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)