Trip Down Memory Lane to Bolton

Since the Christmas trip got cancelled I decided to take a trip down memory lane to Bolton. The original plan was to make a bunch of new winter paintings in Bolton. This painting was done at the beginning of summer, probably just before I left for Spain in 1998. The house should look familiar to some people, it is my parent's house! It was so long ago the tree was small then, but now it is cut down entirely. Otherwise it has not changed much. At least they didn't paint the window frames black!

Bolton Parent's House, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 1998 (No.0140)

This is one of the historical houses on the way downtown. There is a trail running high above the highway which gave me this interesting perspective. Looking back on this painting, it was amazing that I could get the grass colour and the brick colours to look so good. I didn't know much about colour mixing, but I had discovered the power of burnt sienna (PR101). With a green paint and some yellow it makes a great dry-lawn appearance.

House on Queen Street, watercolour 5 x 7", 1997, cold press (No. 0138)

This was among the first paintings I ever did on location. I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of a house-sales structure and the old barn int he background. It was a challenging painting, lots of detail and interesting shadows. The purple colour is neat, I must have used french ultramarine (PB29) and alizarin crimson (PR83), two paints I don't use anymore. There is a paint called dioxazine violet (PV23) that I have now, it is that exact shade of purple.

 Bolton Show Room and Barn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1996, (No. 0135)

  

And the other shoe dropped! This was one of the barns along Columbia way that burned down. You can find two other paintings I made of the barn before and immediately after. This painting shows heaps of rubble, with the abandoned farm house in the background. None of it is there anymore, but thankfully they didn't put more house up here so there is still a bit of a view. the shadowing is really interesting on the farmhouse, I made the light grey with three paints, cerulean blue (PB35), rose madder genuine (PR NR), along with aureolin yellow (PY40), they produced a range of subtle grey mixes for concrete and shadows. I summarized my old palette strategy in a previous blog.

Bolton No More Barn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997, (No. 0137)