Chartreuse Dumpster on a Sunny Day

 After painting the glorious Brazilian urban landscape, it was a notch down to paint this dumpster on campus. For those of you who know my painting history, garbage cans and dumpsters have often featured in my location painting. Recently, as in the last three years, I avoided this all too tempting scenes but today it seemed about right. Part of the impetus was to capture the chartreuse colour, with the contrasting rusted metal streaks. I used a convenience mix called leaf green (PY154 + PG7) from Holbein and adjusted with a bit of phthalo green yellow shade (PG36). The rust was raw sienna (PBr7) with hints of umber (PBr7), burnt sienna (PR101), and carbon black (PBk6). The inky black below is carbon black with deep scarlet (PR175). To make the chartreuse really sing I juxtaposed a warm yellow in the steel poles on the right, and some earthy tree-greens in the background. All together the picture design emphasizes the chartreuse dumpster on a sunny day.

Chartreuse Dumpster on a Sunny Day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3462b)

Campus Land Moat

The campus has a large land moat, perhaps better called a ditch, which seems to provide sunlight to the lower floor of the building. I sat on the retainer wall looking down the ditch and painted the complex scene which included bright yellow flowers, a tree, and grass growing here and there. Knowing more about yellow after painting in Brazil helped me negotiate the tricky variations in this scene. A shadow was fast approaching so I had to get the scene done while the sun was still beaming down. At least if campus is attacked by zombies we have a handy moat to help fend them off!

Campus Land Moat, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3463a)

Some Remaining Spring colours

 

With Canadian spring in full swing, there were still some remaining colours from flowering trees and shrubs. I even saw some May flies down at the peninsula park near Lachine. In the early spring, these crab apple trees are a pleasant pink, which changes to dark red like you see here, and then become dark yellow-green for the rest of the summer. The grassy expanse was filled with white and wispy dandelions, with a few that were still yellow. Beyond the trees, is the st Lawrence river that goes into the marina, and Lachine on the distant horizon near where the lighthouse is located. The colour of the trees was a mix of magenta (PV19), scarlet red (PR175), and red (PR254). Dark green was dabbed on top (PBk31 with PV19). This is the first painting from my new 10 x 7" blocks, they are cold press by Fabriano, the same product as the 5 x 7" but a different dimension.

Crab Apple Trees, watercolour 10 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3610)

Less intense, were these pale purple lilacs bushes. To paint them I first established the purple colour, then over-painted with the olive green and darker textural elements. The lilac colour was made with bright magenta (PR122) and blue (PB15). A sliver of the river is seen, with Lachine on the other side. 

Lilacs and Path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3462a)

Flowering Shrub and Tulips

 

The Cavendish underpass is lavishly decorated with flowering shrubs, ornamental trees and plenty of tulips. Today the red and white tulips were in full bloom, along with the flowering shrub. To paint the shrub I started with a large blob, shadowed on the bottom, and pale yellow on the top. Then, I built up successive layers of colour and texture by quickly dabbing a semi-moist brush to get a stippling effect. The tulip heads were single brush strokes of colour onto white paper. Any remaining gaps were filled in with a chartreuse. I wanted the cars to look chunky and ugly against the delicate flowers to give you the feeling of their noisy and smelly presence on Cavendish. Too bad more people couldn't enjoy the sight of the flowers, like in a park for example. However, Cote st Luc is not big on parks, just highways and decorated underpasses I guess.  The yellow tulips may be up soon so I will have to go back.

Flowering Shrub and Tulips, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3461b)

A Seagull Flying

 

On a late lunch break I sat down in Coffee Park feeling a little exhausted from the trip and first week back at work which had hundreds of emails and things to catch up on! While feeling unsure about if I wanted to paint anything at all, a seagull soared high in the sky, seemingly above the clouds. It quickly dipped out of view. From memory, I captured the image using a simple negative painting technique. First I applied water to the while paper, except for the shape of the seagull. Then I quickly painted in blue (PB15) and a dilute blue-green mix (PB15 + PG7) towards the bottom. By controlling the moisture properly, it left a decent bird-shaped outline high in the sky, and a blue - cyan transition in the sky. Then, using one of the several rags (old cut up t shirts) I bring on location, I blotted our the lower cloud shapes, and added subtle purple shadows. Although it is one of the simplest paintings I have made on location, possible ever, it seems to bring joy and an breezy pleasantness. 

A Seagull Flying, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3461a)

Flowering Crab-apple Trees

These trees were planted next to one of the new buildings on campus which I have avoided painting. A sliver of the building in on the left, but the main subject matter are what I believe to be crab-apple trees on the right, and the colourful dandelions and green grass. I had to paint fast on a short lunch break, and the grass/dandelion effect took a little longer than expected. It involved applying a yellow layer first, then carefully painting a yellow/green mix on top, allowing for the dandelions to show through. Finally, a dab of dark yellow-orange, and darker blades of grass were applied for texture. As the first painting in Canada following the Brazil trip, I picked this scene to emphasize the intense colours and bright sun, even if the wind was a little chilly. 

Flowering Crab-apple Trees, 5 x 7" cold press watercolour, May 2023 (No. 3460)

A Few Remaining Brazil Paintings, final thoughts

The upper level of the laundry area in the back of the house had spectacular views of towering eucalyptus trees on the horizon. The shadows in Brazil were filled with light and colour, and clay tiles provided an flexible motif and a splash of earthy red in the paintings. 

Laundry Drying Area, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3456)

 

Sitting outside of the kitchen one gets a cool breeze, and plenty of noise from the street below. The top floor juts out slightly from the bottom floor, and a roof overhang provides protection from the elements when entering the front door. The house is trimmed in a fantastic wood, the same wood was used in the doors and window frames. At the bottom of the painting, there is a steep staircase that leads down to the front gate. There is actually a fence and a palm tree missing from the painting, and a cat that liked to bask out on the front patio.

Foyer Area, 6x10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3609)

 

Cilei's Dad walked with me around the neighborhood and I was amazed at how many people he knew. Every block he would stop and talk to someone, no doubt explaining who I was in Portuguese. As he chatted with the auto mechanic I made a quick painting of the fantastic view down the street. The green facade in the bottom left was sparkly, it was made from a grainy mineral painted in minty green. This is considered a decent neighborhood, yet all houses have gates and high walls for security. 

Colourful Houses Tall Trees, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3457)

 

Towards the end of the trip I was getting a better handle on the subtleties of São Paulo's colours and compositions. It is a sprawling, dense urban area interspersed with intense jungle-like vegetation. On the horizon of this painting you see a hillside completely covered in small brick, plaster and tin roof dwellings with few remaining trees. The air was extremely hazy from the smog which neutralized the blue and created a caramel-glow on the horizon. In each of the city vistas I did, the urban elements were composed along side of the lush vegetation, often using a large tree to unite all the elements. This one perhaps best captures the atmosphere of the landscape.

Hazy City Vista tree on Left, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3458)

In addition to the nearly 30 small paintings I completed in Brazil over two weeks, there were several scenes which I could not paint for various reasons, but took detailed notes. I will try to recreate those scenes using the notes and what I learned. There are also a few paintings I may attempt to redo for example the corn and avocado painting in Cilei's garden. At any rate, I was happy with the results of the Brazil trip, and the family visits, and look forward to returning one day. What a great way to kick off what promises to be a hot and muggy Montreal summer.

Brazil 2023 Palette Thoughts

Before traveling to Brazil I squeezed out a fresh palette of 19 paints for the trip and brought a few tubes to refill including greens, yellows and blues. There are not many differences between the Brazil palette and my usual palette; this blog is mainly a collection of thoughts on which paints were useful and some things I learned painting on the trip. The surprise was raw sienna (PBr7, second from left top row) a paint I do not use much but decided to bring it on a hunch that Brazil would require a lot of warm caramel-like colours. The weather was mostly sunny with occasional clouds in the morning, and clear/hazy skies in the afternoons. Raw sienna was good for sunlit earth, warm earthy wood and plaster hues, tree bark, and other highlights. In general I used a lot of the earthy colours (first five top row), and a lot of the green colours (last four top row). Yellow (PY154), dark green (PBk31) and dark blue (PB60 were heavily used. Orange and sky-blue were also popular colours. The magentas and reds were not too useful overall but when I needed them, for example magenta crotons, it was good to have those colours handy. Painting in Brazil required a mastery of yellow, green, and warm browns with splashes of rainbow colours here and there. Getting the greens to be light and bright with the correct hue (towards olive) without becoming muddy was a challenge. There were so many different kinds of trees and each had its own colour scheme. At Park Ibirapuera towards the end of the tip I let loose on the greens and it was quite an intense result! Its hard to compare my last trips to Brazil (2014 and 2017) with this trip given the amount of time that has passed, but one clear difference was my current palette is more flexibile for the unknown scenes one encounters on exotic locations. As time passes, these Brazil paintings will be ones to look back on and remember the warmth of the city, the scenery, and the family.   

Update: the image has a few errors in its labelling, the orange labelled PO32 is actually PO62, and the dark red is PR175.

Campus Buildings with Dandelions

Just before leaving for Brazil I made this painting of the dandelions growing on the campus. In the background is the junction between the old structures on the right with the modern tunnel that connects to the new building going off to the left. To paint the dandelions I applied the yellow layer first, then painted over with some bright green (PG36). The only other way is to paint the green and then put yellow on top, but because watercolours are transparent it will not work out very well. Yellow will basically disappear if you paint it over top of green. However, in other media such as oil, acrylic and even gauche you can paint light over dark. I am thinking of getting some white acrylic-gauche to use for highlights in paintings in particular to paint flowers on top of landscape elements. After painting a lot in Brazil I am due for a trip to the art store. 

Campus Buildings with Dandelions, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3459)

Endless Development (Scarred Land)

 

I am making one last blog from Brazil as we prepare to go to the airport. This scene is a short walk down the road, I painted it just in front of a cool bakery or what we would call a patisserie in Montreal. Across the highway is a gas station in the foreground and in the background the forest is cleared out and levelled off into ramps leaving a gaping pit. The earth shows its true colour, a subtle brick red that I embellished with red ochre. There will no doubt be new condos there when we return. Its a little sad to see the endless development but at least the moment was captured in this painting. 

Scarred Land, 8x10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3608)

Park Ibirapuera

Today's final adventure was the amazing race São Paulo where Cilei and I tested the public transit system and made our way to the large park popular on weekends. Several busses and metros later we made it there maybe not in first place if it was a race. The painting shows park of the long lake and tall trees, with the Japanese style bridge off to the left. 

Japanese style bridge at Ibirapuera park, 5 x 7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3452)

 

On the way out of the park after walking past about two dozen stands selling coconuts and junk food, we sat in the shade. I painted an interesting tree that has multiple shades of bark. The outer layer peels off leaving white underbark showing. The lake is in the middleground with some swans swimming. (No. 3453)

Multi tone tree, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3453)

Intense Colours in Neighborhood

As the vacation winds down I am getting used to the local light and colour in São Paulo. This scene is on the way to the grocery store, right next to the park Ypé where I made a painting earlier in the trip. The road dips down steeply to the right, and there is a dramatic middle and background filled with foliage and habitations. This is a neighborhood called João XXIII, which is next to the neighborhood of Parque Ipé where Cilei's family lives.

Intense Colours in Neighborhood, 8 x 10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3607)

The next scene shows an interesting tree on the corner. The buildings in the background are glowing in earthy colours. Painting the intense colours is a good challenge, it helped to make the sky a slightly dark and neutral blue to provide necessary contrast.

Twisty tree on Corner, 5 x 7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3454)

 

I had my eye on this scene for awhile, the juxtaposition of two hues of yellow...chartreuse in the shrubs and warm yellow on the building...was neat. I applied a large amount of yellow (PY154) to make it intense enough. 

Intense yellows razor wire, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3455)

Scenes from Vila Olímpia

 

The nearby sports park called Vila Olímpia is a place for volleyball, basketball, exercising, and now, watercolour painting. This painting depicts a few of the tall pine trees that line the main laneway, and the prominent green and orange building that houses indoor table tennis and gym areas. The orange was a red-orange hue I created with ferrari red (PR255) and benzi orange (PO32).

Sports Complex with Pine Trees, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3450)

A short walk from the first location, I found a skateboard park not being used by any skateboarders. Most of all, there was a handy bench and shady tree to sit under. The locals are complaining about the weather being too cold but I am finding it on the hot side. The tree on the left was really interesting and I didn't quite do it justice, although the warm beige bark is accurate. 

Sprawling Tree and Skateboard Ramps, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3451a)

On the way out I found another nice shady spot and was enjoying the peace and quiet so much that I decided to paint the scene in front of me. The shrubs looked like a type of croton, a popular indoor plant in Canada that commonly grows outdoors in Brazil. It was good to paint something with unusual colours like magenta which rarely appears naturally in a landscape. 

Magenta Croton Shrubs, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3451b)

Butantan Institute

Butantan institute started off in the early twentieth century as a large expanse of farmland and remnants of the jungle that used to be there. The original idea was to grow plants from which quinone could be extracted since malaria was a major growing epidemic and the plant derived drug was an effective treatment. The quinone plants failed to grow, and other attempts at growing medicinal plants also failed. As the institute changed directions over the years it gained fame as a center for biology research and a specialty in extracting snake venoms to produce serum and antidotes. The University of São Paulo campus is also attached the Butantan complex. We visited today but Cilei was dismayed that one of her favorite places to read and study was now overrun with cars, tour busses, paved walkways and buildings all over. The development was all related to the institute, however, the place felt more like a theme park than a historical biology refuge. At least the walk in the forest was peaceful.

The painting shows a piece of the original library that Cilei used to study at. I painted it before on a previous visit to Brazil. This time the structure was renovated and white washed. In the foreground you see the trees that emanate from the boa constrictor habitat. A sign said that the snakes could climb the trees but not escape the tall walls of the enclosure. I painted a snake coiling its way up the tree for dramatic effect. 

Butantan Institute with Boa Constrictor 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3449)

 

A Brazilian Kitchen

As it turned out, painting a Brazilian kitchen was one of the hardest locations ever. It took many hours before the kitchen was free and everything quieted down. Sitting on a stool, I carefully sketched out the perspective elements, holding the paper up to check for accuracy. Next, I filled in the detailed objects with a small brush. On the left is a common water filter system that uses several layers to purify the tap water. Center left is a coffee making stand that uses gravity to pull hot water through a sieve full of ground coffee and into an urn. Central is the gas stove, a key focal point of the Brazilian family. Above it is a hole in the wall with a fan to exhaust the stove fumes to the outside. Center right is the fruit stand with limes, bananas, and caqui on the bottom rack which is kind of like a cross between a tomato and a pear. On the right is the new fridge that Cilei and her sister bought for their parents. 

To paint a Brazilian kitchen I had to wait for it to be free of family members. I also had to infuse the shadows with light. Soft shadows were created with neutral purple and blue mixes, and neutral beige where warmth was indicated. A dark strip of carbon black (PBk6) under the stove provided the necessary contrast. It took awhile but in the end the painting was worth the effort. Just imagine the smell of beans, chicken and garlicky rice in the air with plenty of boisterous conversation and you get the full picture.

A Brazilian Kitchen, 8x10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3606)

View from Patio Sunset and Night

The view from the patio is quite nice if you ignore the buildings across the street. There is a prominent tree line and some interesting apartment buildings on the horizon that change in apearance with the time of day and weather conditions. In the painting I infused the sky with fiery orange and yellow, with a neutral tint on the middle and the remains of the blue sky. 

Sunset Over Rooftops, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3448a)

The next painting was done an hour later, looking over to the highway and treeline. Just like in Canada, the sky was a dark purple-red hue that I mixed with indo blue (PB60) pyrol red (PR255) and orange (PO32). The stars are just bits of the paper left showing. I've been working on night scenes for some time now so it was neat to try it here in Brazil. The patio is on top of the garage surrounded by a fence so it was secure up there.

Night Scene Highway and Treeline, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3448b)

Leaf Flower Plant (Anthurium)

This is a painting of one of the many plants at Cilei's parents place. It's red flower looks like one of its leaves with a stamen. The stamen looked like a cigarette!  The painting is actually lighter and brighter than you see here. Instead of painting the background as it was I just scribbled in some of the colours. Unfortunately her parents are not plant people and many of the plants Cilei bought for them on the last visit didn't survive. A quick search revealed that this is a kind of Anthurium plant native to the Americas.

Anthurium Plant, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3447a)

Park Luz, São Paulo

 

Luz neighborhood is at the literal center of São Paulo, geographically, historically, and and figuratively. One of the largest cathedrals in the world sits at its center along with the Sé metro station. A cultural museum called Caixa is also in this downtown core, it used to be the federal bank building. The bank began 260 years ago and still exists to this day albeit in new buildings. The museum contained all sorts of interesting banking artifacts like mechanical calculators, devices to print checks, old wooden desks and board rooms you could wander around, and the various lottery ball machines. The security guard gave us some extra information on the displays. It was neat to stand in the bank president's office, which would have been in its heyday the most powerful financial office in South America. Unfortunately, the downtown core is dilapidated with plenty of serious social problems. Our friend David was showing us the cathedral, museum, and then he drove us to the large market for lunch, then to Luz park where there is a modern art gallery, all kinds of trees, and walking paths. Driving in São Paulo was like being in a video game, the roads go in all directions and the weekend traffic was heavy. 

The painting was done in Park Luz (Parque Jardim da Luz) while Cilei and David visited the second museum building. There were so many interesting trees that I decided to do an elongated montage of the park. Towards the end they sat in a bench waiting for me, unaware that I was up on the viewing platform painting the park. So I included them in the center of the painting. In the top left, I depicted a slice of the surrounding city and traffic illuminated by the setting sun.

Park Luz São Paulo, 8 x10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3605)

Ypé Park

 

Along the main street there is a traffic circle with a small park at the center. Last time we were here, in 2017, the city had barely just planted the trees. Now, the entire area was covered in tree canopy providing a nice shady area to paint. Instead of showing the cars and buildings, I left the background blank, and elongated the depth of the park to fill the page. In reality, the scene was kind of dark and cool, but I infused the painting with a rich, warm, subtle glow using impressionist-style brush strokes.

Ypé Park, 8x10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3604)

City Vista São Paulo

 

The sprawling metropolis of São Paulo seems to have no end. I found this view just up the street of Cilei's parents house, the entire horizon was filled with condo skyscrapers while the middle and foreground were a jigsaw puzzle of ramshackle houses. The blue jugs on top of the houses are water reservoirs. To paint this scene it was more a matter of capturing the patterns and colours rather than the detail per say. Adding a few cars provided the scale and depth. Not too many artists get the chance to paint in such a location.

City Vista São Paulo, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3446)

View from Window

This is approximately the view from the bedroom window where we are staying in São Paulo, with some light editing and adjusting. As a painter you can alter a scene, its called artistic license. It was raining a bit yesterday which is why I did a scene from home. On a previous visit I made a painting of the same scene but this new one is much more detailed and colourful, you can see the growth I have made in the last 8 years since my first visit to Brazil. 

Scene from Window, 8x10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3603)

Neighborhood Restaurant

 

There is a new restaurant up the street that serves a variety of traditional Brazilian food like rice, beans, okras, beef, and chicken. We got some takeout the other day but it wasn't as good as Cilei's mom's home cooking. The location is a narrow street tightly packed with parked cars and shops. A tall wall behind me shielded me from the sun. A lot of local workers stopped by to grab lunch, they also stayed in the shade. To paint the scene I used carbon black for a loose outline and leaf green (PY154 + PG7) from Holbein for the yellow shades. 

Neighborhood Restaurant, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3445)

The Real Street View

Here is the real street view from São Paulo, Brazil. To complete the experience try to imagine loud motorcycles whipping by, heavy car exhaust,barking dogs, and sweltering muggy weather. On the horizon is the downtown core of this massive city. We are up in the north of São Paulo in what used to be a forested rural area but is now a built up city. The colours very bright in Brazil, and I am using a lot of yellow paint. In anticipation of that, I brought extra yellow and green paint along with me.

The Real Street View, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3444a)

Cilei's new House in Brazil

Cilei's Dad Silvestre has built a house with a little help from contractors. Nearly finished, it has the rustic look she was hoping for including exposed concrete and a brick feature wall. We were there today picking avocados, squash and limes, and cleaning the house for the first time. I chiselled and sanded off plaster spatters from the brick feature wall inside. In the bottom window you can see the Montreal-inspired brick wall in the painting. The beautiful view was mostly real but I edited out all the buildings. 

Cilei's new house Brazil, 8x10" watercolour rough press, May 2023 (No. 3602)

Here is a painting of the land in front of the house. There are lots of corn plants and large fruit trees. Beans and squash grow on the ground. The moon was also visible in the hazy blue sky.

Avocado Tree and Corn, 5x7 watercolour cold press, May 2022 (No. 3447b)

Cilei's Trees

 

Years ago Cilei started planting trees in a vacant lot up the street. Eventually the city turned it into an official park and continued planting trees of all varieties. This morning I made this painting up in the forest, and Cilei's father and nephew were with me. Afterwards, I went for a long walk through the neighborhood with her dad and made a painting of colourful buildings. There was a palm tree in this scene but I left it out. 

Cilei's Trees, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3443)

Vila Olímpica Mário Covas, Brazil

 

Near Cilei's parents house there is a large sports park called Vila Olímpica Mário Covas (Olympic Village, named after a politician). It is surrounded by tall pines, lush greenery and apartments popping up over the tree line. These trees had brilliant magenta flowers I painted using quin magenta (PR122). The art scans are a little wonky since I am making them slowly with a smart phone. But its fun to blog from afar. Note: now that I am back in Canada I am lightly editing the blog and updating the photos with scans. 

Olympic Park with Magenta Trees, watercolour cold press, 5x7", May 2023 (No. 3442)

Here was the image I made on the cell phone down in Brazil for comparison, the contrast and saturation was a little high but it looked fine...

 Olympic Park with Magenta Trees, watercolour cold press, 5x7", May 2023

Plate of Fruit in Brazil

 

The fruit in Brazil is really big and colourful...and it tastes great. This plate was on the dining  room table set by Cilei's mom. I have done some landscapes too, the weather is hot. On the right of the painting is the coffee thermos and a small cup like the one her mom set out on a daily basis. I left this painting with their family as a memento.

Plate of Fruit, 5x7" watercolour cold press, May 2023 (No. 3441)

Davidson and the Moon

Cilei's sister and her dog Davidson are staying with us for a week as their house gets renovated. I walked Davidson to the dog park in Trenholme park and made this painting of the moon rising over a pastel sunset. I thought about painting him in a running pose but when the time came to add the dig to the painting he sat down, panting, facing the general direction of the moon. The black silhouette was the perfect foil for an otherwise grey, pastel scene. Pastels are actually tinted greys. making them is complicated, they require some neutralization with an opposite colour or black, and the right amount of water. Yellow ochre is useful in this respect (PY43) I used it for the warm colours in the sky and the grey gravel of the dark park. Davidson is carbon black (PBk6) with a red tongue (PO73, PR122). 

Davidson and the Moon, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3440)

World Inspired Landscapes: Iraq

 

Looking at the series unfold, I often consider how the pieces fit together. The last sequence of paintings were very warm coloured and it was time to plan out a cool colour composition. With Iraq up next, that was a tough order! Most of Iraq is arid, baked desert and rock formations, with sparse areas and occasional lush oasis-like green areas near the Tigris river. To find a cool composition, temperature wise, I made a painting of the Iraq desert at night, under the stars. Only two paints were used to make this painting, indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange (PO73) taken from old tin tubes that I cut open to get the last of the paint out. Indo blue, a kind of dark navy blue, was a new one for me in 2020, since then, its become the backbone of my palette. It is good for dark blue sky, to make grey with earth pigments, and for turquoise and purples. Pyrol orange is a fiery red-orange great for pylons and dark night skies when mixed with Indo blue. I like how the rolling sand dunes almost look like water until you see the orange-ish highlights indicative of sand. To paint the stars on a cloudy dark night sky, I just left the paper showing through, and painted around the star shapes with careful brushwork.

World Inspired Landscapes: Iraq, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, May 2023 (No. 3636a)

Symbols of Spring in Montreal

There is nothing that says spring in Montreal like new grass, budding leaves, trees with pink flowers, and construction pylons. Walking back from work I stopped at Trenholme park and made this small painting looking across Sherbrooke. The pylons were real although I embellished their size in the painting. To paint the pylons I outlined them with paint, did the background elements, then applied bright orange, a mix of benzi orange PO62 and pyrol red-orange PO73. When dry, I overlaid a grey wash on the sides of the cone to create the shadow and the grey element in the middle of the orange. After many years I have nearly perfected the art of painting pylons! 

Another thing I tried was to apply the tree with pink leaves at home, using a paint called buff titanium. Buff titanium is a greyish white paint that is very opaque, enough so that it sits on top of the darker brick colours in the background. Then I applied daubs of pink (PR122) to give it colour. This approach would have worked better had I applied a white gauche paint, but I don't have any, and technically that's cheating in the watercolour world! If I ever do use gauche paint with watercolour, then I would label it is mixed media.
 

Symbols of Spring in Montreal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3438b)

World Inspired Landscapes: Ireland

When researching Ireland, almost every landscape picture I could find in a travel book, from the internet and google earth, had the common themes of rocks, rocks and more rocks. Ireland appears to be laden with crumbly old rocks. Around the rocks were beautiful rolling hills, valleys, rivers, waterfalls, and spectacular coastline features, and a very earthy yellow/green palette of colours. For this painting I restricted my research to Ireland proper, which is most of the Island and its surrounding islets, save the north which is part of the European Union. After several water-themed paintings I wanted the next few to focus on land-based themes, hence the mountain ranges of Iran, and this close-up view of rocks in Ireland. I hope if an Irish person saw this, they would agree that it best represents the Irish landscape. 
 

Most of this painting was done with old paint tubes that I cut open. The colours included yellow (PY154), red-orange (PO73) and blue (PB60), with a bit of leftover black (PBk6) and raw sienna (PBr7). You probably would not have guessed that the painting was done with only three colours plus black. 

World Inspired Landscapes: Ireland, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, April 2023 (No. 3601)