Memories of Painting in Paris part 3

After posting several Paris paintings, and most recently memories of painting in Paris part 1 and part 2, I thought I would complete the series with a part 3. As far as I can tell there are not many Paris paintings left in my box from the three separate trips I took over the years. In this painting, you can see the massive front of Notre Dame cathedral from an angle in the background, with a decorative lamp post in the foreground. When touring around Paris there was so much to see, it was almost overwhelming as an artist. I like some of the colour choices in the painting, like the reds and greens in the post, and the variety of grey, brown, and blues.
 

Lamp Post and Notre Dame Cathedral, watercolour 7.5 x 11" cold press, 2009 (No. 1234)

 

 

I am never quite sure of the dates on these painting, in the last one I noticed no leaves on the trees, while this one is clearly in Spring or fall judging by the foliage. At any rate, the painting captures one of the many bridges in Paris with people gathered around its right and left banks. There was a lot of attention to detail in the bridge structure and perspective, with a nice light atmosphere surrounding it. The foregrounded tree branches on the top left provide a compositional element for depth perception.

People Under Bridge, 6 3/4 x 7.5", 2011 (No. 1239)

Just off the river there are many old buildings with fantastic architecture. Most roads in Paris are quite straight, but this was a rare curved road in the city. The building and iron fence were also curved around it, giving a sense of history and permanence to the location. I was into painting the traffic signs on the roads at the time, you see the arrow near the bottom of the painting. Since then, I generally ignore the road symbols. I like the golden weather vane on the top of the building, it looks realistic, and the orange leaves seem to provide a genuine glow. 

Fall Trees, Curved Road, 5 x 7" 2011 (No. 1243)