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)
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