Sunset Scenes along Somerled Avenue

 

After kind of a grueling but satisfying week of research, I made it out for a walk along Somerled before the sun went down. There was a refreshingly cool breeze for a change, replacing the stifling humidity that persisted for the last few weeks. The colour of the fire station is a mustard yellow, no doubt from the yellow ochre bricks. As the sun was setting it took a yellow-orange tint and I adjusted accordingly with a thin wash. The conditions change so fast at sunset you may find the lighting completely different from one minute to the next. 

Fire station at Sunset, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2023 (No. 3495b)

 Walking back towards the condo I saw this impressive cloud over the building. To emphasize the cloud I composed the building and tree line towards the bottom and placed the cloud roughly in the middle. I had the whole technique planned out in my mind, but as I applied the first layer of water it dried a lot faster than expected and I had to scramble a bit to get the cloud looking right. The breeze and lower humidity made the paint dry faster than it had in recent paintings. Of all the paint media, watercolour is the most volatile and responsive to the elements. On a rainy day it may get little droplets, on a snowy day the flakes can make interesting effects, and on a freezing day ice crystals can form. Van Gogh made a series of paintings down at the sea side early in his career and he remarked in one of his many letters that the sand had encrusted into the wet oil paints. He pointed out how the sand incorporating into the painting was symbolic of the landscape becoming one with the painting. So next time I drop my painting and it gets dirty I'll have to write something eloquent like that. 

Cloud over Condo, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2023 (No. 3490b)