Night Rules

 

At night the sun goes down leaving an inky blue sky. In the city, all kinds of lights create interesting shadows and reflections. Colours darken. Traffic lights glow with green-yellow-red flashes. I found a spot to stand just in front of the dollar store which has strong white lights. Across the Cavendish and Somerled intersection I could see the fire station tower and one of the new stores with its lights on. Cars zipped by on an icy slick road. 

To paint the sky I used a combination that I discovered earlier this year while painting Pizza Welat, and further refined down at Marche Atwater. In the Cavendish intersection painting, I adjusted down the amount of pyrol orange (PO73) and let the indo blue (PB60) do most of the work. Near the top, I brought in some perylene green (PBk31) a new idea, to create the inky black part of the sky. For the dark yellow bricks I combined the inky sky colour I used for the sky with yellow ochre, and for the red bricks I used burnt ochre (PR102) with carbon black (PBk6).

One key to painting at night is the composition. I must find a scene where the sky plays a prominent role. In this composition the sky frames the buildings, and gives me enough space to show off the incredible colour transition going from horizon blue to inky black. I like the action in this painting it really captures the moment.

Night Rules, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2937a)