Coffee Park with Fence

Today was a beautiful Autumn day not too cold and a bright blue sky. There is a little park near the train tracks close to where I work called coffee park. Recently they built a small basketball court which you can see to the left of the painting. A walking path cuts through the park leading past the court, a play area, and out to Westminster street. I have painted here quite frequently due to the proximity and the interesting contours. Here is another painting from coffee park. 

Impressionism is all about transmitting the feeling of a location using colour and texture. In this painting, I exaggerated some of  the colours from the trees which were just beginning to change from green to orange. I also established some expressive lines and textures on the foliage. I hope you get the feeling of a cool Autumn day and an interesting little park in the city.
 

Coffee Park with Fence, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2833)

Jean-Talon Station, Orange Line Metro

Jean-Talon is a busy street best known for its market, the Jean-Talon market which has about a hundred food vendor mostly produce. There are several metro entrances on Jean-Talon including this one which is farthest to the East. It looks like an old building, I recognize the prolific use of concrete and odd angles in the architecture. To paint the bricks I used red ochre and iron oxide red, with slight touches of green. Adding green to orange makes a little darker and yellower. The windows are dark turquoise, made with indo blue (PB60), phthalo green (PG36), carbon black (PBk6), and just enough water.

Jean-Talon Station, Orange Line Metro, Sunset, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2929)

This scene shows a new entrance, they use a fashionable charcoal-black brick and big windows. Unfortunately the only place to stand was across the street, and the sun was low enough to cast a shadow over the whole structure. On the foreground is half of Jean-Talon street).

Jean-Talon Station, Orange Line Metro, New Entrance, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2832)

Rosemont Station, Orange Line Metro

From Sherbrooke Station, I would either continue South to Old Montreal and the bike path that goes along the river, or go North to the other stations. While I was out there, might as well go to the next station. It was an easy bike ride thanks to a new bike path on St. Denis Street, completely separated from the cars it was a great ride. In the old days you would take your life in your hands riding on St. Denis. Unfortunately the Rosemont station was under construction. I almost passed it, then out of the corner of my eye I saw the metro sign peeking through the scaffolding. Behind it was the construction company's blue sign, and the sky, also blue! With the blue tarps it was four kinds of blue.
 

Rosemont Station, Orange Line Metro, Construction, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2831)

Sherbrooke Station, Orange Line Metro

After my last trip to this station, I have been thinking about returning in the fall to capture the changing colours. There is a small park, well, some grass with a path and two benches, where I could set up my bike-studio and make this painting. The composition includes a warm yellow and orange carpet of fallen leaves in the foreground with some relatively cool middle ground and background elements. The bright blue sky plays off well against the leaves. Of course I used ferrari red (PR254) for the fire hydrant! To make the yellows and oranges, I put down a base of quinacridone violet (PV12) with benzi yellow lemon (PY175) or maybe it was PY154 they are very similar. Then I infused it with benzi yellow and pyrol orange (PO73). Those are all incredible paints, very bright. They were first introduced in the mid 20^th century.

Sherbrooke Station, Orange Line Metro, Fall Leaves, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2909)

Mont-Royal Station, Orange Line Metro

With Autumn upon us, I decided to ride out to the Orange line while the weather was still nice. It was a cool sunny, partly cloudy day, still good for short sleeves. The Mont-Royal station was completely under construction, the only scene I could find was at the rear where there was a small patch of grass to stand on. The blue is indothrene blue (PB60) with some carbon black, which is otherwise known as indigo. Some painters add burnt sienna to make dark blue, I used to do that, but it will de-saturate the blue hue. So adding black is the best way to make dark blue, and to start with a paint that is literally dark blue like indothrene blue. It is a great paint, although on the more expensive side of the products. What's a couple of extra bucks though?

Mont-Royal Station, Orange Line Metro Construction, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2830)

Coffee Park End of Summer

With the end of summer upon us, the leaves are starting to fall and the air is getting chilly. I painted this scene earlier in the year when it was cold and snowy, it seems like years ago but it was just January. The weather today was much nicer, so I did a little painting on lunch hour. There was a picnic bench to sit on, so I could set up my paints properly. In fact I am so used to painting in awkward situations, it actually felt weird to paint on a flat surface for once! 

This scene was very drab and dark due to cloudy conditions, but it was important to give the feeling that summer was still a near dear memory. So the grass was painted with more chroma and contrast than in real life and I adjusted the brown shade of the trees to be warmer. This was the first time painting with the adjusted palette, raw umber was removed and replaced with dark rose red (PV19). It is a Schmincke paint called quinacridone violet. The names are confusing in this range of colours, that is why 'dark rose red' is more accurate... between magenta and red, and very dark. It mixes warm browns and intense oranges, and makes great greys.
 

Coffee Park End of Summer, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2829)

Bike Ride to Mile-End

Parc Avenue has many famous shops and restaurants. Epicerie Mile-End is Epicerie Mile-End. It is best known for its colourful displays of fruit and vegetables. To make this painting I established the perspective lines and most of the details except for the produce. I filled in the yellow and the sidewalk, and established the interior lights to give it a glow. Finally I painted in all the fruit and veg which was immense fun. Many people were looking over my shoulder for this one and I got a few compliments on the work.

Epicerie Mile-End Perspective, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2907)

 

This was the first painting I did from across the street. It was entirely back lit by a strong sun. I layered greys and browns to create the base, and did the awning with dark yellow. There were dim lights under the awning illuminating the produce. It was difficult to judge the colours from this distance and with the awkward lighting so I moved into the shadow and with perspective for the larger painting.

Epicerie Mile-End Backlit, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2828)

 

On the way back the tam-tam festival caught my attention. It is a weekly gathering of like minded folk who like to play bongo drums and smoke cannabis. The thick blue smoke was emanating from the crowd of people dancing and enjoying the summer sun. To capture the cannabis smoke I rubbed in a greyish purple mix of cobalt blue (PB28) and magenta (PR122). Painting crowds is always a challenge, the people were represented by abstract forms and colours.

Tam-tam Festival, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2928)

Saturday Bike Ride and Painting

The Lachine canal was built in the 19^th century and it was expanded several times to accommodate larger vessels. Now it is only used for recreation and small boats to bypass the main river. The entrance to the canal has been mostly filled in with grass to create a small picnic area. In the painting, you see a narrow passage in the middle ground, with the curving stone wall that once marked the main central entrance point. In the foreground is the grassy field that would have once been water. In the background is Lachine, they demolished more of the old factories and warehouses probably to make more condos.

Lachine Canal Entrance, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2825)

 

Following the bike path through Ranger park and along the waterfront of La Salle, I reached the Honoré Mercier Bridge which has two halves to it, as seen in the painting. There is a gravel parking area for utility vehicles that was empty, so I had a good vantage point to paint from. The sun was going down rapidly, that shadow you see on the grass was moving across the scene the whole time. Getting the perspective correct was important, I held the paper up to the scene and marked a few spots on the paper for accurate angles.

Between Bridges, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2906)

 

The timing was about right to catch a good sunset in the Turcot valley. I arrived a bit early so had a coffee there from a thermos I brought along. When the sun hit the horizon I noticed that one of the lamps was overlapping the sun perfectly, making it look like the sunset was emanating from the street lamp. As usual there was plenty of graffiti, and I changed it to resemble my signature for this year, PJD 21. The trick with this painting was getting the values correct. You can't mess around or lose time, so the first application of paint has to be the right value. Luckily it worked out, and you really get the illusion of a brilliant sunset on NDG.

Sunset on NDG, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2826)

 

On the way back I noticed a shimmering full moon and knew exactly where I could paint it! There is an embankment at Trenholme Park, I painted a scene there last year. The lighting was from amber lights around the soccer pitch, so I had to adjust the colouration accordingly. Blue and green looks grey and yellows look pale when painting under amber lights, something I learned recently painting sunflowers on Somerled Avenue. None-the-less I was not sure it worked until I saw it at home under white light... the colours and values are almost identical to what I remember seeing. The night clouds were more of a shimmering greyish tone, but that would have been difficult to achieve along with the dark cyan sky. Next time I will try to get it all.

Moon over Warehouse, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2827)

Old Tree on Campus

There is an old tree on campus, it looks quite dead in fact, it did not make any leaves this year. It seemed almost ghoulish for a tree with this appearance to be standing among the gleaming ivy covered University buildings. The setting sun created an orange glow on the top of the central building and the old tree. Painting overlapping elements like this with watercolour is tricky, getting the sky to look seamless requires some accurate brushwork. The sky colour was a mix of cobalt blue (PB28) and phthalo blue (PB15). The roof which is oxidized copper, was done with phthalo green (PG36) which also has a copper in its chemical structure. The bricks of course were painted with iron oxide pigments, the very same that are probably used in the bricks. Art imitates life!

Old Tree on Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2824)

Sunset on Walkley

 

After yet another long day on the job I squeezed in one painting before nightfall looking north on Walkley street. They are painting a new mural on the side of the grocery store, it is not in the painting, but they had a small scaffolding there which blocked the sidewalk a bit giving me a place to stand. The tree trunk was twisty and turning, the cars were lined up along the street, and the red brick apartments were nestled among the numerous trees. 

Sunset on Walkley, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2823)

Sun Setting on Loyola Campus

 This scene was from Loyola campus, I painted it just after work when the sun was setting over the Psychology building. The composition created a menacing appearance to the building, it is melting at the bottom, with a dim sun penetrating the overcast sky. I meant this painting to be a metaphor for change, for modernization of the campus. More so than the campus, a modernization of the way people think. Its a lot for a tiny painting of a roof! 

I used to paint darks with a witches brew of paints. Now I use dark paints, and no more than two or three accent paints. For example, the roof was perylene green (PBk31) with carbon black (PBk6) and some iso yellow (PY110) for the highlight at the top. The roof did not really look this way, it was a flat green like a chalk board, but I wanted the sun to be almost dripping onto the building. The bricks were done with a layer of burnt sienna mixed with the green from the roof on the palette, and over painted with pure burnt sienna (PR101/PBr7). Finally, the tree was perylene maroon (PR179) with carbon black, and iso yellow for highlights.  

In simple terms, I use dark paints and black to start the mixes, then adjust with other colours. The signature on this one was pyrol red (PR254), and I added a little to the tree too. I almost always finish a painting with the signature, and use some of the same paint for the signature for the last few brush strokes.

Sun Setting on Loyola Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2822)

September Palette, thoughts of Fall

Over the summer I made some adjustments to the palette, mainly to accommodate more yellow paint and to swap out a few like caput mortum (PR101) that was a little too dull and opaque. In the paint-out shown above, from top left going clockwise, the colours are grouped into five earth paints, three dark paints, one green, three yellows, black, two blues, magenta, red, orange, and another yellow. They are arranged more or less by their hue, and grouped by their general use. For example, the top right section is for making green foliage. The only new one is the fourth, I replaced the tea-coloured umber (PBr7) with a warm chocolaty brown called transparent umber (PR101) from Schmincke. The transparent umber is a great mixer, and is almost identical to burnt umber.

As fall approaches, the leaves of the trees will start to turn various shades of yellow, orange and red. Painting in fall has always been a challenge, one memorable one was done in London Ontario of a river reflecting the fall colours. In that painting I exaggerated the chroma to produce the feeling of fall colours even though the scene was rather drab in real life. One thing I may try this fall is to use dark magenta (PV19) mixed with yellow...it gives a range of yellow, orange and red that is about half way between full chroma and dull. It may be just the thing to get a natural looking range of colours this fall. 

September Palette, watercolour, sketchbook, 2021

A Few Paintings from Lachine Canal

Today after picking up some fresh soil for one of our palm trees, I zipped down to the canal using the new bike path than connects NDG to the bike path. There is a large steel giant, probably an old off loading device for the industrial activity that used to thrive in this area. You can also see the bike path and one of the several foot bridges that spans the canal. The water was a dark turquoise, I mixed ith with indo blue (PB60) perylene green (PBk31) and some carbon black (PBK6). The ripples were painted with transparent brown (PR101) and a bit of raw sienna (PBr7).  

Lachine Canal Steel Giant, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2820)

 

There is a little copse of interesting trees growing along the canal. On top they look like an aspen or poplar, on bottom they are a rigged bark almost like a pine tree. Perhaps they are some sort of hybrid. I always wanted to make a painting of them, and the scene is much more spectacular than you see in this small painting. I composed the tree so that it reached into the sky, and had no visible bottom to it. The shapes in the middle ground are shipping containers, while the tree line on the horizon is actually NDG and the secret spot they recently developed into a bike and pedestrian path.

Hybrid Tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2821)

Crescent Moon Over Auto Shop

On the way back from the grocery store there was a spectacular crescent moon over the auto shop across the street. I didn't have my paints with me, so I made a mental note of the exact time and decided to go back another day. Then, I figured might as well do it now. Now or never they say. There was no light on my paper or palette so I had to work fast. I used a filbert brush for the whole painting, it is about a half inch with a crescent shape tip.  Getting the sky blue was tough, the bottom part is a dark cyan, the top more blue-grey. The clouds still had some residual salmon-pink from the sunset, just before night.
 

Crescent Moon Over Auto Shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2819)

Saturday Painting, Old Port Montreal

After picking up some of our favorite things at Anatol a bulk store in Little Italy, including peanut butter, coffee and pistachios, I headed southbound on St Urbain and found the old port after a bumpy ride down a cobblestone lane way. This scene shows the museum and in the distance, one of the large elevators they have to move grains off the boats and into the factories. The sky was moody today, plenty of grey clouds with the threat of rain.

Old Montreal view of Old Port, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2817)
 

There were only a few places to get a view of the port and the water. I found my way over to the Habitat Montreal, that is the cray condo building they put up for Expo 67. Looking across the river, you could see one of the areas they set up for people to go and enjoy the sun. The chairs were very colourful against the drab backdrop of Montreal on a cloudy day. This was the second try, at first I composed the lawn and chairs towards the top of the painting, but here I cut a line across the bottom and gave the city more weight on the top two thirds.

 Colourful Chairs Old Port Montreal, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2905)
 

 

I couldn't resist doing this painting. Door number three, three cars, and three tires. Also the third painting of the trip!

Door Number Three, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2818)
 

Ca Lem

 Nearby campus is an ice cream parlor called CaLem that has recently expanded to have several chains around Montreal. But it started in NDG, right here! They recently changed the front of their store to include a wide seating area with a decorative VW bus and green awning. I made the painting from across the street just after work today. A curious onlooker thought it was a nice painting and encouraged me to keep going. There were actually a lot of people sitting and standing, eating the delicious artisanal ice cream.

Ca Lem, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2816)

Metro Parking Lot with Sunflowers

On the way back from work, I ordered a pizza and had only 16 minutes to complete this painting before the pizza was ready. I came close but went over perhaps 2 minutes. In all these years I never knew how long it took me to do a painting! 

To capture the busy parking lot, a number of cars were included the bottom of the composition without much sense of where the actual parking lot really is. The jumble of cars provides a metallic base from which all of the foliage emanates from. Each tree had a different shade of green. The dark greens are perylene green with isoindo yellow (PBk31 and PY110), the lighter ones are similar but with some phthalo green (PG36) or yellow (PY175). The sunflowers were the real star of the show, but they are composed in a small section on the bottom right in order to show you how they appear in the setting of a parking lot on Somerled Avenue. I signed it Peter because van Gogh sometimes signed Vincent, especially his sunflower paintings.  

Metro Parking Lot with Sunflowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2815)

A Maze of Powers

 This painting was inspired by the complexity of the University, as well as a game I am playing on my smartphone entailing a pixelated character running through an endless labyrinth. To contrast the power elements there is a backdrop of earth colours made from iron oxide paints. Elements such as earth, wind, fire, plants are depicted in between. This was also yet another palette cleanser, where I am literally cleaning the paint blobs on my palette. It would have been nice to paint outside but the days and weeks are going to be long and hard for the next little while due to work intensity picking up in September. So it was nice to sit down and make a creative painting.

Palette Cleanser: A Maze of Powers, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2021 (No. 2889)

Sunday Painting in Rain Storm

 

The city set up a colourful light display along Sherbrooke street surrounded by deck chairs for people to congregate. The installation rotates through about a dozen different neon-like colours including the magenta seen in the painting. Unfortunately for me it started to rain a little, then a lot! A full on rain storm had caught me way out on Sherbrooke while on foot. I managed to mostly finish the painting before heading to shelter across the street.

Magenta Display, Rain Storm watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2813)

 

While sheltering under the front entrance of an apartment building (the one you see in the background of the first painting), cars were stopping and going through a nearby intersections. Their head lights were piercing through the downpour. To make matters worse, the strap on my shoulder bag broke off causing my art supplies to tumble on the ground. Gathering myself, and fixing the strap, I then embarked on this painting, done in the midst of a deluge. Although under a small overhang the rain drops were still pelting the painting, creating a splattered effect. I added the rain lines and small signature at home. The paper was slightly ripped, buckled, messy and wet! But in the end it looks cool on the blog.

Car Headlights in Rain Storm, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2814)

Chef Tang restaurant, Verdun

 

On the way home I stopped at Chef Tang's restaurant on Verdun street in order to make a painting, and to pick up some of their famous grilled duck. It was as good as a grilled duck as I have ever had, all from the little hole in the wall restaurant in Verdun! I did the painting while I waited to pick up the food, standing across the street I had a good view of the illuminated sign with the deep blue sky providing a brilliant backdrop. 

To enhance the intensity of the blue I used a combination of phthalo blue sapphire (PB15) and cobalt blue (PB28), then added indo blue and carbon black. The carbon black seems to have dried a bit greyish, next time I will omit it, and trust the darkness of indo blue (PB60), or neutralize it slightly with pyrol orange (PO73) which gives a mauve tint. Anyways, the sky really plays well off the dark bricks and wire apparatus on the roof. The bricks were iron oxide red (PR101/PBr7) with the carbon black (PBk6). My palette was a right mess this morning.

Chef Tang restaurant at nightfall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2812)

Champlain Bridge, Ess Shape

 

From doing a lot of crossword puzzles I know that 'ess' is how you spell the letter 's', which also describes this access point to the Champlain Bridge. They recently completed a massive renovation project which included a widened bike path over to Nun's Island, and even a new bike path going under and towards Point St. Charles along the river which is not open yet. I found a good spot to stand on the Nun's bike path with this chaotic view of the highway merging onto the bridge. I wanted to create a sense of disorientation about where I was standing, so when you look at this painting, you are also not sure where you are standing. Just a pile of concrete barriers and confusing signs. 

Having a good line can make all the difference in a painting. To establish the Ess shape I made a single energetic brush stroke that was not exactly true to the scene but looked great. The actual scene had less of a tilt on the bridge perspective, but I wanted it to seemingly stretch from top to bottom. It was also important to get that tow-truck sign (middle right) in there, just to add to the sense of chaos!

Champlain Bridge, Ess Shape, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2811)

Lachine Canal, Red Buoy

The Lachine Canal used to be an important industrial conduit through the factories that lined the canal. Remnants of the industrial era remain, like the brick works factory in the background of the painting. Slowly but surely these locations are being consumed by luxury condos and a few nature-regeneration projects. In the foreground, the shore is populated by a variety of vines, yellow flowers, and grassy reeds. 

In oil painting colours can be applied over top of a base layer. If I was using oil paints the red buoy would have been easily painted over the blue water. Instead I started with the red buoy and then surrounded it by the water effect. When it all dried, the values had shifted, the red darker value than the blue, when in fact the red was lower value than the blue. This occurred because the red dried darker than I thought, and the blue lightened. Next time I will establish the blue first, check the value, then do the red last. All the little red reflections in the rippling water have to painted the same way, by going around (not over) the background.

Lachine Canal, Red Buoy, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2810)

Dépanneur Verdun at Night

On Verdun street in Verdun there is a Dépanneur called Dépanneur Verdun. Fun? I made this painting real quick last night on the way back to NDG, the sign was actually even taller than this but I just had the 5 x 7" paper block. The shop keeper was standing outside the whole time under the sign, when I turned the bike around he was interested to see the painting and we talked a bit. He thought perhaps he was in the painting, but I told him I rarely include people in the paintings, just signs and buildings. If I do include people its usually just anonymous squiggles. 

To paint the sky here I used indo blue (PB60) with carbon black (PBk6) and then more black as the sky went up. The keys to this paining were the orange reflection on the brick, and the jet-black steel frame around the sign, which I did with a heavy mix of indo blue, perylene maroon (PR179), perylene green (PBk31) and carbon black. The blue sky provides an interesting complement to the warm orange light from the sign.

Dépanneur Verdun at night, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2809)

Trenholme Park with Wasp

 

I have made many paintings in Trenholme park, mainly because it is once of the nicest parks within walking distance of our Condo. Today I focused on the interesting angle of the path and patterns on the soccer pitch. After learning more about folk artist Maud Lewis, I decided to incorporate some of the elements from her style. For example, the painting shows many familiar objects, including a menacing wasp that flew by as I made the painting. In fact, the wasp was quite interested in the iron-oxide pigments and spent some time on my palette trying to eat them. I just let it be, unfortunately it would not stay still and eventually flew off. The grass was very dry, you see I used raw sienna which is the colour of a sandy beach to depict the grass. All the other foliage had a heavy orange tint which I created with isoindo yellow (PY110) and perylene green (PBk31). Climate change has affected the artist's palette. The wasp didn't seem to mind.

Trenholme Park with Wasp, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2808)

Secret Spot Rehab

 

In the secret spot paintings I depicted a pristine little corner of NDG untouched by development that was promptly razed for development of an extensive walking and bike path down in the valley where the highway and trains run. The same pylons are still there, but just this week they started replanting trees and shrubs and dumped a load of black earth and mulch on the embankment. I will make sure to introduce the burrs back to the area once the dust settles! I also got a look at the new path, it is very impressive with hundreds of new trees that stretch all the way to down town Montreal. It is all part of the Turcot interchange mega project.

Secret Spot Rehab, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2807)

Lachine Canal Footbridge at Sunset

The bike path down to the canal is a lot of fun now that they have finished it, unfortunately NDG has failed to connect the path to anything meaningful, so the ride there is a little difficult. None the less, it only takes 5 minutes on the bike to get to the canal which is a lot faster than the old route through ville St. Pierre. I learned more about Maud Lewis recently, she was a famous Canadian folk artist who painted cheerful scenes of nature and wildlife from Nova Scotia. Her paintings were very popular, she depicted things with amazing colour and composition. It is a neat concept, most of her work was done from memory in her house, which is now part of a museum because she painted on all the walls and furniture.

Lachine Canal Footbridge at Sunset, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2806)

Kale and Friends

 

The backyard if you can call it that is a narrow strip of land between the condos. It gets a good amount of sun, enough to allow for some plants to grow. Cilei found this fencing which was crucial to the success of our kale operation, it prevents the squirrels from digging through the plants. We also have geraniums, cactus, basil, and hibiscus growing well this year.

Kale and Friends, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2021 (No. 2805b)