton Avenue with  path leading down to Avon/St. Jacques. I had seen this clearing and trees from down below but never figured a way up there, and on google map it does not show up in any significant way. A narrow footpath led down through the small forest, and a tree was arched over the path like a gateway. The arched tree was mimicked by the curving sidewalk in the middle ground. On the distant horizon a mosque was visible. Usually I do not depict religious buildings but from time to time include them as accents. The qubba (dome) was a dark yellow ochre (PY43) with warm highlights. The path relied on venetian red (PR101) and umbers (PBr7), while the trees were umber neutralized with indo blue (PB60).

The Secret Path NDG, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, April 2021 (No. 2591a)

 

Walking down the path I came across an embankment covered with little blue star-shaped flowers and chartreuse leaves. These might be Chionodoxa Luciliae (Glory Of The Snow) a small star shaped blue flower that grows up in the spring according to the website plant-and-flower-guide.com. In the first painting I was looking down the path, in this painting I was looking up the path.The blue flowers were much brighter and higher chroma but there are several limitations in my palette and with the paper. The colour was made with phthalo blue sapphire (PB15:0) and rose red (PV19), which makes a muted lilac, and the paper was the one I over soaked so it absorbed a lot of paint. Next time I can try with ultramarine (PB29), quin magenta (PR122), and properly prepared paper. There is also a trick where you apply a white paint first, the colour pops even more. I may try that but currently do not own any white paint due to the longstanding myth that white paint is bad. In fact, the Victorian watercolour painters were known to prime their papers with white paint in order to enhance the beauty of the watercolours. I learned that on Handprint.com (MacEvoy). Turns out the internet is a great tool for an artist (and their fans!).

Glory of the Snow 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, April 2021 (No. 2592a)