Monday, September 30, 2024

Going going gone, even the Sun has a deadline

What goes up and down and has a deadline every day? How about the sun. Here is the early sunset, where the sky was mostly a tangerine orange, a kind of creamsicle colour that faded to blue at the top. The tricky part is the pale cyan, a near grey, that exists between the orange and blue. Below, the Metro grocery store was illuminated with the artificial amber lights. There were still lots of cars in the parking lot.

Amber sunset amber lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4089a)

A few minutes after the first painting, the sky went more coral red with darker blue above, which I did with indo blue (PB60). The coral red is mostly pyrol orange (PO73) with a dab of orange (PO62) at the horizon. It was hard to keep the colours clean because the paint was goopy and everything was soggy.

Coral sunset Metro, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4090a)

 

The destination was Fruiterie Nirvana which is open late, you see its front door at the bottom right emitting beams of artificial light onto the side of the apartment next door. The rest of the scene was an eerie blend of dark cyan, blue, grey and green. The palette was a mess by now and visibility was low, its great that these paintings turned out to be remotely good.

Fruiterie Nirvana night side view, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4089b)

 

A daunting scene, this one shows the old restaurant on the left, now a community food bank, with the gas station sign turned into a skull, and a very Van Gogh type of sky in the background. Halloween came early in this one, even though its just the last day of September!

Creepy view down Somerled, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4090b)

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Caught Knapping

Its been awhile now that I redid my palette, a little bit like a golfer rebuilding their golf swing, it takes some getting used to. Midway through last year and for all of this year, the new palette setup has become quite familiar to me, it no longer requires too much conscious thought to do the paintings which is a good thing. When painting, ideally, there is not much standing between the scene and the paper. On a trip, I usually think a lot for the first few paintings, then somewhere in the middle I just paint. Like when I did Water Cascading Under Bridge, it was probably the tenth painting of the trip and I looked at the scene and said to myself, just paint it, there is no way to know how exactly. Another one like that was Sunset on Girouard, I was trying to think about how the heck to do that scene in less than ten minutes then said to myself, quit wasting time and just paint it! But that tends to only work with experience. I noticed this year that my brush is true, if I need to track one line against another, or apply the faintest of tints, or get the perfect side-drag for a water sparkle, then the brush is true. Having said that, there have been the occasional bombs, which don't make it onto the blog. The abstract painting shown above kind of looked like a carved stone pole or something, so I called it Caught Knapping, a pun on the word knapping (to carve stones) and napping (to sleep). 

Caught Knapping, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2024 (No. 3888b)

Fall scenes along Fairmount Avenue Mile End

 

Up on Fairmount Avenue there is a famous bagel store creatively named Fairmount Bagel. Not to be outdone by the nearby st Viateur Bagel up on st Viateur street. If you live in this neighborhood you must declare a favorite between the two bagel stores, and when it comes up in conversation you must vigorously defend your choice. The Viateur bagel is light and airy while Fairmount is soft and chewy. There was a great mob of -people waiting to get into the store, that is part of the experience, to stand there taking selfies for 30 minutes before entering into the cramped confines of the store. Inside, you walk through a narrow corridor lined high with palettes of bagels until reaching a small counter where you make the order.

Fairmount Bagel Crowd, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4087a)

 

Wilensky's is another one of those Montreal institutions, just a run down hole in the wall on the corner of Fairmount and Clarke, it is famous for serving a baloney sandwich with mustard. You see part of its facade on the right, that crooked looking brick wall with blue-green trim. The balconey overhead had turquoise paint that was flaking and chipping off, with an elaborate wrought iron railing. In the background is the top of another old building with a balcony, underneath that one is a popular breakfast place.

Balconies (over Willensky's) watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4112b)

 

Having painted a lot of auto shops, this one was neat because it was all painted in black and white. It was completely derelict for some time and seemed destined to become condos but I would imagine that the city stepped in and said, we also need some facilities around here. At any rate, it seemed well used and made for another painting. The trees were a dark yellow-green with hints of orange and red which I did by over-painting with orange (PO62) and red-orange (PO73).

Car Wash Mile End, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4088a)

Mile End neighborhood... the old haunt

It was many years that I spent living in the Mile End neighborhood which is technically speaking part of Le Plateau. Its located up along Park Avenue roughly between st Denis. This famous restaurant has been there ever since I was there, that's going back twenty years now since I arrived in 2004. People were in there, no doubt having some over priced bacon and eggs. The coffee is probably fantastic. Scenes like this are tough, the architectural elements and perspective have to come together in a way that is visually interesting as a painting. I use the "V" composition where the sidewalk is a V shape and helps anchor the scene. 

Restaurante Leméac watercolour, 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4084a)

On the bottom middle of this scene is the misleading Supermarche Rahman, which is better known for its enormous selection of craft beers. I used to shop there all the time for the 'groceries', that is a bit of a joke, there are not many groceries just some cans on the shelf. It was called Paradise de la Biere (Beer Paradise) back in the old days. The building on top had a nice raw sienna facade with brick detailing and iron bar balconies. Next to in on the left is an abomination of a construction project, it was supposed to be a new hotel but got stalled out about 5 or 10 years ago and its just a skeleton of a structure.

Supermarche Rahman, watercolour, 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4085a)

Speaking of beer, I went past one of my favorite places from the past, the world renowned craft beer pub Dieu du Ciel! The exclamation part is part of its official title. There I stood wistfully looking into the empty pub, making a painting of its woody interior. It was before 11AM, but on the way back I went by again and it was full of people drinking, and on the on the patio they were drinking and smoking. Painting this was difficult, the interior has multiple levels and a myriad of tables and chairs, with light beams coming in through the front and side windows.

Before the Beer (Dieu du Ciel!) watercolour, 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No.4086a)

 

 

 

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Elevated highway, canal, F condos

After ten paintings or so I was limbered up and ready to paint this scene, like a busker playing another song on his guitar. I thought, "jazz" when I painted this scene. The Peel basin was sparkling from the backlit sun, while the rest of the scene was silhouetted in delicate shades of grey. The condos in the background were the majestic condos I painted a month ago, which somehow became one of the most viewed blogs of the year after Gull over Water North Rustico beach.

Elevated highway cars bus condos, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4083a)

 

It was a dreary and brutalisk scene, like out of a science fiction movie. The elevated train is a relatively new commuter train that goes across the river to the south shore. I infused the scene with a lot of colour, then neutralized with black and blue to create an almost tye-dyed effect. In the sky I used the Trenholme cloud technique, which is to leave a hard-edge cloud with a soft grey interior. It seemed to fit with the imposing composition.

Elevated train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4068b)

Having rode past this scene hundreds of times, I always get a laugh out of the graffiti on the bridge showing a cartoon squid with a speech bubble saying f**k condos. The graffiti artist must have known that the point of view contained a towering pile of brand new condos in the background. At first I was going to leave the condos black and white, like skeletons, but then I remembered that people live there and its their community too. So I maintained the colour and textures of the buildings while creating a wild and creative, almost abstract arrangement. Anchoring the scene is the Lachine canal, and the end of the rusty old train bridge at the lower right. And by the way, we live in a condo, so its like throwing rocks when you live in a glass house!

F**K Condos, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September  2024 (No. 3909a)

Early fall scenes around Ville st Henri

 

The city recently completed a bike and walking path through Ville st Henri than connects up with the metro station to the east. The path is partly on a concrete sidewalk, so the yellow paint looked different, it was an albino path instead of the usual asphalt colour. A brand new bus stop sat in the middle ground against a cityscape backdrop. To paint the skyscrapers its best to just make up the colours and patterns instead of trying to copy it exactly. The street running left to right at the bottom is Greene avenue.

Bus stop and albino path, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4049b)

 

Still on avenue Greene, this is a corner store called Dépanneur Royal, although it did not look to be very regal. Painting corner stores is not easy, in this case I composed the store mostly in the top left, leaving a large piece of road with shadow in the foreground. The cars got a little mangled in the process. Its an interesting composition, I may work on it a bit in the future. I did something similar to this, although with sky showing and a bigger piece of paper for version 5 of Dépanneur Diamond, which is just a vacant lot now.

Dépanneur Royal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4062b)

 

Where Greene meets Notre Dame, there is a famous fast food joint, actually two of them including the Greenspot Restaurant known for its smoked meat and hot dogs, and the good old golden arches across the street. The smell of fast food was so intense that my cholesterol probably went up just breathing it in. I've painted this restaurant a few times before, although not from this angle which was quite nice. The roof is mostly phthalo green blue shade (PG7), with a touch of phthalo blue (PB15).

 Fast Food green roof, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4065b)

 

This is a social housing unit just across from the Atwater market. It was quite a contrast seeing well-to-do yuppies walking by going to get their lattes at the market while people from the building mulled about looking in garbages and trading cigarettes with each other. There I was in the middle of it painting the building. This is only half of the painting I wanted to do, there are some incredible poplar trees in the foreground that would have contrasted the glowing bricks, but as I got into painting the structure I realized that it would not be possible to overlay the tree. Next time.

Shiny brick building, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4067b)

 

 

 

Geese flying over Peel Basin

As I rode my bike down the bike path on the south side of the Peel Basin on a wonderful fall day, these geese flapped noisily into the sky. With just moments to memorize the scene, I then stopped and had some lunch and instant coffee before working out the details of this complex scene. To start I outlined the geese the best I could, keeping two wings a tail and the shape of the long neck and billed head. Then I painted in the outline of the background, making sure that the sweeping lines of the elevated highway did not cross over the position of the geese. I knew then that the painting would be good, since the background lines were getting energy off of the kinetic motion of the geese. With the outlines established it was a paint-by-numbers effort to complete the work. With a mostly blue sky, cool breeze and nice sun coming down I have to say it was a very relaxing moment, reminiscent of a camping trip. 

Geese flying over Peel Basin, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September  2024 (No. 3909b)

Friday, September 27, 2024

Last light on tree, dear diary

 

I've made a lot these paintings on the lunch break, just after work, on the way to a store, on the way back from a store, and other everyday circumstances. Of course, I bring my gear with me a lot of the time hoping to get an opportunity. On the weekends and vacation is when I can paint for longer amounts of time in selected locations. The daily paintings become 'dear diary' paintings. Like, today I worked late trying to catch up to a deadline, then just popped out of the office briefly to catch the last light on a tree as the rush hour traffic went on in the background. Then you get the idea of what it might have been like standing on West Broadway in NDG as the sun goes down. I re-read the old blogs too and its interesting to see what I was doing, and then look back and see how did that deadline actually go after all? 

Last light on tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4079b)

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Tree between buildings

 

Just a painting I made on campus during lunch break, sitting on the new commemorative bench they installed to remember a professor who passed away a few years ago. The rocks in the foreground are big slab rocks that people can sit on, although it had rained all morning and the surfaces were very wet. The tree was visually sandwiched between two buildings, the old admin building on the left where they have the doctors offices on the bottom floor, and the communication building and book store on the right. I composed the scene so that the two buildings seemed to be compacting the tree, which was just barely holding back the pressure of the structures with its delicate branches.

Tree between buildings, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4080b)

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Pale purple wild flowers near Coffee Park

Hoping for a warm and sunny day to paint these pale purple wild flowers near Coffee Park I had to settle for a cold and windy overcast day. These flowers only start to appear at the end of summer and usually last well into the fall. To get the colour right, I brought a small dab of carbazole violet (PV23) on my palette, it is the consistency of a strong grape juice colour or really dark red wine. Mixing it with water created that soft violet you see in the painting. The center of each tiny flower was an earthy brown. In the foreground, they just finished paving the bike path with brand new asphalt, which I made with dark magenta (PV55) and carbon black (PBk6), leaving a rectangle to fill in with orange yellow (PY97 + PO62).

Pale purple wild flowers horizontal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4069b)

 

I did a second painting with a slightly higher load of the carbazole violet, and made a close crop vertical format. I also pulled out the small yellow flowers by leaving white gaps then filling with yellow. Rusty orange leaves were falling on the ground, and strong wind whipped everything up. Looking at the two paintings now, the true colour of these flowers was somewhere in between, it was a delicate, nearly grey but slightly purple tint. Unusual elements like this can take a few tries to figure out the best approach.

Pale purple wild flowers vertical, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4082)

Monday, September 23, 2024

Artificial soup cans

A play on artificial intelligence and Campbell's soup cans painting by Warhol, this painting also looks like a game of surrealistic Tetris. Actually Campbell's soup just rebranded their product as just Campbell's, without the soup. Better than rebranding as just Soup. Maybe they wont put anything in the can, buyer beware. The can says Campbell's but there is no soup for you. Like the famous Seinfeld episode. Talk about shrinkflation, now they sell us packaging without anything in it, just so you can give your guests the impression that you have food on the shelves. Also go to impress the recycling bin workers... hey look, these people eat Campbell's soup because there is a can in the bin (it never had soup in it). Or you can fill it with your own soup. There is a business idea... sell an an empty soup can with a recipe printed on it, then people can make their own soup. Artificial intelligence.

Artificial soup cans, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2024 (No. 3888a)

Darlington park Darlington street

Darlington street is in NDG, on the east side of the Decarie, its within the sprawling Côte-Des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-De-Grâce neighborhood. The name of the street and nearby park came from the city in the north part of England, that's where my family name came from too. I have rode my bike through this area many times usually on the way to or from the north east parts of Montreal and thought it would be a good place to paint. There are rows of shops and yellow ochre-brick condos along a very steep road.

Shops and condos, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4078a)

Darlington park is a long narrow park with some playgrounds and walking trails and flowers growing in old stone walled gardens. A delicate lilac coloured flower tends to grow in the fall, I am not sure what it is, but its all over Montreal, and there was some growing wild around the garden, it wanted to be with the other decorative plants and flowers.

Darlington park, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4078b)

 

This produce store has pale green shingles, and a red and green coloured facade. I composed the scene with a close crop to bring the store to the front and maximize the interesting line of the roof. People were walking by probably wondering what I was doing, if they only knew it was Darlington painting on Darlington street.

Green produce store, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4079a)

 

Most of the Condos along the street had shops on the ground floor. These bricks were a kind of raw sienna or burnt umber mix, and the detailing was faded red. There was a convenience store, known as a dépanneur in Québec, and a barber next to it.

Condo and barber, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4080a)

 

And the dramatic corner view of Darlington street, I decided to add more colour to the scene and give it some energy. The sun was about down which created some interesting shadows on the yellow ochre-brick building. I've used this composition more lately, its a good way to show off a corner and some of the surrounding areas by using perspective. It is called two-point perspective but the way I do it, it is almost a curvelienar perspective, which is like a fish-eye view, or like a long lens view from a camera.

Darlington Corner, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4081)

 

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Scenes around the new malt factory

Best known for the iconic Farine Five Roses sign, the Canadian malt factory is also a sprawling, metal and concrete compound that produces and distributed malted barley. Who knows what these sky tunnels do, but they connect two of the massive silo structures via this central tunnel connector. Maybe that's where the barley elves live, turning it into beer or something! To the left is one of the blue gantry cranes, while a few trucks sit in the foreground waiting for the elves to deliver the cargo.

Tunnel connector, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4074b)

There were some neat contrasts here between the vertical concrete silos and the horizontal shiny metal cylindrical trailers. Scenes like this are deceptively hard to paint because of the scaling and perspective that has to be translated from a wide field of view onto a tiny piece of paper. I hold my brush up to get the angles, and try to plan out exactly how much of things to show. For example, I cropped the top of the large structure on the right, and did not show the rest of the building that extends off to the left. its like a photoshop crop but I do it with the brush on the paper. 

Silos and trucks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4075b)

After all the concrete I needed to paint something resembling nature, and this prominent tree next to the malt factory with the highway in the background suited perfectly. Orange is starting to creep into the leaves, and with the last day of summer now past, it seems we are truly heading into fall, albeit a warmer one than usual.

Tree highway malt factory, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4077a)

Around the bend and under the bridge

This elevated highway bends across the peel basin into downtown Montreal. A utility building had an interesting curved shadow from the highway which I painted with a mix of deep scarlet (PR175), pyrol orange (PO73) and some burnt umber (PBr7). After doing the outlines in paint I filled in the shadow and the painting looked pretty funny, with just a dark red/brown shadow and nothing else, but as the rest of the details filled in the scene came to life. It has a kind of retro, Edward Hopper feel to it.

Shadow of elevated highway, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4075a)

Behind the highway is the towering "new" malt factory, its not new in that sense but I've written before about the old malt factory that is beside the canal. This one is fully functional, supplying malted barley to the Molson Brewery, its located on the peel basin at the end of the Lachine canal. The red brick utility building is down on the bottom right, and my initials are graffiti under the bridge.

Malt factory and highway, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4074a)

Speaking of under the bridge, here is a fascinating view of the water control dam that keeps the entire peel basin and Lachine canal full. In the winter they drain the basin and canal by opening these huge gates. It was a difficult painting to conceive of, I had to make a detailed outline in paint, then fill it block by block. the waterfall effect was also tricky, I used similar techniques as last weeks water cascade painting. In the upper right is a piece of the elevated highway, in the background is the peel basin and the majestic condos, while the foreground shows the mossy, muddy bottom of the water channel.

End of the peel basin, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4076a)

Friday, September 20, 2024

City Fruiterie at dusk

On the way back dusk had arrived, and the city fruiterie grocer was still open with bright interior lights. Some of the windows in the apartment building behind were also illuminated with a soft orange. Since I was unprepared and had no head light it was difficult to judge the colours especially dark green, and the yellow signs. I went mostly based on value, as if making a black and white painting, then adjusting the colours mostly from a sense of intuition. It turned out pretty good now that I look at the painting. There is a great spot to set the bike up to do this painting, a little extra bit of sidewalk in the perfect spot. When painting a night scene like this, it will look terrible until the last of the elements are filled in. Once complete, the white highlights in the interior of the store will really pop, and the subtle light and shadow effects take on more significance. For more cool night paintings like this, check out night burger, night mechanics, sunflowers and dépanneur at night, and a favorite of mine dépanneur Yoyo at night. I also wrote a page on this blog on tips for painting at night. 

City Fruiterie at dusk, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4073)

Sundown around town after work

 

Continuing the trend of after-work sunset paintings, here is a scene of the relatively new biking and walking path that runs next to the NDG escarpment. On the left is a long curved wooden fence, with the path in the middle and a lamp on the right. The sunset was a nice orange to blue transition... the colour in between orange and blue is complex, its actually supposed to be a pale neutral cyan.

Sunset path lamp, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4071a)

 

As I painted up in the peace and quiet of the path, there was an endless stream of cars merging on the st Jacques overpass which goes into NDG. These would be people who work downtown and like to drive home to the suburbs instead of riding a bike along the wonderful path. If they did, they could also stop and make paintings along the way. With the amount of time the cars were stuck there waiting for the right turn light, I could have made a few paintings easy.

Traffic train tracks sunset, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4072a)

 

After stopping by the bike shop for a quick wheel change (the Davelo bike mechanics are the best) to get me back on the road, I saw this scene and almost just went by until I noticed the famous pink house on top of the old malt factory poking up between the trees. It was a complex scene to paint, especially since it was the first one of the day after a long day of meetings and paperwork. It takes a few paintings to get my brain switched over to art mode sometimes, but at least this one turned out. There is a train underpass road there on the bottom right, surrounded by a cool rusted fence.

Distant pink house, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4072b)

 

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Keep on Truckin'

 

There are plenty of trucks in Montreal, mostly the small delivery trucks, cube bans, and school busses. At long last I got to paint a school bus which was parked and empty... its shade of orange was captured with isoindo yellow (PY110), benzi orange (PO62), and a few brush strokes of red-orange (PO73) for the reflected objects in the side panel of the bus. The truck in front of it was grey, but the yellow paint bled into the wash, making it a radiant yellow. In fact, the radiant yellow looks great, so a happy accident. The paper size lately has been 6 x 7.5 inches which is convenient because I can cut 18 pieces from the standard 22 x 30" paper with no waste if I squeeze them in a bit. It also works well if I cut 6 pieces of 8 x 10" which leaves exactly 4 pieces of 6 x 7.5. Unfortunately framing a 6 x 7.5 is awkward since its non-standard. It does however, suit social media since the aspect ratio translates well onto Facebook or Instagram. The title of course is a reference the famous Grateful Dead song Truckin'.

Keep on Truckin', watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4070a)

More Code

 

Once again the palette was pretty gloopy especially after doing some night paintings the other evening. I did the outline with heavy, dark blue (PB60) brush strokes, then filled in the colours around the spectrum. I've been trying to finish off a few tubes of paint including Deep Scarlet by Daniel Smith (PR175), it is essentially maroon or dark red. Although it looks a bit brighter, it appears to be nearly identical to perylene maroon (PR179) in mixes, so for some reason I prefer perylene maroon. Both paints have excellent lightfastness ratings, meaning they wont fade in the sun, and they are somewhat similar to the discontinued alizarin crimson (PR83) which faded a lot in the light. I mostly use the colour (PR175 or PR179) to make neutral blue/violet grey when mixed with yellow ochre (PY43) and indo blue (PB60). Its also good for red shadows by mixing with pyrol red (PR254), and it can neutralize green (PG7 or PG36) to create dark green or caramel brown colours. Its been awhile since I did a blog with a bunch of letters and numbers in parenthesis...kind of looks like a scientific manuscript!

More Code, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2024 (No. 3887)

World Inspired Landscapes: Peru

 

Peru has a long history and perhaps one of the longest history of civilization that goes back to very ancient times. Even in the pre-Columbian era it was incredibly diverse, both culturally and with its flora and fauna. Like many South American countries, they gained relative freedom when the Spanish Empire collapsed in the early 19th century. It seems the country has had continuous difficulties politically and environmentally. Open pit mining and deforestation are big problems there, made worse by climate change. Its a big country too, over 35 million people and an enormous metropolis of Lima. To make the painting, instead of researching it on the internet or with books, I asked Cilei to explain to me what Peru was like since she has actually been there. As she related the stories I made this interpretive painting, the colours she mentioned were grey and caramel, with green, and a mostly 'vertical' appearing landscape. Then she continued with a story of how when the train stopped a large group of indigenous local people seemingly came out of nowhere and tried to sell goods to the people on the train. So I was running out of space on the sheet with all the experiences she had in Peru, you see the train scene on the bottom and the grey, caramel and green mountainous landscape with open spaces in the background. 

World Inspired Landscapes: Peru, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4069a)

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Sundown on another tree

 

In the first weeks of the COVID19 pandemic I made a 'socially distanced' painting of a tree at nearby Loyola Park, towards the end of winter. I was sitting next to the central building in a small tripod chair as I used to do, and then a lady and a child walked up and started talking to me! So much for the distancing. Today I returned to the same spot on the ride home and caught the scene as the sun was starting to go down. Sadly this tree looks as if its seen better days, the branches and leaves looked kind of sick, although there was no orange line on it which indicates that it will be removed. So it may be sundown on another tree if this one gets cut down. The phrase is also a reference to a painting I did last Friday showing the setting sun through a tree down by the canal. Today's painting was much easier, I painted the sun and sky first using concentric rings of wet-in-wet paint, then worked on the foreground as it dried, finishing with the tree and textural elements.

Sundown on another tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4068a)

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Its the moon in the sky like a big pizza...

So I couldn't resist after the last blogs, if the moon watchers were going to wait and take pictures then I would go make some paintings! Finding a good angle on the pizza shop I got this view of the supermoon over the fire station. The fire station and pizza shop provided alternative light sources. To get the deep dark blue sky, I stuck the brush in a glob of indo blue (PB60) accidentally and had a big mess on the paper for awhile, then added pyrol orange (PO73) for the celestial blue, and some phthalo blue (PB15) at the horizon line. The joke of course, is the moon in the sky like a big pizza pie!

Supermoon pizza shop, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4066b)

 

There had to be a painting called 'sunflower supermoon' and as a bonus, the partial lunar eclipse started as I painted. The very top of the moon had a fuzzy bite out of it, like a cookie. Superimposing the sunflower over the pharmacy across the street seemed foolish but this is one those paintings where you just have to get the brush out and start painting. The palette was a right mess by the end of it. I brought along the head lamp, just wearing it like a necklace with the light pointed down, this allowed me to better judge the colours. Unseen over my right shoulder is the strong amber light of the Metro grocer in the empty parking lot where I was standing.

Sunflower supermoon, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4067a)

Harvest moon supermoon partial eclipse (sort of)

As I painted, a few old timers walked by with long lens cameras and tripods, asking if I was here to paint the supermoon. I replied, yes when will it be up in the sky? Truth is I had no idea there was a supermoon today, but when they mentioned it, I decided to change the sky from a dusky sunset to a shimmering moon-lit sky, and darkened some of the shadow lines in the painting. So this is sort of what I imagined the moon would look like.The rest of the scene is a condensed view of the Turcot interchange with a train going through. Its a difficult scene to get right, some excellent lines help with composition.  

Harvest moon supermoon partial eclipse, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4065a)

 

Turning my brush to the people with the cameras, I did a quick sketchy painting of the scene. Bridge, city, sunset, highway, and people with long lens cameras, you don't see that every day. The cloud is pink (PR122, PO73) with some yellow-orange on top (PO62 + PY97).

Mooner watchers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4066a)

 

As the previous painting dried I worked on this one, then went back and detailed the previous one. I've used the alternating approach before, especially when it is humid out. The main reason is due to the effect of wet paint. Here, I paint the sky first with a juicy blend of coral and dark blue, then have to let it dry before painting over the bridge spire and houses in the distance. As a watercolour painter, one develops a good sense of planning the painting out so as to avoid things running together.  Although done quick, I kind of like the energy these paintings bring.

Sunset bridge over Decarie, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4064b)



Montreal highways and setting sun

With little time to spare between departing the office and sundown, I headed to the st Jacques overpass near the Decarie where the entire city of Montreal and the southern boroughs are on display. Here, a prominent cell phone tower looms over the multi-tiered highway system. Buildings popped up between the tree canopy.

Tower over highways, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4063a)

 

Stepping back a bit, I could see my shadow standing next to the bike as I painted, wearing a short sleeved shirt. The shirt was plaid but you couldn't tell from the painting. In the background is the twisted mass of highways, and the famous pink house on the old malt factory in the middle. With all the grants and other deadlines you can say that I am up against the wall.

Shadow on wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4064a)

Painting this scene started with the sunset, then the foreground, followed by a quick sketch of the city, and the addition of dark yellows for the foliage. With low light and high humidity, a watercolour painting will not dry very fast, so I had two paintings going at the same time. As one dried, I worked on the other. It also helped to simplify the technique down to a paint by numbers approach.

Sunset city, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4063b)