At last freedom from the office... but the sun was long gone. A bright 3/4 moon hung over some apartments near the busy corner of Sherbrooke and West Broadway. A bus rumbled by. Considering the poor lighting condition for painting, the colours turned out remarkably well. When painting at night the paints all look black and grey so you have to sort of know in advance what it will look like and where the colours are on your palette. I had my bike light which I flicked on once just to check that the sky was on the right hue of blue. Trees at night are almost jet black the later it gets.
Moon over bus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024
Standing in the same spot, but looking east, there was a view of the eerie lights on campus. There were multiple sources of light including from the building itself, the lamps, and the windows in the administration building in the background. I usually start these paintings with the sky to establish the value contrast then work from there, making sure to keep some areas open for highlights.
Eerie lights on campus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024
It didn't seem possible to paint something like this but I gave it a go anyways. The tree was illuminated from the front by a strong flood light which cast a shadow on the facade of the administration building. The windows of the building were illuminated from within by a warm amber glow that cut through the tree shadow on the wall. I used a multi-layered approach to try and piece together this scene and it turned out okay in the end. What was really impressive is how hard our administrators work. There I was painting late at night, while the admin people were still up there working hard with the lights on. Or they just left the lights on.
Night shadows, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024
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