Soggy Day on Somerled

Across the street on Walkley there is a colourful mural that was reflecting in the puddles. I barely got into this painting when it started drizzling and I relocated to the covered staircase at our condo. Painting puddles is always an interesting challenge, we just have not seen too many of them with the recent dry weather. And the forecast is hot and dry for the next week. 

Mural Rainy Day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3473a)

 

Standing on the top platform of our staircase which is protected from rain, I made a simple painting looking east on Somerled Avenue. The road was a shimmering metallic grey with subtle blue reflections from the rain. As usual, painting the cars is a challenge. Their scaling, perspective and relative position on the street have to be accurate or else they look too big, too small, or like they are tilting on another plane. In the painting they are sitting about right. To get the perspective lines, I hold my brush up vertically and rotate it until the angle matches the scene, then move the brush to the paper. This is a simple trick to transfer angles onto the paper without using drawing aides like a perspective frame, or using a photograph in the studio. If I tried to take a picture of this and paint off the smart phone, it wouldn't have seemed so bright. Your eyes adjust in low light conditions, making the contrast seem enhanced. Over the years I learned this and was better able to paint scenes on location when overcast. 

Soggy Day on Somerled, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3474a)