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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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 

 

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

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

 

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 

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

Park Extension sidewalk scenes

Park extension is just to the east of TMR neighborhood across the train tracks, and goes all the way to park Jarry. Because there was a big bike race today around Mount Royal I had to walk my bike along sidewalks for sections of the ride, and then decided to ride home through Park Ex to avoid the mess of barriers and spectators. This is a typical food stand selling fried puff balls served with salty soup. I tired it last year and it was good, but now with the pills I try to avoid eating salt it makes me extra dehydrated. 

Yellow umbrella food stand, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

There was not much else on this street and it was time to get home, but this sign post was kind of interesting and gave me another opportunity to put my initials in the scene where the phone number was. This neighborhood has a lot more character than my paintings have conveyed. There is also one of the best wall murals in all of Montreal that I have seen, it is a woman surrounded by a variety of colourful, almost abstract fabrics, as if dancing. There are some great wall murals in Montreal that's for sure. And the restaurants here smelled amazing from the street.

Signs and buildings, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

Little Italy summer weather still here

After picking up some spices and bulk food at the excellent family-run Anatol spices, I walked the bike up to this shady park at the busy Jarry and st Laurent corner. A bus went by every 5 minutes or so, which made it possible to capture more detail than usual. With all the practice down at Coffee park NDG, I knew how to paint the shady park scene. The interlocking brick is a pale neutral red, made by mixing pyrol red (PR254) with carbon black and water. The shadow over top is some mix of dark blue (PB60) purple (PV55) and a touch of yellow ochre (PY43).

Shady park with bus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Sitting in the shady park I could see this gaudy sign out front of the gas station and McDonalds parking lot. There were gulls squawking from the sky, probably looking for french fries. I made a joke here with the M of the sign, making it look the same as the seagulls, which were painted with the classic M shape too. McD birds! 

McDonald sign and gulls, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

In Park Jarry there is an artificial pond surrounded by willows, reeds and teeming with seagulls floating around. They were digesting the french fries no doubt. But still, it was neat to seagulls doing what comes naturally to them, which is spending time in the water. I see them on the Lachine canal sometimes, and out in the river downtown. To make the willow tree colour I varied a mix of orange yellow (PY110), dark green (PBk31), yellow (PY97?) and a bit of black where needed (PBk6). I have so many tubes of yellow now I loose track of which is on my palette, they are all the same basically. The orange yellow PY110 is different though, its half way between yellow and orange. Mixing it with the greens makes for a variety of olive tones that can be quite handy.

 Gulls on Pond, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Tall, taller and tallest

Last week I attempted this scene along the way, but the scale was not quite right even if the painting was dramatic. In this version, the scale is nearly perfect, I held up the paper to the scene, moved it away quickly, repeated a few times and it looked right. The left building is incredibly thin from this angle, while the right one is wide. I also got the connecting tunnel in this time. Too bad the building on the right looks like its leaning a bit and the paint is a bit heavy. 

Tall taller tallest v3, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

This was the first attempt on it, well second if I include last week. The finish on it is nice, the colours I mean, but when I held it up to the scene the scale of the building was about 30 or 40% too short. Its almost incomprehensible how tall this structure looks. Across the three paintings its all there, so now its a question of do I go back for another attempt? Its right along the maisonneuve bike path at Place des Arts. Now that I understand the scene better, maybe I will give it another go. It feels like it could be a real classic, the stark contrast of the tiny little triplexes with the massive super condos in the background.  

Tall taller tallest v2, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

Gamelin Gardens

 

Behind the Berri-UQAM metro, which you see behind the sign, there is a community space called Gamelin Gardens (Jardins in french). When I did the 68 stations of the Montreal Metro series, this was one of the stations that I could not get a decent painting of, due to front side being so... ugly? And I painted ugly stations, like Farbre Station, I made that look good. Finally though, I immersed myself in Jardins Gamelin, there was hip music playing over speakers, hot sun, the faint wafting of weed, what more could a painter want? Since I brought the pyrol red mix back on the palette (PR254 + PY97) it is coming in quite handy, in the panting it was used exclusively to paint out the block letters. To make the block letters, you have to draw seven boxes for each word before attempting the lettering, otherwise it will look wonky. I worked that trick out while painting the Farine Five Roses sign.

Jardins Gamelin sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

The courtyard was full of people sitting around, walking past, lounging about, shouting things, it was a real milieu. The trees seemed to be dancing. For simplicity and the sake of privacy I didn't try to paint in all the people. I had a lot of fun painting this one even if its not the best painting I have ever done.

Dancing Trees, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September 2024

 

The office building must have been a 1970's era construction when they were in love with that caramel brown concrete. I used pure umber (PBr7), its equivalent to a green umber, or the colour of tea with milk. My brain felt like it was melting by now, I wonder if the weed was more than just a waft? At any rate, the umbrellas were red and the sky was blue. Sugar is sweet and so are you.

Dank office building and red umbrellas, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

A few more canal scenes along the way

Finally I saw some other watercolour painters along the Lachine canal, a group of elderly painters in camping chairs sitting in the shade of a tree next to the bike path. I know the spot because I painted exactly there last year, looking at this funny structure next to the bridge. As they daubed away, I stopped my bike a little further ahead, busted out the paints, paper and painted this scene once again. I had to do a good job because they were probably watching. I should have talked to them but what would I say? So I packed up and continued on the journey. 

Structure near bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Hey, don't read all my blogs at once, save some for later! Just kidding. This scene is looking east towards the downtown with the chimney, the Atwater clock tower and the canal with bike path. There were a few too many elements for the small paper, even at 6 x 7.5", but its an easy enough location to return to, that bridge connects to st Henri across the canal.

Chimney Atwater canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 

Not near the canal at all, this scene is looking up a road into old Montreal. By omitting the cars and people it had a desolate, even depressing feel to it. But the glow on the bricks adds little warmth at least.

View into Old Montreal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Views from around the lock, Lachine canal

Water was cascading under the bridge next to the lock. Its the overflow water that prevents the lock from getting inundated. I've eyed this scene before and tried it a few times without success. Today I took another approach, looking over the fence I first established the outline of the bridge and walls, then painted the blue/grey shadow. After it dried a bit I used side brush technique and dabbing to get the multi-textured water and bricks. It took patience and time to build up the effect, and there was no room for error. You can see all the different light sources and how the shadow is formed over the water, and the cascade shows up nicely...it had three different colours due to reflected blue skylight. You can also see a shadow of me in the bottom right wearing my boonie hat, and my initials floating down the cascade!

Water cascading under bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Here is the same water as seen from the other side, looking down past a red tree. Yes, a red tree already, fall is coming despite the hot weather. This painting looked lousy until I saw it at home, then the visuals came together, it sort of reminds me of a group of seven painting.

Water ripples red tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Standing up on the lock platform, which is accessible to bikes and pedestrians, I made a painting of the view down the canal looking east towards downtown. The sky was very smoggy, even though it was like noon, the horizon had a pale orange glow. Maybe this is what it looked like when the factories were still active.

Canal view from lock, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

 

 

Underpass tunnel with headlights

For an otherwise mundane scene, this painting turned out to be pretty dramatic. The funny thing about it, is that I don't recall actually painting the car with its headlights, I did a side drag with burnt umber/carbon black and left it as is. Either luck or subliminal, it looks just as if a car with headlights is emerging. The sky included a dark blue bar across the top which is a 19th century Japanese technique used by Hiroshige's wood block printers all the time. It adds a dramatic lighting effect to the sky, an ethereal glow. 

Underpass tunnel with headlights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

Park in st Henri, old silos

 

The whole south part of st Henri near the canal is being rapidly built up with new condos as you see in the background. In the foreground is a new park they completed a year or so ago. It was dreadful for some reason my legs were itchy and I had mosquito bites from painting the canal yesterday evening, so I really had to grit my teeth through this one. Eventually it subsided and I could carry on with the painting.

New park new condos, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

For the next painting I stayed sitting in the same park bench, just looking to the right at the community flower garden. There was actually a black iron fence around the garden which I had planned to include, but seeing how nice the flowers and path turned out I just left it as is.

Community flower garden, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Next to the old Canadian malt factory silos is a hipster restaurant, partly shown on the bottom left. The staffers were showing up as I painted, getting the restaurant ready for the hipsters, no doubt they were cutting the avocados and preparing the toast.

Restaurant next to old silos, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

I was having some trouble on this trip so had to just keep painting, like this scene of the pink house on the shadowed side of the malt factory. It is a massive scene with tons of detail, but here the idea was to just to capture a glance upwards. I did a super detailed version of this scene a few years ago, so whenever I see this view I think of that painting. Some scenes turned out great and then that's it, while other scenes, like basically the whole Lachine canal is always good for a painting or two.

Pink house shadow side, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

 

 

 

Just one painting....geese on dock

Just one painting today... geese on dock. As you can see there are geese on the dock. Most of them were either preening or swimming, so it is basically a goose beach. The weather is so nice that they are hanging out a bit longer in Montreal before migrating south. To paint this scene, I established the perspective on the dock and canal in the background then painted the outlines of the geese. Using raw sienna and burnt umber with carbon black, I created the typical beige black and white of the geese. It was really hot, the sun was beaming through the hazy atmosphere. And for the number of paintings today I was just joking, I actually set a personal record with seventeen paintings today!

Geese on dock, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September  2024

Sun down, moon up... lachine canal

As the sun descended behind this tree, it appeared to burst forth out of the branches. It is an immensely difficult effect to create, and not the first time I have tried it. To start I applied the sun in the background using concentric rings of yellow, orange, pale red, pale cyan and blue. As it dried I applied the background trees and worked on filling in the foreground with a light and airy field of grass with shadows, and the edge of the Lachine canal with black fencing. Then came the hard part, the tree had to be over-painted using several variations, starting with a cool grey trunk, then multi-coloured brances of dark red, dark green and black. Meanwhile the brush texturing and detailing needed to disintegrate into the intense core of the sun. The illusion is quite complete, it seems almost the same as what it looked like. The neat thing is that a camera could never take this picture, but a person can make a painting. I honestly felt so rotten after work, I didn't think I would paint anything good today, but instead the location, the quiet, the sunset, somehow resulted in some classics like the reflection of the gantry crane, and this painting of the setting sun through tree.

Setting sun through tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

After painting 'Setting sun through tree' and 'gantry crane reflection' I felt somewhat vindicated and decided to goof around for this one. The highway is on an extreme angle, the sun is like a beach ball, and the cars are ambiguous marshmallows with yellow hats. I kind of wanted to make the point that these cars are all going along like robots, all the while an incredible sunset is unfolding in the background.

Sunset over cars, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Lastly, I captured this scene of the moon rising over the canal, with its reflection below. Because of perspective, the moon was over top of the telephone in the sky, but it was around the middle of the telephone pole in the reflection. It would take some trigonometry to understand that one, so I just painted what I saw. the sky and water were embellished significantly to create more drama in the painting. If you compose an element cutting straight across the middle, there needs to be enough visual interest in the elements to carry the scene. Well it was kind of fun but the mosquitos were starting to get to me and I headed home.

Moon rising over canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

Lachine canal reflections, sunset

The bike ride down here in rush hour is something else, a lot of noise and vehicle pollution. By the time I was done painting, I felt calmer and the long week of paperwork, teaching and meetings seemed a little farther away. This scene of the gantry crane reflecting in the canal while the sun was setting seemed impossible to paint and I kept riding over the foot bridge, but no sooner had the thought entered my mind than I slammed the brakes and turned around. The composition used a triangle format in the top left where the canal walls, foliage and base of the crane appears. The remaining 4/5 of the painting shows the surface of the canal reflecting the crane and the sunset. I painted the reflection by applying a 5 part HSV blend... hue saturation chroma is what it stands for, essentially it means that I vary the lightness, colour, and the intensity from a brownish blue, to blue, neutral cyan, orange and red-orange. When it dried I could paint over the multi-coloured ripples and the squiggly, broken reflection.
 

Gantry crane reflection in canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

Looking west to the overpass, the sky was a coral salmon colour under the bridge, fading to neutral cyan in the upper sky. Trees next to the path cast out rows of shadows. The canal was painted with an economy of brush strokes so that every component in the painting could fit together in harmony. It was so quiet here, just a distant murmur of cars.

Canal overpass with sunset, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

This was the first painting I did on the location, you can see a faint impression of my shadow standing next to the bike in the foreground. As the geese ate the grass, one of them was always standing upright with its head up. I got the impression that it was staring at me in particular, in case I was danger... or in case I started throwing food out. They look like majestic birds which is true, but they also produce large volumes of excrement. You have to watch where you step around here!

Geese near canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

Campus Indigenous Statue

There is a prominent statue on campus that I paint from time to time. Not being a figure painter, its a chance to practice while the figure stays still as a statue. The indigenous man is wearing some type of crown and is making an offering or welcoming gesture with a fabric or beaded object in his hand. A yellow ochre cloak sits on an earthy red skirt decorated with ornamental green and gold. To paint figures on location requires speed, a person walking will only be in view for a couple of seconds. The rest of this scene shows one of the paths through campus, and the marble benches surrounding the statue. I rearranged some of the background elements so as to mesh well with the figure element, for example, the building on the left was overlapping the head, which created an awkward arrangement. The revised view gives the sense of the figure looming over the landscape, stepping into it.

Campus indigenous statue, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

Painting when you can, where you can

With the days getting shorter and shorter it reduces the amount of sunlight after work when I tend to make paintings during the week, if not on lunch break. With endless paperwork and meetings it was another long day in the office, but afterwards I got as far as the Decarie overpass on the Maisonneuve bike path as the sun descended. Just before the sunset, the bright yellow sun had an orange disk of light around it which gave way to neutral cyan and blue. In the foreground is an autoshop with parked cars. Its not the first time I have painted on this location, it does tend to be the last area of NDG to catch sun.

Sunset over Decarie with autoshop, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

And here is the scene looking straight up the Decarie, on the right side is the rising off ramp that connects to Sherbrooke street. To paint the rows of packed cars bumper to bumper I created an angled grid of grey paint leaving the spaces free where the head and tail lights would go. After drying, I outlined the cars in rough blobs, dabbed in tires and shadows and finished with red tail tail lights, yellow (with a touch of white showing) headlights, and the blue-green windshields. I brought pyrol red back onto the palette, actually a blend of PR254 and PY97 called cadmium red hue by Daniel Smith company that is quite bright like a ferrari. Its ideal for tail lights. Its such a well crafted painting that it practically send shudders up my spine thinking about that Decarie traffic jam. It actually was moving well, since it was close to 7pm, so the painting might be a bit of an exaggeration!

Sundown rush hour, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

Trees around town as colour change begins

As fall approaches so do the colours start to change, albeit subtly. This tree on campus was darker and had an orange tint, captured with various blends of dark green (PBk31), green (PG36), yellow (PY97) and orange-yellow (PY110). The shadow elements at the bottom contain black (PBk6) and dark red (PR179). The trick here was recognizing the value of the leaves, a dark grey, as compared to the sky which is a light grey. Getting the brushwork was essential too, the bottom of the tree needed some bright leaves, and the top of the tree needed some dark leaves. I wonder if this is the most realistic looking tree I have ever painted? 

Dark green tree on campus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

The city has gone around town digging up the sidewalk and installing rectangular planters where plants, flowers or trees grow. Here is a pine tree, looking kind of lonely surrounded by concrete but still standing strong. It was even making pine cones in hope of producing new trees around it, since trees are supposed to be a part of a forest. I embellished the height of the tree considerably, as if five years in the future, in order to have its shape stand out from an incredibly busy background. It was like painting a miniature forest in the middle of a bustling city.

Pine tree standing strong, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024

 

 

Crabapple countours, high spy, and rusticle surprise

With all of the painting lately, it was about time for some palette cleansers where I clean the palette literally and proverbially. On location I usually stick to the colours of the scenery which tend to be green, green, brown and blue. The rarest colours on location are red, magenta, and violet. For about a month now I had quinacridone cherry red (PR209) on the palette but it was not working well enough so I have gone back to pyrol red. In fact the paint I have now is called cadmium red hue, which is a mix of pyrol red (PR254) and nickel titanate yellow (PY53). Despite the name there is no cadmium in it which is toxic, this is a replacement formula that closely matches the original cadmium red paint.

Crabapple contours, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2024

 

Brilliant red, yellow, orange and magenta shapes are broken up by a black and white pattern cutting across the diagonal. An organic eyeball seems to float in space. There is a game called eye spy where one person picks a colour and the other tries to guess where it is. Looking at this painting it seemed to be a high spy.

High Spy, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2024

 

Hearing about the titanic and how its disintegrating on the ocean floor I learned a new word, rusticle. Its like an icicle made of rust hence the clever name. The formation is created by iron bacteria that can dissolve and consume iron oxides this creating the drippy brownish shapes. The amount of iron oxide pigment in this painting seemed fitting. Van Gogh was known to eat his paint, maybe he got a rusticle surprise the next day?

Rusticle Surprise, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2024