On the ride back the sun was getting low and bathing everything in an orange-yellow light. This tree had hundreds of golf-ball sized pods on it, perhaps it was a walnut variety. Capturing little yellow circles against a dark background is pretty hard in watercolour, although easy in oil, so I tried a more textural effect to give it the correct pattern. There was a wide variety of chartreuse and yellow variations which I painted in successive layers.
Chartreuse and Yellow Tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3549b)
I wanted to paint this scene on the way back. The train bridge has a pale green surface streaked in rust, and the low sun was casting long shadows up the embankment next to the Lachine canal where I was standing. About a hundred Canada Geese were off to my right having a snack before the long flight south. Maybe tomorrow if I see them again I will try a painting, but painting birds is really tough. As I painted the commuter train zipped by and I outlined it quickly, then painted from memory. The key to this kind of painting is the value contrast in the shadows, I did it with a mix of the indispensable perylene green (PBk31) and orange-yellow (PY110). Applying the dark blue and black fencing and PJD signature really makes the shadow element glow. So the signature becomes part of the composition, that is something I learned from studying Hiroshige. He was a Japanese print design master, and would often place his signature cartouche strategically in the drawing to balance out the composition. I really like this painting because it captures perfectly a fleeting moment by the canal with the train going past and the sun setting after work hours.
Canal Bridge with Commuter Train Long Shadows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3548b)
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