Remaining Snow on Campus

 

Cutting through campus there is a narrow road that leads to Terrebonne avenue. Along the way there is a large gardening area for growing vegetables, which is just seen to the middle left of the painting. On the right are large piles of the remaining snow, encrusted with salt sand and soot. In fact the snow piles were even darker than they appear in the painting, more like charcoal. Mostly I just wanted to do a painting on the way home, as usual, I had my portable paint kit with me that I can use standing up. It's been fun painting grey, green, brown and blue, however, I am looking forward to a little more colour to appear in the local landscape soon.

Remaining Snow on Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3421b)

Cars Houses Big Trees, NDG

On the way home from work I was walking up Avenue Monclair and saw this neat scene with cars, houses and big trees. Some of these trees probably house the squirrels that we feed from time time time out our backyard. I've walked past these types of scenes literally hundreds, if not thousands of time going to and fro work, but rarely stopped to make a painting. The shadows being cast across the road and the patches of remaining snow made for an interesting foreground against the wild trees yet to make leaves. In the summer this scene looks a lot different, the trees fill in and cover the road with an arch of branches and leaves. To paint the road I put down a nearly pure wash of yellow ochre (PY43), and then overlaid the shadows with a mix of indo blue (PB60), magenta (PV19), and perylene green (PBk31). The yellow ochre looked bright orange like honey but I knew it would dry duller than it looked when wet. Judging the moisture of the yellow ochre was also key, it had to take on the shadows while slightly moist to get the diffusion effect. It takes a bit of practice to get the colour, value, and moisture levels correct, but once mastered the road can be painted in one go and adds a lot of visual excitement. Being a city painter has made me somewhat of an expert on painting roads, sidewalks, and old concrete!
 

Cars Houses Big Trees, NDG watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3419b)

Sunset on st Lawrence, melting snow

I managed to make it partly down the canal bike path and then had to switch onto st Patrick street to ride it out to Lachine. In this view you are looking west along the st Lawrence river with three trees in the foreground, a small one, a medium and a large one. The water was completely melted and had a dull dark blue colour with yellowish highlights in the waves. Just between the heavy overcast clouds and the river there was a gap of brilliant coral sky from the setting sun. I had to let the water and the sky dry completely before overlaying the trees, so I turned to my right a bit and started a second painting.

Coral Sunset with Three Trees st Lawrence River, watercolour 6 x 10" rough press, March 2023 (No. 3381)

Just to my right you can see the bike path still covered in snow here and there. If there had been a bit more sun left I might have continued to the point of the park, but it was starting to get dark with the sun down. The sunset is a rather simple mix of colours, mostly benzi orange (PO62) with a touch of pyrol orange (PO73). To create the illusion of a sunset, its more about the surrounding colours, you see how the dark neutral blues of the clouds and water provide a good contrast for the shimmering coral sky. Getting the water colour is actually the hardest part of the painting. Since I have been painting the st Lawrence for years now, I gained a good appreciation for what colours this river can be depending on the lighting conditions and angles. To get the blue river colour, I use a complex mix of indo blue (PB60), magenta (PV19), phthalo blue-green (PG7) and touches of carbon black (PBk6) with yellow (PY43) or burnt sienna (PR101). Its complex because it needs to be adjusted in subtle ways. In the distance its more blue violet, the middle blue, and close to the shore it can be brownish. I thought to today that I could paint this river my whole life and it would never get old!

Coral Sunset st Lawrence River with Bike Path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3422)

Ending Odds

Usually these abstract paintings are palette cleansers, when I am cleaning the paint off my palette after a location trip, but this time it is part of an effort to use up a few odd paints. After experimenting with many types of paint I accumulated over 70 different tubes and pans. Recently, I gave away the Van Gogh pan paints to a graduate student who took an interest in watercolour painting. In this painting, I used green earth from Schminke, which is a pale lime/olive colour, roman black from Stoneground Co., cobalt blue from Holbein, and raw umber from DaVinci. It seemed to be lacking something so I added some lemon yellow ochre from Stoneground Co. They are all fine paints I just haven't been using them much for various reasons. It's still kind of fun to pull out some different paints and see what they look like together. The lemon ochre gave it a real warm kick. 

Ending Odds, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, March 2023 (No. 3377a)

Surprise, its a Blizzard!

Today there was a surprise blizzard consisting of strong wind and very wet snow. It was not particularly cold but the moisture was starting to penetrate my clothing and I had to cut the painting trip short. This is a scene of st Lawrence river with its cracked ice, in the background is Lachine's park. It was a real battle, this painting, as you can see it got pelted with snow even though I was standing under a tree at the side of a building. The two trees, the ice crack, and the background tree texturing was done at home.

Blizzard on st Lawrence, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3420)

I was half way through this one when the severe blizzard hit head on. It didn't deter this dog walker though! I was practicing perspective with this painting, trying to get the building in the background scaled correctly next to the building in the foreground. It worked out okay but once again the foreground structure was not tall enough. I had to rush to finish this one due to the heavy wet snow which you can see the effects of in the sky.

Shed in Field, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3421a)

Dome Staircase Pile of Snow

Painting near campus I found another challenging scene to continue my recent exploration of perspective. The scene contains the sports dome up in the background, a steep staircase going through the middle, and a large pile of dirty snow to the right. Balancing out the elements is a tree branch hanging in the top left, with the beginnings of spring leaf buds. To properly assess the perspective I held the paper up vertically and eyeballed the intersection points for the top and bottom of the staircase. Then I connected the points with two straight lines. The spaces between the stairs were done with a single brown brushstroke and some texturing afterwards. In the past few months I have painted snow in every way, piled high, piled low, melting, falling, clean, and dirty. To paint dirty snow I start with the pale yellow and blue of the snow, then drop in some umber (PBr7) and let it partially dry. Then I daub on more umber and finally carbon black. As it dries, the daubing becomes less fuzzy and more textured which gives the sensation of dirt and grit.

Dome Staircase Pile of Snow,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3417b)

Montreal Neurological Institute Overpass

The Montreal Neurological Institute is a large, gothic-style former hospital annex high up University College street in downtown Montreal. I know it well since I spent many years there working as a scientist. In the painting, you can see the beginning of the overpass that connects to the now defunct Victoria hospital (not seen in the painting). It was raining steadily today which created dark wet streaks on the bricks, along with green streaks from the eroding copper roofs. I wanted to try this scene to challenge my ability to draw perspective. It worked out alright, if I had more time it may have gone better. Unfortunately with the whipping  wind and steady cold rain I had to paint fast.
 

Montreal Neurological Institute Overpass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3419a)

World Inspired Landscapes: India

 

From a landscape perspective, India is one of those countries that stands out as having a lot of variety. Beaches, deserts, jungles, mountains, rivers, lakes, India really has it all represented. When thinking about a painting of India, the colour festival came to mind, it is an annual event where thousands of people throw pigments on each other. As a result, they are covered in bright yellow, green, blue, red orange, magenta, and every colour there is. In doing the internet research I found pictures of valleys and mountains absolutely covered in different coloured flowers. It was difficult to know if the pictures were even real, the colours looked so bright as if photo shopped! My goal for the painting was to represent a colourful India, but with a more grounded, realistic appearance. First, a pale green background was applied using nicosia green earth pigment (from Stoneground paint), then I applyied hundreds of daubs of colour starting with yellow in the foreground and working towards the background. Using this approach the intensity of the colour was cut down a bit, and your imagination can fill in the rest.

World Inspired Landscapes: India, watercolour 10 x 11" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3372)

Campus Quad Winter Perspective

 

MacEvoy recently updated the Handprint website section on perspective drawing with a veritable tome of knowledge. Skimming through it made me realize just how complex the issue really is. Just moving your head 30 degrees will have a significant impact on what perspective you perceive on location. When I did the last painting of the Benny parking lot the cultural center was way too short and the horizon line seemed off. Today I found a complex perspective scene in the campus quad, with a modern building on the right with snow-covered stair cases, and the old fashioned building in the background. The modern building looked about right until I filled in the background, then it appeared to be too short. Its something I will have to read on a bit more and see if I can apply it on location. 

Despite the perspective challenges this painting still captures the nice blue sky, the interesting brick colour, and the reflection in the front of the modern building. The trees contribute an organic mix of lines and contrasts.

Campus Quad Winter Perspective, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3418b)

World Inspired Landscapes: Iceland

 

Iceland is a land primarily known for its ice, but how about its bananas? You might think that I am bananas for saying that Iceland can grow them, or that I have bananas on my brain after doing a painting of Honduras where most of the bananas actually come from. But Iceland has come up with a massive greenhouse powered by geothermal energy that can grow tropical fruits and vegetables all year long. Tapping in to the Earth's crust can yield massive amounts of clean and renewable energy to power lights and heaters for houses and agriculture. You wont see any bananas in this painting though, I depicted a ice berg chunk floating in a desolate landscape. The foreground element shows some of the colours and textures that are typical to Iceland. To appreciate the landscape I borrowed a book on Iceland by Arnaud Guérin which contained excellent photos of the varied terrain. There were even scenes of volcanoes covered in snow. 

World Inspired Landscapes: Iceland, watercolour 10 x 11" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3372)

Remains of the Snow, Benny Parking Lot

 

Benny Parking Lot is in between the cultural center on the left and the medical center, unseen on the right. The snow plows pile up the snow in the back of the parking lot all winter leading to mountains of snow. In the background are the brick-orange condo buildings tastefully arranged and with a large community garden nearby. I've painted this general scene many times before, this time, I just wanted to focus on a few key elements such as the periwinkle blue trim on the cultural center, the mountains of remaining snow illuminated in strong sunlight, and the deep brick-orange building in the background. The brick colour was achieved mostly with burnt sienna (PR101) with a touch of deep scarlet (PR175) and orange (PO62).

Remains of the Snow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3418a)

Apartment near Gilbert-Layton Park

 

After taking public transit to and from Little Italy I walked up to the Côte St-Luc Shopping Centre and made a painting in Gilbert-Layton park on the way back. The original plan was to paint a tree in the foreground, but the background started to look interesting enough. The foreground tree was suggested with some branches in the top left and shadows across the snowy park. Similar to the recent canal paintings, I used artistic license to re-compose the scene. I took great care in making sure the center line of the apartment was 90 degrees perpendicular to the paper, its something I have been working on for a few years now to make sure the apartment is not the leaning tower of Pisa! Unfortunately I didn't realize that with all the blowing wind, the paper had shifted in its frame, which made the building crooked when I took it out at home. With a little clever cropping I managed to get a good image for the blog so you get the idea. 

Apartment near Gilbert-Layton Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3416b)

Jean Talon Market Cold and Windy Day

On my way to the bulk store in Little Italy I stopped off at the Jean Talon market and made a painting of some of the outdoors shops. One of the shops was selling fresh oranges in the front while the neighboring shops appeared to be closed. Standing in the middle of a parking lot, the fierce wind was battering me and blowing the painting surface up and down the whole time. Somehow I held on to it and completed the painting in the bitter conditions. To get the structures correct I slowed down my pace substantially until the outlines were completed. I never use pencil, instead, I just use a small #2 brush with dilute grey paint.

Jean Talon Market Cold and Windy Day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3417a)

Walk with Bike along the Bike Path

Once again I headed down to the canal path hoping that the snow and ice had melted, however, it was still slick, icy and impassable by bike. Instead I walked with my bike eastward towards the overpass connecting with NDG. Along the way I found a few views to paint. This one was looking back towards Mount Royal, with the escarpment in the middle ground and rows of reeds in the foreground. Lots of earth colours were used to make this painting including yellow ochre, burnt sienna and raw umber (PY43, PR101, PBr7). 

Reeds and Snow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3414b)

The sky was pastel blue, yellow-orange, and purple, while the thawing canal ice was a pastel cyan (turquoise). With a rather delicate palette of colours I decided not to overlay the tree, which had been the original plan. I made an uncharacteristic mistake on the background tree line and blotted it all out with a damp rag, but you would not even notice the repair. This paper is amenable to lifting an repainting.

Melting Canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3415a)

In one particular area along the canal there are rows of what I call hybrid trees. They have a rough, greenish-brown bark on the bottom half, and a smooth greyish birch-like bark on the top half and branches. The scene here is similar to the last painting, but I emphasized the tree and de-emphasized the background elements.

Hybrid Tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3416a)

On the way back I caught a glimpse of the massive snow pile where they dump all the snow that is removed from roads. As it melts, a dark brown mountain of sand and grit is left over. Scrub trees were in the middle ground and foreground, illuminated in a warm yellow light. I wasn't sure if I could get the tree overlay to work, it was done with yellow ochre (PY43), orange (PO62) and burnt sienna (PR101). It looks like an alien moonscape?

Dirty Snow Mountains, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3415b)

Commuter Train Passing on a Grey Day

 

There aren't too many things more exciting than the commuter train passing by on a grey day. Or should it say 'there aren't not too many things...' At any rate, after picking up the Lufa vegetables I felt an urge to make a painting no matter how dour the scenery was in Trenholme park. I've been contemplating how to paint this commuter train for some time now, it has crept into my bag of motifs over the years. It goes so fast that one can not paint it unless its parked at the station. When it zipped by today I tried to memorize as much of the detail as possible, two decks, multiple long windows, a door, light blue wave and dark blue wave on the side. Luckily the sky and building dried pretty fast and I managed to paint over the trees and tall lamp that illuminates the field in the foreground and initial the painting with the year, as I have been doing since 2020. I started adding the year when I started making the catalogue, it was then that I realized my paintings were undated and very hard to organize. Now, almost every painting has a year, a blog and a number. When I update the numbers next time I will have exceeded 4000 paintings lifetime!

Commuter Train Passing on a Grey Day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3414a)

Update: This is in fact the 4000^th painting in my catalogue! Which means it is approximately the 4000^th painting I have done to date, I can't be more sure since there are quite a few painting from the past that gave not been numbered. The number you see in parenthesis is lower (No. 3414) because I often paint on the backs of painting, so this was essentially the 3414^th piece of  paper I painted the 4000^th painting on. 

Parc Herbert-Outerbridge. Grass around Trees

 

Parc Herbert-Outerbridge is a postage-stamp sized park on West Hill Avenue next to the Provigo. The old library was there, in fact, the building still stands and is used as a community center. I painted a scene of the community building in this park way back in fall of 2020.These trees were sitting on a patch of melted snow, and the grass was struggling to become green. The surrounding snow was well trodden by the kids playing and passer-byes.  If you look closely at the pine foliage there are two shades of green. In the center tree the green is what you could call blue-green or grey-green. On the flanking pine trees, the green is towards orange, a kind of high chroma olive green. The grass is more of a dark yellow. I wrote my thoughts on green in the green gamut blog, and a blog on mixing blue grey and green. A big part of the recent success was due to about three years of contemplating colour mixing with the help of the watercolour resource Handprint.com, and then putting it to practice for over 1500 paintings!

Grass around Trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3413b)

Things are Melting

Things were melting today, starting with parts of the canal bike path. Unfortunately most of it was still frozen and slushy, but I was still able to make it up to Park Angrignon and a cool sunny day. This foot bridge goes over a small creek that I have painted before although on a much colder day than this. Due to the above zero temperatures I could use fresh water and the paint was drying pretty well which allowed for a more complex rendering. I am still in the winter painting mindset, that is, paint fast and move on to the next one!
 

Melting Creek with Footbridge, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3378b)

 

I started painting this scene upon arrival to the park. I knew it would take awhile for the background to dry, so I headed to the footbridge to start that painting. After the foot bridge painting, I finished this one with the overlay of trees. The trees were done with yellow ochre (PY43) adjusted with carbon black (PBk6), orange (PO62), and raw umber (PBr7). The shadows had a perspective on them, radiating outwards from the sun through the trees.

Sun Shining Through Forest, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3412b)

 

When I first arrived at the canal I was quite excited to see something that resembled grass! The ground was dark brown and yellow with blue puddles, while the snow was white with cool shadows. The canal in the background was still frozen but the ice was thinning and showing signs of greyish-green. To provide some colour I included the green buoy (PG36) with my signature in red (PR254).

Muddy Grass and Melting Snow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3413a)

Interesting Contrasts

As the sun goes down it gets harder to fins a good scene in the downtown core. After a long ride down Maisonneuve path I arrived at Place des Arts and caught some highlights on the main building. A boring brown hotel in the background was made more interesting by the coloured light reflecting off its windows. To paint the yellowish brick of the main building, I used variations of yellow ochre (PY43).

Place Des Arts Winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3411a)

Turning down st Urbain I got to Old Montreal and after some bumpy cobblestone laneways I made it to Old Port. Off one of the piers I could see the ice breaking up, with Dieppe Park in the background where I made paintings in a blizzard earlier in the year. This scene had a variety of snow and water effects. In the foreground the water was frozen and covered with snow drift, then the river turned a turquoise with broken pieces of ice.

Ice Breakup Old Port, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3412a)

 

Turning the corner I got a view of the new Cirque du Soleil tent with chunks of ice floating in partially frozen water. I liked the contrast between the inviting circus tent, with the inhospitable frozen water. On top of the ice there was snow, which was illuminated by the setting sun. All in all, there was a lot going on in this scene!

Ice Chunks and Cirque Tent, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3411b)

Trees Along Fence, Sunset

 

After work yesterday I had a few minutes to make a painting since we were heading to a social event. The temperature was not too bad but it was below freezing and the park I was standing in had very deep snow. A long wooden fence with horizontal slats was dividing the park from the NDG residential houses in the background. The sun was setting amongst the dark blue clouds and tree branches. The painting looked to be a total disaster when I finished it, however, after it had a chance to dry the painting looked fine and really conveyed another fleeting moment in the neighborhood.

Trees Along Fence, Sunset, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3406b)

World Inspired Landscapes: Hungary

Hungary is a country at the center of Eastern Europe, landlocked and surrounded by many countries. It's landscape is surprisingly varied, consisting of mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, and vast grasslands. Looking at a tour book and pictures on the internet I found many examples of fields of flowers, including lavender bushes as far as the eye can see. The painting could be of many countries, southern France for example, since lavender grows in many places. The Hungarian scene uses a pastel colour scheme punctuated by dark green and brown trees. Using dark trees provides the needed dark contrast, its a trick that van Gogh used in his landscape paintings. For the warm yellow field I used raw sienna from Stoneground paint, its an amazing colour, like tea with mike or caramel candy.
 

World Inspired Landscapes: Hungary, watercolour 10 x 11" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3371)

Colder than I Thought

 

Getting out of the office I walked down to the Reno Depot parking lot where there are some good sight lines. I made a painting in this parking lot last year in March when the the snow was melting. We are still a few weeks until things start to really melt, in fact, today was a lot colder than I thought. Luckily I had some spare salt in my bag and could treat the water, which was still fresh water from my last expedition. This apartment building always looks like a large boat to me, due to the structure on top, and the rounded point at the front of the structure. The snow was still piled higher and deeper, and a fierce wind was blasting across the empty parking lot.

Apartment Boat, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3405b)

Over the Red Line

 

Finally I managed to balance our budget in the laboratory, although the fiscal year ends on April 30^th so there is still a bit of time to worry about it! The painting's name, over the red line, is just like a (barely) balanced budget. Nothing happens if we overspend though, its a University after all. If need be, I can just enter a random account number into the system until I get one that works, that way I don't end up paying. Creative accounting. But seriously,  its all above board. 

Recently I learned that many famous artists (Vermeer, Normal Rockwell and others) used elaborate projection equipment to make their paintings. Vermeer of course pre-dated photography but might have used a camera obscura to project images onto his canvas. He posed his models, set up the props, and used the wooden box with mirrors and lenses to project the image upside-down onto the canvas. Normal Rockwell, the American cover illustrator used photos and projectors to achieve much the same effect as Vermeer. Knowing this doesn't take away from those great artists or any other artist who uses methods to cut corners, if it were that easy, then everyone would do it.  

Over the Red Line, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, March 2023 (No. 3376b)

Another Attempt at the Canal Path

 

Today I made another attempt at the canal path by bike and it went slightly better but the path still has a thick layer of wet snow. I was standing on the other side of the canal looking to the west, with the sun directly in front. A buoy was trapped in the ice. Part of the canal has been naturalized here. The walls of the canal were removed, a dirt embankment goes into the water, and reeds were planted for about a kilometer. I used a different format today, 6 x 10", which is what you get leftover from cutting 8 x 10" pieces out of a 22 x 30" sheet. I quite like the format, and it will be good for tall buildings.

Frozen Buoy in Canal, watercolour 6 x 10" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3378a)

In ville st Henri, there is a postage-stamp sized park called Square Sir-George-Étienne-Cartier. It is like several postage stamps in a row, stretching all the way down to the canal. With the last light I decided to make a go of it. At least the snow piles made for interesting tree shadows. I was surprised at how blue the shadows came out, I guess all that palette cleansing was worth while! I decided to throw a figure in this one. Since my ability to paint cars has improved substantially, its now time to work on depicting people. 

Snow Piles and Tree Shadows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3409b)

Sprayed on Colour (Orange)

Recently I was researching dyes and their use in the food industry. It turns out that oranges are often sprayed with a dye called citrus red #2 which is considered to be a carcinogen possibly harmful to humans (and other animals). The only reason is to make the fruit more appealing at the store.  The assumption is that people will not actually eat the orange peels, and that juice has to made from un-dyed oranges. Chemically, it comes from a petrol-chemical called naphthalene and it has two fused benzene rings. Art pigments used to made from these types of dyes but they are mostly unstable and considered to be toxic. Its banned in California, but Canada still allows it on the peels of oranges. I wonder what happens when it goes into our composter? In the painting, I used benzimidazolone orange, called deep orange, from Da Vinci company, which is considered to be non-toxic. So you could eat one of my paintings and be better off than eating an orange peel, although I would recommend a slice of carrot cake instead.  
 

Sprayed on Colour (Orange), watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, March 2023 (No. 3376a)

Scenes around Caledon

With a fierce snow storm all day, I dipped back into the box of paintings and pulled out some old paintings I did of Bolton and surrounding area. This one shows a flower planter on my parent's back deck, with a view of the ravine trees in the background. Many of the trees were taken down by invasive vines, so last summer I pulled up a bunch of the vines to let some of the trees grow this year.
 

Flower Planter on Deck, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2001 (No. 0192)

 

Done in the middle of 1996, this would have been among the first location paintings I ever did around the Caledon area. The scene is probably on one of the side roads that stretch north from Bolton. The painting has a lot of texture, it looks like I applied a yellowish wash then painted the green over top. At the time I did not have magenta paint, so the violet would have been ultramarine (PB29) with alizarin crimson (PR83).

Flowers and Fields, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 1996 (No. 0212)

 

Prior to painting on location I would go around and take photos. After getting them developed, yes it was film back then, I could make paintings indoors. I never really had a studio, in fact, this painting was done in the basement of a house I was staying at during undergraduate in London Ontario. The scene is another view from one of the lines around Caledon. I made a larger version of this one and my parent's got it framed. 

Red House Study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1995 (No. 0203)

 

This was also from a photo I took along one of the lines north of Bolton. I was going for a photorealism style, but got stumped at the cow's face. Over time I went away from using photos and trying to be too realistic. Compare the first painting in today's blog to the the last few and you can see the stylistic change that occurred after the first 5 or 6 years that I painted.

Cow Under Tree Study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1995 (No. 0207)

Ride down to Canal

After dropping off an item at the thrift store, I made a painting in the parking lot with a view of a huge pile of melting snow and the secret building in the background. Nobody knows what goes on in the secret building, but for some reason you can click on it in google maps and get a virtual tour of its non de script interior. I rather liked the variations of blue and turquoise. The snow pile was very dirty but also had a fresh layer of snow. I am attuned to the nuances  of painting snow.

Snow Melt Parking Lot Green Building, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3407)

Wanting a change in scenery I headed down to the canal. This view is looking back towards NDG with the beginnings of the escarpment in the background. The sun was shining through the clouds and through the branches of a tree. It is a complex effect to get right, the last time I attempted something like this was out in Lachine last fall. The range of warm browns is quite nice in this painting. I used a combination of umber (PBr7) and benzi orange (PO62) to create the warmth, and indo blue (PB60) for shadows. Yellow ochre provides the glow (PY43). The umber I used, from ShinHan, is the colour of orange pekoe tea with milk.

Escarpment with Sun Shining Through a Tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3408)

 

 

I did the under-painting of this one first, then worked on the Escarpment painting to give it time to dry. The second layer of the trees and shrubs went on to complete the painting. In the middl-eground is the Lachine canal, I was hoping to catch it with some melting ice but it was still frozen and covered in snow.

Canal with Shadows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3409a)

World Inspired Landscapes: Honduras

 

Spanning Central America is the tropical, mountainous country of Honduras. Honduras has a mixed ethnicity owing to British and Spanish colonial rule, along with a variety of indigenous groups that remained relatively intact during the hard times. With dense jungles, impassible terrain, and vast swamp lands and rivers, Honduras provided a lot of places for indigenous people to thrive. They became independent as a country in the 19^th century although Mexico laid claim to the land for some time. The United States also interfered on a regular basis to protect the lucrative fruit companies that were operating in Honduras to grow bananas, plantains, pineapples, coffee, and sugar. Despite rampant deforestation, Honduras still has lush cloud jungles, which are forested areas on top of high mountains. 

In the painting, I depicted a tree branch high atop a mountain in the cloud forest, with a rich variety of bromeliads (the pointy ones), ferns, orchids and mossy growths. Since this is supposed to be a landscape series, I composed the tree branch as if it were itself part of a landscape, complete with trees that look they are from an alien planet. The undulations of the branch look like rolling hills. The notion that tree branches could harbor such a garden of tropical plants came from a book on Honduras I got from the library authored by McGaffrey and Spilling.

World Inspired Landscapes: Honduras, watercolour 6 x 9" watercolour paper, March 2023 (No. 3379)

Sunset in Recreation Park

Just down the street there is a large park filled mostly with recreation facilities. The snow within one of the baseball diamonds was smooth and untouched, while the pathway between fences was well trodden. In the background, there was a classic combination of brown and green that is so popular in Montreal, along with a subtle sunset emerging from underneath the cloud cover. I just had light gloves and gear on, yet it felt very cold yesterday due to the moisture. Today it seems we are getting more wet snow.
 

Sunset in Recreation Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2023 (No. 3406a)

So Montreal

To close out February I made a painting of Sherbrooke street on a snowy night with a plethora of pylons. It doesn't get more Montreal than a cold winter's night with pylons and construction signs. The cause of the pylons seemed to be related to the sewer systems getting flushed out with hot steam, if I were to guess the pipes were frozen or something. Adding to the ambiance was a steady sleet, cold wet and barely snow. I enjoyed the colours of this scene. The snow took on a variety of greens from the traffic light, reds from the other traffic light, yellowish from a nearby lamp, and greyish violet from the sky. There were plenty of cars going by but they were omitted to make the painting feasible under the circumstances.

Pylons Night Snow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2023 (No. 3405a)