Parc Extension Colourful Shops

On the way out of Park Jarry I rode through Parc Extension neighborhood known for a mostly south east Asian culture and plenty of colourful shops. Setting up in the shade, I made this painting looking across the street at a row of shops and cars. Towards the end of the paint some fellows stopped and commented in broken English, one of them made a movie with his phone and when I finished the painting I gave a thumbs up. To do a scene like this, first the angles have to be close to correct, which is achieved by holding the brush up and gauging the degrees. Next, the height of the buildings has to make sense, this can also be done by holding the brush up as a measuring stick. I liked the different colours and textures of this mid 20th century architecture interspersed with colourful signs and awnings. The bricks are all variations of yellow ochre (PY43) diluted and neutralized with indo blue (PB60), or red ochre with varying amounts of umber and burnt umber (PBr7). Instead of a blue-bird sky I went with a neutral dark blue with hazy orange mixed in, and blue just hinted at. during the pandemic the sky was a brilliant sapphire blue, but since then its hazy and slightly greyish orange. Its my third or fourth trip to Parc Ex and finally I captured the full feeling of the neighborhood in this painting.

Parc Extension Colourful Shops, watercolour 8 x 10" 80lb, May 2024