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Friday, June 27, 2025

Walk downtown, excitement galore

You would be surprised how much excitement there is in downtown Bolton, like this squirrel running across the road near the cemetery. In the previous blog, I mentioned how every painting should have some kind of idea to connect with the viewer. When I saw this scene at first, the trees seemed like interesting with different shades of green, and the road had a cool 'S' shape. But when the squirrel ran across... I was like, I have to paint this scene. Squirrel... running across a road. As interesting as this is, perhaps no painting will ever beat my Harley Truffles, a painting of dog poo next to toilette on the sidewalk. 

Squirrel running across a road, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

This fire-station, which is fairly new in Bolton along Highway 50 near Columbia way, was merely an excuse to paint a field of wild flowers. Plenty of cars were going by including the fire people who parked up there and got out. I don't mind being seen, in fact, it can be fun for someone to see an artist painting things in their community. 

Fire-station on hill, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

Sitting near the bridge in a recently renovated patio area, I got this side-view of the Black Bull pub and eatery. As I painted, the proprietor was setting up the umbrellas hopeful for some patrons to arrive and grab a cold one on a hot day. In the background, there is another row of shops and restaurants including the old Main Street station pub that has been closed for some time now. I did a painting of the Main Street station from photograph a long time ago, you can see in this blog. Before I started painting on location, like 1994 and earlier, I took photos and worked on them from home. Since 1995 on-wards, I've been painting almost exclusively on location. 

Black Bull, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

 

The colours were pretty neat on this ice cream store-front, variations of magenta and red against the old red bricks and brown shingles. In downtown Bolton, many old houses were converted into shopping space. In 1989, they built the courtyards of Caledon which is a dedicated mall on the corner. I did a painting of the interior of the Courtyards years ago. If you are noticing the greens being brighter than before its because I added vanadium yellow (PY184) to my palette for the summer, its extremely light and bright, almost like a cadmium pigment but non-toxic.

Ice cream Queen street, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

 

Okay, these are not boarding houses, but boarded-up houses. The whole block was boarded up and most of it demolished, just these three houses, and one up to the left, remain. I am not sure if the plan is to make condos here, or rather, make it a flood-control basin which would be a lot smarter than condos. Being at the bottom of the valley and adjacent to the Humber river, this part of the village is extremely prone to flooding. In fact, I saw quite a few old houses boarded up around the old downtown core. 

 Boarding houses, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

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