Perhaps its time to start a series called 'painting while waiting for the LUFA vegetable delivery' which is usually just in front of Trenholme park on Sherbrooke west. I have done a lot under those circumstances including some chilly night paintings. Almost the moment I finished this painting the truck arrived and I could go put the veggies in my bike pack and ride home before the sun went down completely. The scene had an interesting X pattern in the asphalt paths, and hints of green were appearing on the yellowish grass. It may not be the most spectacular painting I have done, but it does carry the gloomy overcast feel that was present on location. Painting overcast is actually one of the harder things to do because the visual system makes adaptations in low light. Human eyes have a dynamic range of over 10,000 which means vision is dramatically different in conditions even though we don't notice it too much. For example, walking from a dark room into a sunny outdoor results in overwhelming brightness until the eyes and the mind adjust. Light adaptation is a combination of the retinal pigments, the cell signalling pathways in the optic nerve, and the visual processing center of the central nervous system. On McEvoy's handprint.com he made a detailed description of all these things which I attempted to read. Over time, I am able to paint based on how it will look when dried and viewed under indoor light, rather than how it looks at the moment on location. But that takes a lot of experience to know about. For many years I would only paint on location if it was a bright and sunny day, which is arguably the easiest condition to paint in. Painting in poor, or interesting rather, conditions was something I only pushed on starting four years ago.
Spring Trenholme Park Paths, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2024
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