Views Around Summit Woods

Summit woods sits atop of the south part of Mount Royal, separated by a valley the two mountains are still none the less part of the same range. To access the woods, I rode my bike along The Boulevard and then wound my way up through the mansions until I got to the top. A road called summit circle goes around the woods, but I walked my bike through (no riding is allowed) and stopped to make a few paintings. There were a lot of people there enjoying the moderate weather and walking their dogs. It was mild enough out of the wind that I could just wear a plaid shirt, no jacket. To do the painting I established the sky with the usual dilute phthalo green blue shade (PG7) and gradual addition of phthalo blue red shade (PB15). Importantly the phthalo blue has to be made by Holbein, all the other ones I tries were too active and would not blend with such delicacy. I put a description of the technique in the how to paint skies page. Somehow that page has over 100 views which is neat.

Summit Woods Last Snow? watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2024

The view from summit woods at this time of year is spectacular because you can see through the trees, down to the city at large, and as far as the river, south shore, and blue mountains on the horizon. To paint such a daunting scene, I worked up the background first keeping the sky modest and emphasizing the turquoise/blue river. Getting the south shore right was tricky, I had to get the paint moisture just right. The city was daubed in with an almost abstract style, then the woods painted over top. The painting already looked good without the trees, so it was kind of nerve racking to add them. The pine tree on the left was modeled after Van Gogh's Starry Night tree that is prominent in the lower left. Since I studied every brush stroke of Starry Night very carefully, I was able to replicate the same colours and general technique here.

View of River and City, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, March 2024