Landscape Candy House

 

This painting was partly inspired by my bike trip out to the east part of Montreal Island where I encountered many interesting features of the St. Lawrence river shoreline including rocky beaches and rolling waves. The colours, that mix of maroon and blue, were also evident where the Prairie River met the St. Lawrence. I used some of those memories in this small abstract painting which was done in the Lemon Sunset style. That is a fictional surrealist world I created a while ago as a creative theme for abstract paintings. Not to mention it was a palette cleanser, it is almost time to fill the palette again which is always fun. Squeezing paint from the tubes is oddly satisfying.

Landscape Candy House, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2769b)

Cote St. Luc, view from Parking Lot

This morning I made the treacherous bike ride up to Cote St. Luc, that neighborhood is not big on bike paths! It was was worth the risk due to the reward, a second dose of covid 19 vaccine. This painting pretty much sums up the experience, there were a lot of condos and apartments spread around a few shopping malls and big parking lots. The cars are grotesque almost, but they give a cool vibe, and show the reflections from the morning sun. Sometimes when I paint cars I just think, mushrooms on wheels. 

Cote St. Luc, view from Parking Lot, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2769)

Clouds Over Campus

After lab work and before the rain I made this painting real quick just outside of the PERFORM Centre looking at the AD building of Loyola campus. The clouds were particularly interesting, they were tall billowing storm clouds with a neutral shade of blue-violet. The mix is indo blue (PB60), caput mortum (PR101), and a touch of carbon black. The caput mortum settles out due to its density giving the clouds a warm glow. Caput mortum is a paint I got recently, it is made by Sennelier the French independent paint maker that I once visited in Paris. The paint is also sold by Da Vinci company, they call it violet iron oxide. The paint is similar to other iron oxides but they heat it more so to drive off the water complex, leaving nearly pure iron oxide. Then there is mars black (PBk9) which really is pure iron oxide and even has magnetic properties that create an interesting texture. I have a natural PBk9 from Stoneground paint company and it is very nice to paint with, as I blogged about previously. 

Clouds Over Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2768)

Detour Fin?

 

Just as the sun was about to set, the sky became an array of pastel tones superimposed with pink and cobalt blue clouds. In contrast was a bright orange detour fin sign, to which I added the question mark because the detours never seem to actually end here in Montreal! The sky was cobalt blue (PB28) with pyrrol orange (PO73) and some neutral yellow ochre (PY43 and a touch of carbon black). Part of the colour comes from wildfires in North America which tint the sky a yellowish orange. I made the sign slightly yellower because when I scan it, the result you see is a bit redder. So the orange you see on the screen is almost identical to what I saw in real life. If you saw the painting, it looks a bit yellower. Certain colours change after scanning and digitizing. 

Detour Fin? watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2767)

Hôtel Le Germain Montréal, new Mural

Riding west on the temporary President Kennedy bike path there is an incredible scene of Hôtel Le Germain (center), Scotia Bank building (pink, back right), and a few other iconic downtown buildings. I have wanted to paint this scene for a while now, I first saw it while painting the green line series last summer but felt that my skills and knowledge were not up to challenge. It is not often I pass a scene, but in this case it was worth the wait! The key was establishing a good under painting, in this case I used dilute black (PBk7) with a touch of yellow ochre (PY43) to paint out an accurate 'skeleton' with correct perspective and proportions. Next was the daunting task of capturing all the tones and textures of the scene, along with the colourful new mural they are working on. Mural painters were literally there on window washer lifts doing the colours at the same time I was painting the scene. When the pigeons flew off, I made sure to capture them up in the sky, they really added an exclamation point on the painting. This is downtown Montreal- corridors of towering building with a variety of architectural styles.

Hôtel Le Germain Montréal, new Mural watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2902)

Champ-de-Mars Station, Orange Line Metro

 

Champ-de-Mars Station has seemingly been under construction forever, the entire block was torn up for many years perhaps more than 5 years. As usual they ended up doing a good job, there is now a vast green space with delightful brick paths and connecting walkways going to Old Port tourist area. There were even places to sit and have a cold coffee (my field recipe of instant coffee, water, in an espresso cup). To paint this scene I was sitting in full sun, although cloud cover came in towards the end of the session. The structure to the right is the station, I embellished the coloured glass.

New Path, Champ-de-Mars Station, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2765)

 

Across the street is the massive CHUM Hospital complex which reminds me a lot of Borg cubes from Star Trek. So I painted them with a menacing black mixture of carbon black (PBk6) indo blue (PB60) and some perylene maroon (PR179). I couldn't believe how black the paint dried, I anticipated it would loose about 70% of its darkness, but I think the addition of the maroon allowed it to hold the dark value. Always something to learn! And yes, the sign was crooked like this.

Borg Cubes, Champ-de-Mars Station, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 

Next up was a panorama scene of the beautiful field of brown-eyed-susans and some garden pots which sit along a road that they have permanently closed to traffic. The field was in great shape because the pedestrian paths go exactly where you would expect which kept nature relatively protected from people tromping about. Since they went with wild flowers instead of grass, it also prevents people from sitting on littering or pets on the area. I was glad to have found this small oasis, thanks to smart urban planning, in the heart of Montreal. 

Field of Brown-eyed Susans, Champ-de-Mars Station, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2901)

It was also a good high note to end my summer Metro Station painting efforts at Champs de Mars. The next station is Berri-UQAM which I painted before, then the remaining stations with terminus in Laval. It would be nice to do the rest of the Orange line in fall or winter. But then again I may just wake up one day and want to finish the series anyways we will see! There is a page dedicated to these paintings, you can find it on the web version under pages. I hope you all enjoy seeing urban paintings like this, they are very challenging but feel well worth it. Thanks for reading.

Saturday Painting Trip: Crosstown Traffic

 The morning started with a bike trip across the canal path until St. Laurent street north and over to Palais de Congre, the big convention center where the station is located. The station itself is only visble from the outside as a sign, and a cavernous doorway tucked under the blue-green glass of the Palais. In the foreground I added some landscaping from a small park with trees from where I was standing across the street. The contrasting greens and blues was fun to do. 

Place-d'Arms Station, Orange Line Metro, Palais de Congre, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2762)

 

The metro station offered little by way of compositions, so I turned my Northwards to China Town where the hotel has some Asian inspired detailing. China Town is slowly being consumed by developers, a gentrification of sorts that threatens the cultural ethos of the neighborhood. To capture this conflict,  a construction crane was composed with the Asian architecture nearby. Anchoring the design is the metro sign which I had to magically move a bit to fit on this scale.

Place-d'Arms Station, Orange Line Metro, China Town, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2763)

 

The other day I was writing about how low chroma the city is (not much colour). When I rode by this spectacle, some type of colourful display in China Town, I had to give it a try. The tree in the back ground was adorned with shimmering copper-coloured balls and ribbons, while the vast expanse, a parking lot perhaps, was filled with blowing banners in many colours. The scene was complex, many pieces had to come together. I even forgot one flag on the left, may have to fill it in with a colour!

China Town, Colourful Display, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2927)

As I headed up St. Laurent to the bulk store Anatol, I went by Dieu du Ciel, an amazing craft beer pub and old haunt of mine. The outdoor seating made for a welcoming display and a nice contrast with the various browns and greys of the building. To capture the white brick in shadow I created a near neutral grey just slightly leaning blue, while the sun-lit brick side was a neutral yellowish. Prior to 2020 I did not know how to recognize or make those colours, now it has become more clear to me as an artist. A friend of a family once said to me that painting eggs is the hardest thing you can do, now I get it, the many shades of white and grey.

Dieu du Ciel! watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2764)

Summer Palette Update

 I just made a few adjustments since the last palette update, the blue shade of phthalo green (PG7) was removed, and the green area adjusted accordingly. Now the green gamut (range) is created with phthalo green yellow shade (PG36), lemon yellow (PY175), raw sienna (PBR7) and indo yellow (PY110). For construction pylons I also brought back pyrrol orange (PO73). Now that I have used this palette setup extensively it has become more instinctive. In fact, I even forgot the pigment codes as I prepared the paint-out, and had to look them up on the tube! 

Every paint has a purpose, and there is really nothing lacking from this selection when painting landscapes. The way it works, is there are 9 of the highest chroma (hue purity) examples of yellow (PY175 and 154), orange (PO73), red (PR255 and 255), magenta (PR122), blue (PB15 and 28), and green (PG36). Those are basically the rainbow colours and can make any other colour by mixing the adjacent ones, for example blue plus green equals turquoise. Then there are three low value (darker) paints including dark blue (PB60), dark green (PBk31) and dark red (PR179). Even though they are dark, they are still high chroma. Finally, my indulgent selection of earth paints including two yellowish (PY43, PBr7 raw sienna), two brownish ( PBr7 umber and raw umber), and orange reddish (PR101 red brown ochre and violet). The earth paints are lower chroma (duller) which is good for landscapes. A typical landscape is about 50% colour saturation according to Handprint (MacEvoy), in the city it is probably closer to 25% if that. 

After redoing my whole approach to painting watercolours in 2020, I feel like it has started to pay off, it took awhile to adjust to a near complete overhaul of the paints. Like a golfer rebuilding their golf-swing, it took me a lot of practice to get the hang of these new paints and learn their personalities better. Now when I analyze a landscape, I have a good idea about how to make the various effects without thinking much. I may write a more specific guide with examples at some point, there are a few watercolour painters on facebook more interested in my work and the methods now.

Flower scenes in NDG

 

Here are a couple of scenes I painted this week during breaks from the laboratory, the first one was done near PERFORM Centre, the sports dome is in the background behind the fence and flowers. Normally I would edit out the fences, but in this case the fence became part of the concept and the composition. The wild flowers, some kind of clematis relative perhaps, were working hard to make the neighborhood look  a little brighter.

Vine Flowers on Fence, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2759)

This is vacant lot near the local epicerie, I believe that it belongs to STm Montreal because there is a bus terminal right beside it. Hopefully they keep the spot like this, there is very little green space in town. It is actually surrounded by a sturdy fence but I edited that out, to give a better view of the flowers growing in a vacant lot. There were lots of white flowers and yellow flowers, with some small purple ones. Even the concrete blocks looked to be floating on a cloud of petals. Of course I got some of the traffic in the background with a city bus zooming by.

Flowers Vacant Lot, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2760)

Abstract Samplings

 Abstract painting is a good way to explore the materials and ideas without too many constraints. This was probably created from doodles in a notebook hence the relatively blank rectangle in the middle of the design. Wet-in-wet techniques filled the void with swirling colours. This size was commonly used at the time, it represents an efficient 1/8 of a 22 x 30" watercolour sheet. It is also awkward to frame, recently I have moved to more standard sizes.

Who Hug? Watercolour, 7.5 x 11" cold press, 2016

This one was always one of my favorites, the colour scheme and quasi-academic theme seems fitting. Perhaps I can re-do it some time on a rainy day. You may see a lot of themes here, the totems on the distance, the surrealist landscape, the outdoor library. There also seems to be two different dimensions to the painting, with a classic broken horizon. Again I used an efficient paper size, 1/6 of a sheet.

Floating Ideas, watercolour, 10 x 11" cold press, 2009

Here is a much earlier abstract done while I was living in London Ontario. I did a location painting of a bus stop around the same time, you can see in the link the common imagery. This painting rather looks like a science fiction movie set or page out of a graphic novel. the colouration was also typically darker back them with prolific use of cerulean blue. I read an old document from the 19th century and they mentioned that cerulean blue was not suitable for watercolour! After 2 decades of using the paint I also came to the conclusion, retiring it from regular use and making a painting to commemorate the paint.

The Dawn: Bus Stop, watercolour, 9 x 12" watercolour paper, 2001

Somerled Signs

 

July so far has been cool and overcast for the most part, very humid at times. Work this month is particularly busy, but next month I will have a few weeks off to relax, visit, spend time with loved ones. For this painting I was on my way home from the lab, the scene is close to where I made a spring painting, and a famous winter painting. There are dozens of paintings of Somerled avenue now, my favorite is the panorama view that I made shortly after the Amsterdam trip. In the old days, I rode my bike down Somerled Avenue to get to work from the Mile End, and I never really thought much of it, let alone knew that I would be living here one day.

Somerled Signs, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2761)

Burger de Ville

Many of the old favorite restaurants in the Mile End have gone out of business and been replaced with more expensive fancy restaurants. Cilei had the idea to paint one of our favorite burger joints here in NDG called Burger de Ville, which also has a store in the Mile End! It had been closed for 8 months due to a grease fire, so this was part of their grand reopening. After having a nice burger (mushroom burger and a beef burger with fries) I made this challenging painting standing across the street. There were two ladies sitting there, but I replaced them with the likenesses of me and Cilei. Her job was to keep the curious bystanders away from me while I painted, but she went off and got a cupcake. Anyways, I talked to quite a few folks while completing this one!
 

Burger de Ville, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2900)

Square-Victoria-OACI Station, Orange Line Metro

 

The next stop on my Saturday painting trip was the Square Victoria-OACI station which has a landmark open air entrance modeled after the metro in Paris. This entrance is adorned with intricate metal-work, not a straight line to be found. The metal was a pale green oxidized copper with yellow/orange signage and red bulbs on the antennas. Even the concrete support had an undulating, organic form. This was not the first time I sat on the location of a famous metro entrance, I once painted the St. Enoch station in Scotland. Like the Scotland scene, this too seemed impossible. The painting began with a rough outline, then a filling on of the background. The metal-work was created with a neutral green mix of yellow ochre (PY43) phthalo green (PG36) and a touch of carbon black (PBk6), then shadowed with perylene green (PBk31). The natural elements were built up in successive layers and then textured with brush work. I finished with the stone inlays on the ground.

Metropolitan Entrance, Square-Victoria-OACI Station, Orange Line Metro, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2899)

 

From google maps I had found another entrance to the station, which was less picturesque than the last one. To capture the true feeling of this station entrance and its immediate environment I sat just under the front door sign looking straight up. The angles were dizzying! To get the perspective I continually held the paper up to the scene and pulled it away quickly. By doing this repeatedly you can see if your drawing frame is okay. There may have been a few mistakes on the perspective but you really do get that feeling, like you are going into the station and taking one last look up before descending. 

Looking Up, Square-Victoria-OACI Station, Orange Line Metro,watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2758)

 

It seemed time to go home, and then one last entrance caught my eye. It is on a wide street, partly blocked off by a construction project. All the cones gave me a protected spot to stand and make this painting safely. The traffic was steadily going by, even a cop car. I wonder what they all thought about the guy making a painting out of the back of his bike pack? The reflection was the main draw here, it is always difficult with the dark shadow scenes. I got the traffic and yet another construction project int he composition too. This entrance looked closed, it was fenced off and nobody was going in or out. At the end of the day, I noticed how my dirty water was a thick grey, rather than the green that I get when painting nature. The dirty water gives an approximation of the average colour of the locations I painted. Starting in 2020 I have been keeping the dirty water and disposing of it at home instead of pitching it on location.

Reflection, Square-Victoria-OACI Station, Orange Line Metro, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2925)

Saturday painting trip, what is gained

 

In a recent blog I showed some work I did down in an old parking lot, it was used for overflow parking for the Bell Centre events like hockey games or music shows. There were lots of good angles, landmarks, and classic Montreal scenes of snow piled up higher than the cars. What is gained? The condo development is massive in scale, up to four skyscraper condo buildings are there, one of them still under construction. There are some good things about these developments, it gives some affordable housing albeit one or two bedrooms for yuppies, and helps prevent traffic since these people can live and work downtown. If it were up to me I would have planted a forest there. If you look hard enough there is one tree in the middle hiding behind a building.

Condo development near Bell Centre, watercolour 6 x 7.5 " cold press, July 2021 (No. 2924)

 

I was heading East to the metro stations when this scene caught the corner of my eye as I raced by on my bicycle. It took a few minutes to ride back against the flow luckily the sidewalk was wide enough! The commuter train was not moving since this was done on Saturday so I had plenty of time to make a good painting. Since it was overcast I could stand without any shade, just my bucket hat and sunglasses to offer some protection. I liked the dimensions and depth of this scene, it shows you how the city can be a labyrinth of tunnels, bridges and lane ways.

Commuter train downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2756)

 

The first planned stop on my Saturday painting trip was the inside of Bonadventure station. Last week I painted some of the exterior entrances, but the scenes just did not convey the right feeling of the station which is a major transportation hub. I descended down several flights of concrete stairways to reach the familiar platform entrance that connects to the Montreal underground and VIA rail station. The platform has impressive vaulted ceilings populated by bright lamps. The painting shows the main entrance and exit, dozens of people were going back and forth in waves. This is definitely the way I want to convey the Bonadventure station... like a journey into a mysterious cave.

Bonadventure Station, Orange Line Metro, Interior, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2757)

 

 

Barbados Trip 2001, bright colours

 

Barbados is a popular tourist destination in the Caribbean, dozens of planes would land there every day. I was in Barbados for two weeks awhile ago, it was a brief vacation during the PhD, and the plane tickets were a fraction of the price at the time due to world events. This painting is a re-paint, the original belongs to a family member. When I got back the paintings were so popular but I didn't want to sell the originals so I repainted quite a few of them.

Motel in Barbados (repaint) watercolour, 5 x 7" cold press, 2004 (No. 1162)

This one was done on location, one of the first ones I did after arriving. Back in London Ontario it was grey and gloomy, and that feeling permeates the early works from Barbados. I knew it would take a few days to get in the groove. To capture the sea greens, I used emerald green which was a convenience mix of phthalo green, white, and yellow that was discontinued by Winsor and Newton, french ultramarine (PB29) and some yellow. 

Shoreline, Hastings Barbados, watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, November 2001 (No. 1157)

 

Bridgetown is the capital of Barbados, it is a hustling and bustling town filled with taxi cabs, tourists and restaurants. This archway greets you when entering the city. It looks like I used cerulean blue in the shadow underneath the arch, and rose madder genuine in the pink highlights.

Archway, Bridgetown Barbados, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2001 (1158)

 

I found this abandoned shed on one of the beaches. The coral-coloured plaster matched the intense pink sand and rocks. In the background, the jewel-like Caribbean sea and frothy white surf. You can see how I adjusted the palette as the trip wore on, this painting was much more colourful and airy. It makes me want to go back!

Coral shed, St. Joseph, Barbados, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2001 (No. 1159)

 

This platform was built near the sea, it was probably meant for gatherings and tourists. The locals would gather on Friday night around the fish market and have these massive parties with barbecue fish, beer and loud dance music. It was quite the scene. I got to know several locals on the trip and they showed me around. One lady was actually from London Ontario but had been living in Barbados for 20 years after. There are a few other Barbados paintings on my blog you can find them by going to the web version, search Barbados. I also updated a few of the blog photos here and here.

Curved Wall, Hastings Barbados, watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, November 2001 (No. 1160)

 

Maisonneuve Bike Path, Hampton Garden

Somebody planted a garden next to the bike path about half way between Loyola Campus and Vendome Station. I stopped to make a painting of the scene standing across the street on the corner of Maisonneuve and Hampton. There were tiger lilies, hostas, and hand painted signs attached to the fence. To capture the rich greens of the tiger lilies I used phthalo green yellow shade (PG36) with isoindo yellow (PY110), and variations of brown and green with perylene green (PBk31) and burnt sienna (PR101). Recently I put the incredible pyrrole orange (PO73) back on the palette which came in handy for the tiger lilies.

Hampton Garden, Maisonneuve Bike Path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2754)

Mile End Retrospective

When I first moved to Montreal (the first time I was born there!), I asked the landlord if there were restaurants or anything interesting in the neighborhood. In fact, the Mile End was a hot spot for entertainment, people were fighting over rentals in the neighborhood just because of how 'hipster' it was. Nowadays the rent is high and it has gentrified, meaning that the cool cheap stores and restautrants closed up and moved elsewhere. One standout is Club Social, a popular cafe known for coffee, tea, and a great sitting area on the corner of Av d l'Esplanade and St. Viateur. In the mornings you can smell the fresh bagels cooking down at St. Viateur bagel. I made this painting awhile ago, it captures the hustle bustle of the cafe patrons, with an apparition-like car in the foreground.

Club Social, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, 2007 (No. 1074)

 

Determined to capture the local landscape, I found a quasi-industrial scene up on Van Horne. This row of old factories had been turned into small business and antique stores. I have not been back in awhile, probably rows of Condos now. I payed attention to the traffic lights, cars, and even the billboard. If I had done this painting now, I would have put my initials on the car's license plate!

Car and Green Lights (Van Horne), watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, 2007 (No. 1071)

 

Here is a similar scene on a different corner, complete with graffiti, cars and detailed traffic lights. Judging by the sky it may have been done on the same day as the last one. At least I  had written the location and date on the back of this one.

Busy Corner (Bernard x Parc), watercolour 4.5 x 9" cold press, 2007 (No. 1070)

 

The cracks on the road make interesting lines, in this composition I included Parc avenue in all its faults. The foreground is anchored by a recycling bin, and the background shows the bottom portion of a fruit delivery truck. This is just in front of the Mile End Fruiterié, a famous location that is still there. If I go back perhaps I will make a painting of the store, it is very brightly coloured.

Fruit Truck, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2010 (No. 1072)

 

This was done just across Parc Avenue at the beginning of Outremont at a small park between the grocery stores. Orange tiger lilies made a nice contrast against the purplish bench. Considering I did not understand colours at the time, it was remarkable that I could capture that range of colours. The purple was probably cerulean blue, french ultramarine and rose madder genuine or permanent rose perhaps I had both. It was an ambitious painting, and I can tell there were minimal outlines made. Now, those benches are painted differently each time by various artists, like physically painted. One of my next painting trips should be out there again.

Purple Bench with Tiger Lilies (Outremont) watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

Maisonneuve bike path, up the hill

 

Riding east from Loyola on the Maisonneuve bike path there is a small hill that leads eventually to Vendome metro station. Turning left at the top of this hill would bring you along Grand Boulevard and into NDG. I found a safe spot to stand and make this painting, using my bike pack as a mini-studio complete with brushes, water, rags, paper and palette all ready to go. By safe I mean away from the bike path a little bit, not standing in poison ivy that grows around here, and out of the direct sun. This scene was interesting to me because of the bike path, you see the green markers that help the cars and bikes see the edge of the lane, and the raised concrete they put at the junctions. The scene also reminded me of some paintings I made of the Mile End a long time ago- rows of houses with cars and trees. I scanned some recently and will make a new blog.

Maisonneuve bike path, up the hill, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2755)

What is lost, A parking lot in Montreal

Recently I visited the area just next to the Bell Centre where I made some painting years ago, only to find the whole area filled with towering condos. The painting above was done in 2007, there was already a big sky scraper just to the left of the milk bottle landmark. On its right is the Le 1000 De La Gauchetière edifice, one of the tallest office building in Montreal, which was opened in 1992. The little condos in the foreground are park of the block I recently painted.
 

Big Bottle, Summer,  watercolour 4.5 x 8.5" cold press, 2007 (No. 1088)

This painting was done 10 years earlier than the previous one, during winter. The snow was literally falling on the painting which created some neat snow -like effects. The milk bottle landmark is seen over the tops of the condos, made to look small by the big sky scraper which I think is a hotel. You can see the outlines around the shapes, that was to prevent the colours from bleeding together, like around the top of the building you see the brick colour seeping into the sky colour. This is hard to manage in the winter when painting outside.

Big Bottle, Winter,  watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, 1997 (No. 1056)

 

This was done at the same location a little earlier, the sun was starting to go down. I loved the contrast between the small car and the mountain of snow. You can see the puny buildings in the background which are now replaced with the sky scrapers. In fact, the whole scene here is gone. I will go back and try to paint something here soon, but the only decent views now are looking straight up!

Red Car Snow Pile,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997 (No. 1061)

 

This was the last painting of that trip, it took some real confidence to take on a winter sunset, perhaps the hardest combination of things to paint in watercolour. When the sun goes down the paint stays wet, and the scene changes rapidly. I can also recall being very cold at this point I had been sitting in my camping chair for several hours. The result is remarkable, the lilacs and peach colours contrast nicely with the warm concrete of the apartment and glowing snow piles.

Apartment Sunset Winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997 (No. 1062)

View from Cilei's unfinished house

This painting was done on location, sitting on the unfinished top floor of Cilei's house in Brazil that her father has built. The house is nearly done now, it will be great to be able to visit again maybe next year and make a painting of the finished house. The green mixtures here are light and bright, filled with a variety of yellow and minty greens. When you are immersed in the South American landscape, you  feel bathed in light and heat.

View from Cilei's unfinished house in Recanto Verde in Cotia, São Paulo Brazil,  watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, 2017 (No. 1286)

Maisonneuve bike path west

 

In the midst of a busy day at work in the laboratory I got out for lunch hour to make this quick painting of the Maisonneuve bike, approximately where it begins here in NDG. In the midground is the back side of the Snowdon bakery with graffiti, and in the background are some of the apartments on Harley Street and blowing trees. I made a few adjustments to my palette, I put on PO73 pyrrole orange and moved the isoindo yellow up to the green section. I also added raw sienna to the green section. Those changes were to 1. have a good orange for painting pylons, and 2. brighten up the green mixes. I had tried using orange with green but it goes a bit muddy. It is subtle, but the greens in this paintings are sparkling and minty.

Maisonneuve bike path west, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2753)

Saturday Painting Trip, Downtown Montreal

 

Yesterday I rode downtown via the Maisonneuve bike path and turned south on Stanley Street to reach the Windsor Station building which now houses one of the main entrances to Bonadventure metro station. This is in very close proximity to the Bell Centre where the Canadiens play hockey, so the station likely serves the massive crowds on game day. On Saturday it was very quiet though, had the Habs won game 5 maybe there would have been a game 6 crowd here for a home game but we will wait until next season. The great facade of the building had a covered entrance, there were skylights casting grey squares of light onto the interlocking brick, and artificial lights illuminating the ceiling and intricate brickwork. Outside was a bright sunny day although it kept switching from overcast to sun which made the painting even more of a challenge.

Bonadventure Station Orange Line, Windsor Station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2923)

 

The other entrance was a non-de script drive in parking lot although people were walking in and out here too. I was standing on a massive raised platform of the Place Canada office tower, looking down on a steep road I believe is Cathedral road. The angles were odd, for example the sidewalk was nearly parallel with the bottom edge of the painting, while the lines of the structure were slanting up at about 20 degrees. I used the tree to anchor the composition, and stuck to the plan throughout the painting process. These shadow-scenes are tough to get right, I would change the shadow mix next time to be less iron oxide. These Bonadventure paintings did not capture the essence I know from this station, it is where you go when you are setting off to travel, like train or bus to airport. I think next time I will try to go in and make an interior painting of the station, it has several underground entrance points that should have more of the character I am after.

Bonadventure Station Orange Line, Parking Entrance, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2750)

 

Heading back up Rue de La Montagne I caught a view of the chalet on top of Mount Royal. I have made a few painting from the vantage point of the chalet for example in 2019, or an earlier one done in winter of 1997. The fore ground was entirely in shadow, with reflected window light casting a pattern on the street. The middle ground was bathed in warm sun, brilliant chartreuse trees filled the view, and a lady in a white dress was walking calmly across the street which contrasted the traffic, construction and noise of the city. The chalet is tucked away in the center top, with the radio tower prominent on the horizon. There were bewildering construction signs everywhere, I painted them with pyrole red vermilion (PR255) and indo yellow (PY110), next time I go down town I have to remember to bring the incredible pyrole orange (PO72).

Rue De La Montagne, view of the mountain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2751)

 

Finally I rode by the old parking lot where I made a painting of a famous milk bottle landmark. In the old painting you can sense the expanse, but now it is a solid block of skyscraper condominiums with no hint of the old landmarks. In this painting, I framed some of the wonderful old triplex condos probably circa 19th century, with a jumble of parked cars (remember the parking lots, all gone now), and a few bits of the towering shards of glass buildings at the very top. I liked this scene due to the neutral yellow  and blue buildings. The yellow is a pastel, I made it with yellow ochre (PY43) and a touch of carbon black (PBk6) with the right amount of water. I learned that mix last year at the Joliette station location, you see the same colour in the yellow bricks there. On the other side is the pastel blue house which looks almost violet, in fact that colour is called periwinkle and made with indothrone blue (PB60) and a touch of carbon black, with the right amount of water. Once again, I used the tree to anchor the composition in the middle. There was a street light growing through its foliage.

Avenue Overdale, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2752)

Palette Cleanser: Patterns

 

After completing the end-to-end bicycle and painting trip I have to admit I was a little burned out. Some years I completed 50 painting in the whole year, here I had done that many in a week! The palette itself was a mess too, and I had done a few more paintings just to use up the last of the yellow and perylene green which turned out to be the most popular colours of the trip. In this palette cleanser, I drew inspiration from the trip, capturing a range of greens and blues with other accent colours. That prominent green in the lower right is phthalo green yellow shade (PG36), similar to the blue shade version but much better for making clean greens.  

Palette Cleanser: Patterns, 9 x 12" watercolour paper, watercolour, July 2021 (No. 2887)

A few more memories from London Ontario

 

London Ontario exists on the confluence of the Thames river which snakes its way through the city. A cycling path was built up and down its shore line, providing for great views of the fall leaves and exciting reflections on the water surface. This scene captures the spirit of the landscape, it was cold but sunny when I did this, must have been late fall.

Thames River Trees Embankment, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1996 (No. 0458)

 

This is a portrait of the enormous residence hall where many students (including myself) stay in the first or second year. Also called the zoo by the way. It seems to soar over top of the beige and olive-green trees. The dark neutral shadow side looks right, must have been a complex mix of alizarin crimson and other neutralizing cool paints.

Saugeen Maitland Residence UWO, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1996  (No. 0459)

The University of Western Ontario campus is quite amazing, in this scene you see the overpass between two of the buildings, seen from atop the main hill. It is a very delicate painting, with wispy branches, perhaps the season was just between winter and spring. The tunnel reflection is neat, almost photographic in its likeness. Another neat painting from UWO was the Mustangs scoreboard in winter. It seems like just yesterday I was anticipating my departure from Bolton, going to UWO, site unseen to start a new chapter in my life.

Passageway UWO Campus , watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997 (No. 0461)

 

This scene was from a local park with a kids pool, it was empty at the time. It was a challenging painting, I remember thinking about how to get the light-on-dark details of the chair frame. These kinds of paintings would steadily build my confidence as a landscape painter.

Lifeguard Chair,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997 (No. 0469)

The sprawling apartment buildings were springing up all over the old farm land. This painting was nearly ruined by rainfall, but in the end it looked amazing. The little dots are where the rain hit the moist painting. You can only get this effect through pure chance. Now if it starts raining I try to get a few water drops on it just for effect, like in the recent bench under pine tree painting.

Apartments Rainy Day, watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, 1997 (No. 0470)