Tuesday, July 29, 2025

The Bay facade and burger joint at night

Do you ever wonder where pigeons go to sleep? Some of them on the Bay sign apparently, they heard it was going out of business. It was a difficult painting to do at night, I composed the half-circle up and to the right, with the bottom of the painting showing some of the entrance and show windows. Getting the Bay to be somewhat legible seems to have worked out, and you can see the pigeons roosting on top.  

Pigeons on the Bay sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

From the colours and fonts you might have guessed this was a Burger King, but tonight it was PJD burgers! It was closed by now, so other than pedestrians around on the sidewalk there was nobody inside the building. I included a tiny sliver of sky and a building up on the top left to give the sense of night time. I also used shadowing on the sidewalk to convey a sense of darkness, with interior light shining outwards. 

PJD Burgers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

All along the side of the bay is this illuminated overhang, with the full name of the store in yellow font. It said the Hudon's Bay Company in French, but I just abstracted the lettering to give a fell of the colour and contrast. I packed a lot of detail into these night paintings, and of course made a right mess of my palette. A lot of people saw me painting tonight, they all looked with curiosity, what is this guy doing standing next to his bike hunched over a small piece of paper with a brush and palette? 

The Bay overhang, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 

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