Field Lights Loyola Park

 

It was cold and rainy but I really felt like doing a painting outside and I was testing out my new deerskin mitts. Painting with the mitts on was especially challenging but at least my hands were warm. When looking at these lights my eyes were a little watery and the lights formed a starburst effect which I captured using a wet-in-wet technique followed by some dry brush. The building below is the back of a recently rebuilt school called École Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne. The portion in the painting used to be a rickety metal extension on posts, but now the entire structure is a continuous brick building with lots of big windows. Large pot lights illuminated portions of the school.

Field Lights Loyola Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3299a)

Another Deadline Passed

 As the name of this painting suggests, another deadline passed, you could say it is in the past now. It really worried me at the time, then I got a new deadline. Maybe the term is poorly named, because one doesn't die from being overdue on a manuscript revision. It should be a feelbadline or regretline or something to that effect. In doing this painting I let the design flow naturally, which resulted in a little green alien wound up with some snake-like entities. It was also a palette cleanser since my palettes were rife with salt and much from some recent night paintings.

Another Deadline Passed, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3212a)

28 ranked colours

Recently I was on a review panel evaluating students for a federal scholarship. We had to rank the students and send the list off into the ether for further processing. The idea reminded me of ranking paints, like picking the top 28 paints that you want to use on your palette. It is somewhat arbitrary and if you asked ten artists which were their favorite paints you would get ten different lists. The actual colour scheme is very earthy in this painting, and the yellow mountain really makes things pop.
 

28 Ranked Colours, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3211b)

Scenes from North Hill, Bolton

We recently went back to visit my parents in Bolton Ontario, on the so-called north hill. It's not really a hill, rather, the north part of a deep valley running through the downtown. In the old days the river powered a mill, which caused a town to pop up around the mill. Nowadays the mill is gone but Mill Park remains, with some of the old foundations of the mill still visible. In this scene, I painted a renovated pond which serves as a rainwater overflow for the neighborhood. It took many years for them to finish it, at least its done now and by next  summer it should be full of reeds and ducks.

Pond Renovations, Bolton, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3297a)

 

A walking train in the valley provided this view of their house, with the chestnut tree in the foreground. The chestnut tree had been under attack from the creeping vines, but my parent's cut the vines regularly and saved the tree. Now the squirrels have a plentiful source of food. Most of the squirrels there have black fur but some of them have grey fur. I took these pictures with my cell phone in the natural sun, you can see my thumb and fingers in the pictures.

Parent's House Ravine View, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3322a)

Night Lights on Campus

It was barely 5PM and the sun was down. On the way home I stopped to make a quick painting of the field beside Hingston hall on campus. Recently the snow melted a lot, leaving patches of grass showing through. To paint the sky I applied the blue washes first, then added the peachy clouds. As it dried I added the darker shadows on the clouds. The snow was a dark blue, people had rolled snowballs and made a snowman in the field. In the foreground there was a sidewalk-lamp about waist height, which is part of the sidewalk surrounding the new life science building. I haven't painted the life science building because when they built it they had to destroy half of this enormous field. So I would rather paint what is left of the field.

Night Lights on Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3296a)

Snow and Grass Coffee Park

Coffee Park is a non de script park next to the train tracks with a walking path, play area, picnic benches and a small basketball court.  It is close enough work and in between the shops making it a good place to stop and make a quick painting around lunch hour. Today there was a bitterly cold wind whipping along the train tracks and some fierce painting conditions. The paint was a little slushy despite the salt in the water and certain colours were nearly frozen solid. Some of the snow had melted leaving little patches of grass and fallen leaves showing through. To paint the tree bark I mixed orange-yellow (PY110) and green (PG36 and PBk31), and used blue (PB60) for the shadows. The shadow brick in the distance was burnt sienna (PR101) with deep scarlet (PR175), while the sunny side was orange (PO62) with some yellow ochre (PY43). As usual by now, the sky was dilute blue-green (PG7) with blue (PB16 red shade), then blending to a more concentrated blue towards the top. I've used the phthalo pigments for the sky since 2020, when I did a painting on the Decarie overpass looking east.
 

Snow and Grass Coffee Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3295a)

Sun Over Trees with Squirrel Nest

On the way across the street to visit the laboratory this scene caught my eye and I happened to have my winterized paint kit with me. Using a leather shoulder bag, the water containers and brushes are held securely allowing to make a painting while standing up, which helps a lot in the winter. The sky was mostly overcast except for near the horizon where it was still a pale sky blue. Even with the cloud cover, the sun created a glowing orb-effect which contrasted nicely with the dark trees in the foreground. At the top of one of the trees was a large squirrel nest. They live in the neighborhood due to about a dozen oak trees that produce acorns, and plenty of food scraps from the campus, not to mention a benevolent professor who tossed walnuts and peanuts out from time to time. 
 

Sun Over Trees with Squirrel Nest, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3294)

Snowy Scenes by Bike

Testing out the gear in colder weather, I biked down to the Lachine Canal in about -2℃ with some wind. On the right you see an old industrial structure that was a type of crane used to lift things off ships onto train cars and vice versa. After a bit of research this structure is likely to be called a gantry crane, or more specifically a container crane. In is no longer functional but I am glad they left it up for the ambiance.
 

Gantry Crane by Canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3292)

 

On the way down to the canal I stopped at the new path and renewed hillside they completed this summer. Behind me the sky was mostly blue with a nearly full sun, but on the horizon the sky was a dark purplish colour with grey clouds. To paint the purple-grey I mixed indo blue (PB60) with deep scarlet (PR175) and yellow ochre (PY43). For the glowing parts of the clouds, I used a thin wash of the yellow ochre from DaVinci company, it is a yellowish-beige tint like Dijon mustard.

Renewed Hillside and New Path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3293a)

This was actually the first painting of the trip, of a snowy hillside off on the horizon with the new path in the front. I think the hillside is a landfill or perhaps where they dump the snow in the winter. Over the years, as the snow dumps melt they leave massive piled of gravel and sand. I find with these winter paintings that yellow and orange can be quite strong, they play well against the subtle blues and greys. To prevent freezing I used salt water, the proportion was 20g into 100mL of water. One container was for dirty and the other for clean water, with a third container for fresh water for drinking.

Snowy Hill on Horizon, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3291b)

Snow under Street Lamp

The snow was flying by almost horizontally tonight, there was a strong wind and cold temperatures. This just happens to be the view across West Broadway street as seen from where I lock my bike up, and it seemed like an opportune time to try painting snow as seen under a street lamp at night. It created an illusion that the snow was emanating from the lamp in a cone-shape, just because the snow above the lamp is barely visible. In the painting, actual snow was falling and leaving marks in the sky. The black tent-like structure was a fabric car garage with a car in it, people do that to prevent snow build up on their driveways. I created the snow effect by dabbing the brush a lot, it worked out reasonably well. Painting this scene brought back memories of winter painting, cold, difficult, but often rewarding.
 

Snow under Street Lamp, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3291a)

First Snow of Season, Coffee Park

 

A wet snow came down today, announcing the start of the winter season. I made a quick walk out to the grocery store and to do a painting at Coffee Park, looking up towards the private school. Using the path in the composition provided a strong diagonal element to contrast the vertical trees and posts with their neon orange tops. The whole painting was done with variations of grey brown and blue with some orange accents. Technically it is easier to paint winter scenes because there is no grass or leaves, however, there is the weather to contend with, and the paint always dries more slowly than on a warm day. I wasn't sure if I could pull this off, but then again, it has only been about 8 months since I painted the last snow and ice.

First Snow of Season, Coffee Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3290)

Sunset over Train Tracks

 

In nearby Coffee Park there is a good view of the train tracks where the commuter train stops. Today it was bitterly cold with a sharp wind and I used salt in the water for the first time since last winter. To capture the sunset I applied a thin wash of orange-red (PO62 with PR254), let it dry slightly, then applied the dark blue clouds above and below using a mix of indo blue and benzi red with a touch of magenta (PB60, PR175, PV19). The real trick was judging the moisture and paint concentration correctly because you only get once chance do make this effect. Luckily it all dried accordingly and I was able to apply the decorative lamp posts over top, which are a nice red-brown colour in real life. Contrary to the hectic scene in the commuter train painting that I linked above, this scene shows a serene, almost peaceful moment. Even though this painting was just done today, it has a timeless, authentic feel to it.

Sunset over Train Tracks, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3289)

A Fleeting Moment

 

Every now and then I do a really memorable painting, and today there were two like that. The protestors on the downtown campus, and this painting of a fleeting moment on the Maisonneuve bike path. It was a rather cold and windy day, and I was trying to get home as fast as possible. Then I saw this scene of the remains of the sunset and the Dépanneur with its illuminated yellow and red sign. Without hesitation, I stopped and set up my bike on the narrow concrete divider between the bike path and street. I applied the sky first, working from yellow to orange to lilac with variations of blue. As it dried I worked up the dark parts and basic outline of the skyscrapers. Somebody walked up beside me and watched for awhile out of curiosity. The right side was difficult, but it all came together. The last touch was some bismuth yellow (PY184). Since my main palette was wet I had to use one of my other palettes, which I call 'the everything palette' which had extra colours such as a nice purple (PV23), black (PBk9), and orange (PO36). If you can just imagine freezing your arse off and getting blown by wind, then you can get the full experience of being on this location. 

A Fleeting Moment, Sunset on Maisonneuve Bike Path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3288)

The Bay, Facade

 

After painting a scene of the Iranian protest at Concordia's downtown campus, I got to my final destination, The Bay. It was a busy scene with people cars and plenty of noise, although I had earplugs in as usual. I stared at this scene for some time before deciding to paint it. There was no trees or plant which is usually a requirement for me to paint a scene. It was also very technical to get this right, I had to control the value contrasts and moisture levels on the paper. You can see where by left gloved-hand smeared the paint. It was too cold to paint bare handed today.

The Bay front Facade, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3286b)

This is the corner of the facade, I tried to get the sky and more of the overhang in the scene. I would like to go back to this location again, it has a lot of potential but required a larger format and more time to get all the detail. Quite a few people were around and peeking at me as I painted, a few people even took pictures of me painting.

The Bay corner Facade, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3336a)

Flag Waving Downtown Campus

 

Concordia University is best known for its downtown campus which used to be Sir George Williams College. Just across the street from this scene is the Hall building where there was civil unrest in the 1960's. Today was a different group with a different reason, but the unrest was all the same. These were mostly Iranian protestors shouting about the problems in their country. They also flew the Canadian flag, the provincial flag, and the LGBTQ2 flag. People were taking turns saying slogans with a megaphone and everyone repeated the slogans. They sounded angry, and at the same time were very proud of their country, it was change they were asking for. In Canada, we are lucky enough to have elections, even if we disagree with the party who gets elected. But not every country is like that, and often times the people are unhappy.

Flag Waving Downtown Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3287)

₿ Con

I didn't set out to make a painting of bacon, but here it is! It started with the yellow squiggles which were meant to represent reflections in water, then I painted adjacent lines in brown, red and magenta. A few thin black edges and bluish shadows completed the effect. The same day I read an article about how crypto currencies are collapsing (again) and thought of a funny name for the painting, 'bit coin con' or '₿ Con' for short. Oh yeah, this was also a palette cleanser. After cleaning it Saturday night, I forgot to apply fresh paint, so the next day I used other palettes for the Sunday painting trip.
 

₿ Con, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3210a)

Cool Windy Day along the Canal

Today was a grey day, mostly overcast with some patches of clear sky letting the sun through. The canal was a grey colour but I could see lots of the other colours shimmering. To capture the effect I applied thin brush strokes on top of the water. A mix of burnt siennna (PR101) and indo blue (PB60) was used for the pine tree bark.

Pine Trees beside Canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3285)

Just off the the canal, where I made a series of paintings lately, there is a small strip of community green space according to the signs. Since I am always complaining about lack of green space, it seemed fitting to try and make a painting here. Montreal's downtown skyline is visible in the background. This is the last painting on the Strathmore Series 400 paper, its not something I would get again because it was designed for sketching not painting. The paint absorbs poorly and gets smeared easily.

Community Green Space, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore Series 400, November 2022 (No. 3339a)

It was cold and windy on the way back but I sat an impressive willow tree and tried to make a painting. I will have to go back and try again some time, there was a glowing yellow and lime that I couldn't quite capture. The scene needed a bigger piece of paper but the light was failing and I just wanted a hot cup of tea! If I want to paint in the winter I will have to toughen up.

Willow Tree Beside Canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3286a)

Soccer Field at Night

At the back of Trenholme park is a soccer field that is not often used for soccer, but they keep the strong amber lights on most of the evening. The field lights cast an eerie orange glow on the field, surrounding trees, and goal posts. In the background is a a long warehouse beyond the train tracks, it had a lights on which produced a bluish glow. As usual I used pyrol orange with indo blue (PO73 , PB60) to create the dark blue sky, with a bit of magenta and green (PV19, PG7) near the top to create the black sky. The hardest part was the goal posts, I had to paint around their shapes with successive layers with just a weak park light, and my bike headlamp for illumination. 

Soccer Field at Night,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3284a)

Coral Sunset over Campus

 

Riding home, there was a brilliant coral sunset going on over the campus. I stopped to make a quick painting, as did several people passing by, they stopped to take a picture with their smartphones. Unfortunately, taking pictures of a sunset with a smart phone or standard camera will usually lead to disappointing results. A paint set is the best way to capture the effect. Of course it takes a bit practice and a little know-how. A few weeks ago I tried a scene like this and it did not work out very well, so I ran a couple of tests back home to figure out the best way to paint a sunset with clouds. In the example, done on location, I added the coral orange and peaches first, then added the cyan sky around it, then the purple clouds. As it dried, the dark foreground was added, and the windows of the building filled in with the eerie yellow.

Coral Sunset over Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3283b)

Brick Hue

 

Bricks can be almost any colour, ranging from yellow to red and even violet or black. Its hard to notice the hues because bricks tend to be earth colours, we think of them as 'brick red' or 'brick orange'. For a long time, I felt that painting brick hues was a puzzle to be solved, especially their shadowed side. But these days I carry a variety of brick-like pigments and have a better understanding of colours which makes things easier. In this painting, I started to create a brick pattern at the top, then let it disintegrate into an abstract, quilt-like pattern. To maintain visual interest, one part of the painting near the bottom middle is a cream white set against a charcoal black. It acts as a focal point and suggests some form of internal lighting is illuminating the scene.

Brick Hue, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3209a)

Fall Leaves on Ground Coffee Park

 

On the way back from picking up some lunch on Harley street I stopped to make a quick painting in Coffee Park. In between meetings, I had to paint fast, and so chose a relatively simple scene. It started with the orange/beige under-painting, which I worked up in shades of yellow, orange and red, finishing with the variations of green. The background included some cars and generic looking duplexes. Finally, the coffee-coloured trees were added over, with a few violet and blue brush strokes for the sky. The road might look like its tilting, because it is, this would be the beginning of the escarpment leading past the train tracks and down into the valley. There is a prominent wrought iron fence around this park, which is typical of the old parks here in NDG.

Fall Leaves on Ground Coffee Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3283a)

Impressionist Sunset over Lachine Canal

 

Using my trusty 2 inch round hog's hair brush I painted this impressionistic scene of a pastel sunset over the Lachine canal. In the background you see the industrial-turned-condo developments and a train bridge that is still active. I spent so much time adjusting the colours of the sunset and water that it really started to get dark and I kind of whipped off the foreground grass and trees. It all seemed an unmitigated disaster and I quickly packed up. But when I saw the painting all dried at home it was quite beautiful. While the painting does a poor job of capturing the details, it perfectly conveys the feeling of a fleeting moment. Looking at the art work you can feel exactly the same way as when I was standing there, which is the whole idea of impressionism after all.

Impressionist Sunset over Lachine Canal, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3209b)

Bike Path with Seagulls

 

I was riding home on the weekend from a quick painting trip down town when this scene caught my eye. A group of seagulls was flying off the railings over the Lachine canal next to the bike path. You may wonder what a group of seagulls is supposed to be called. Formally a group of seagulls is a flock, a colony or a scavenging, but it can also be called a flotilla, screech, squabble, pack or swoop. This particular group seemed like a squabble to me.  After a short moment they wee off so I painted the scene mostly from memory. The bike path was done with an under-painting of orange-yellow, then layered with a magenta-violet mix. The gulls are black and white on a grey-blue background.

Bike Path with Seagulls, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3207b)

Quick Ride to the River

 

This is the river, as Jon Voight said in the famous movie Anaconda.  I was standing at the end of the pier in the touristy part of Old Port trying to get a few paintings in before dark. Which is 5PM now! Just to the let you can see a portion of the artificial beach they installed about ten years ago. To capture the interesting colour of the st Lawrence river I applied a wash of blue, let dry, then overlaid with short brushstrokes of red blue and yellow.

River Looking East with Beach Umbrellas, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3282b)

 

Here is the view of the beach looking down on an odd angle. Across the river is the old port which is now a bunch of Condos, then the Molson Brewery. For composition, the triangle of the beach interlocks with the triangle of the water and the background. To paint the sand I used yellow ochre (PY43), umber (PBr7) and orange (PO73) diluted with water.

View of Beach and River, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore Series 400, November 2022 (No. 3342b)

 

 

Fall Leaves and Shadows

Not far from where I was painting today is st Paul park, which is just to the west of the autoroute 15/20. The park was a large flat square with millions of leaves on the ground. Long, bluish shadows were being cast by all the trees. Most of the housing was typical of the area, the three-storey brick boxes with white widows, balconies, and spiraling black staircases. This painting was really about the leaves on the grass. I started with a yellow-orange glow (PY43 and PO72), then worked up the colours towards green and brown with short interlocking brush strokes. Finally I applied the blueish shadows (PB60) and dark highlights (PBk31, PR101, PBk6). One colour I don't write much about is magenta, I carry two on my palette, a dark magenta (PV19) and a bright magenta (PR122). Sometimes the colour appears in clothing, furniture and a sun-set on a humid day. Most of the time I use these colours to adjust grey and blue mixtures. For example, the tree and its shadow actually contain magenta to give it the tree bark appearance. This was a good place to sit on a bench and eat lunch. I was just surprised at the lack of squirrels here considering how many tall trees there were.

Fall Leaves and Shadows, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore Series 400, November 2022 (No. 3338a)

Old House on Cabot Street

 

Right in the middle of an industrial road that runs along the elevated autoroute is an old residential house that people live in. It was likely an old farmhouse that was there before all the highways and warehouses. One day the whole area will probably be condo developments, so it seemed a good idea to make a painting of the house. I usually stay away from intense architecture, the last effort, Dépanneur Diamond 10, took 3 visits and five tries to get it right. This painting has it problems, the bottom part slants awkwardly, the details are a bit muddled, and I narrowed the building considerably to fit it on a portrait format. The house probably wont go anywhere soon, and there is a great wide sidewalk to set up on, so perhaps I will give it another try one day.

Old House on Cabot Street,  watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3205b)

Ride Around Côte st Paul East

 

With summer-like weather I did another bike ride around Côte st Paul East which has the autoroute A15/A20 and an old industrial area. Approaching the area from Rue st Remi took me under the canal where I made this painting of the underpass road looking south. It was very cool and windy in the tunnel, and cars noisily passed. A few pedestrians walked by as I painted. This painting was all about the composition and value contrasts. Just a tiny sliver of light at the end of the tunnel indicates a bright day outside. In the tunnel a variety of grey shadows mixed with an eerie orange glow.

Under the Canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3281)

Along Rue Angers is an enormous, dilapidated factory/warehouse with broken windows, boarded over sections, and plenty of graffiti. There was a row of creepy looking trees that had completely lost their leaves. Apparently 'creepy' was today's theme, a little late for Halloween though!

Dilapidated Factory Warehouse, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore Series 400, November 2022 (No. 3339b)

From Cabot street looking northwards I could see the pink house on the horizon, with more industrial buildings in the foregound. The building on the left has an enormous mural on the front of it, the side has more graffiti on the sidewalk level. 

View of Pink House from Cabot st., watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore Series 400, November 2022 (No. 3342a)

 

On my way back this scene caught my attention, the sun was creating a highlight in a puddle, and the autoroute was backlit against an impressive sky. I did a few more paintings on this trip and will make a few more blogs about them.

Puddle Highlight near Autoroute, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3282a)

Primal Tools

This painting was yet another palette cleanser done as I was prepping the palette for the weekend which is supposed to be like summer. I normally paint these in portrait format, but this one is in landscape format. For most of the palette cleansers you wouldn't even know which way is up if it weren't for my signature and the title. Nowadays at least there is a blog so people would be able to figure it out. A famous painting had been hung upside-down for a long time in a big museum, and the curators decided to leave it that way to prevent any damage. Needless to say, it was an abstract painting, it was by the well known painter Mondrian. Sometimes I wonder what will become of my paintings in the future, for now most of them pile up in boxes but from time to time I sell a few or give them as gifts. Most recently I gave two to graduating students, the Sunset on the River, and Reflection in Canal from a trip I did down the canal path this summer.

Primal Tools, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, November 2022 (No. 3206)

Complex Cloud Test

These are some tests I did to figure out how to paint complex cloud effects that I saw in the sky recently. The first one shows a night sky with a bright moon and overlapping clouds. The sky was an inky blue, while the clouds were illuminated by the moonlight. The moonlight was not very strong so it only illuminated a halo of clouds around it, after which the clouds became darker. Each cloud had a light side and a dark side. Capturing the effect also required a wet-in-wet approach to keep the clouds looking fluffy.With these criteria in mind, I painted around a blank circle with some greyish yellow-orange which became darker as the circle grew. When it hit the right moisture level I added the dark blue sky with indo blue (PB60) and perylene maroon (PR179). The first tries were too wet and the clouds lost their definition. The top right and bottom left efforts are pretty close to what I was going for. 

The bottom tests are for a sun-set sky, where the clouds have one half illuminated in a peachy light, while the other half is a dark violet. The sky fades from blue to cyan to orange at the horizon. for the first few efforts I applied the blue sky first, then tried to add the light cloud side, and finish with the shadowed sides. The top right and bottom left were painted with another strategy, I applied the peach first, painted around with sky, and then added the shadowed sides. The last few tests were close to what I hoped for.

Next time I see these kinds of clouds on location I will give it a try. It is exceptionally difficult to get this right, today I was sitting at the kitchen table, but on location it levels up another notch. It never ceases to amaze me that there is a seemingly never ending series of challenges to paint. 

Complex Cloud Test 1 and 2 watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022

Sports Dome Behind the Field

 In this painting you can see the Concordia University winter sports dome in the background, and on the left a tiny sliver of the Perform Center. The foreground contains the field where I have done many painting, the famous table and chairs are visible at the bottom right. I painted the bacground and foreground first, then added the trees and shrubs over top. The tree mixture was something new I was trying, it was a combination of green umber (PBr7) with benzi orange (PO62), and carbon black for shadows. It made a nice orange pekoe tea colour which represents the low winter sun illuminating the tree bark. Another reason I make so many paintings here is that it is nearby the Snowdon Bakery where I often go to buy bread and a sandwich for lunch.

Sports Dome Behind the Field, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3280)

Changing Colours

This tree on campus was partly brown, yellow and green. It was like seeing the many stages of fall all in one moment. I've painted many trees before so I had some idea how to paint the various effects. The yellow was mostly yellow ochre (PY43) with some benzi yellow (PY154) accents. The brown was burnt yellow ochre (PR102) with some perylene maroon (PR79). The strategy for making fall colours is to mix an earth colour with a higher chroma version of the same hue. I kind of thought fall was over and the cold weather would arrive, but is nearly like summer weather this week.

Changing Colours Tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2022 (No. 3279)