After the sun had set, the sky turned a cotton-candy pink with big fluffy violet clouds streaked in red. The artificial lights were prominent against a darkening sky and surroundings. Pink, violet and orange light reflected off of the rippling water. To paint something like this in watercolour it is important to keep the light highlights free of paint... the white areas are simply paper. Creating the illusion is the greyish background, even thought is colourful its a middle value. I also composed one of the clouds around the lamp to give even better contrast. For the lights along the other side of the canal, I surrounded them in lime green, then a near-black green to give a glow. Finally, the dark condos (PBk6 + PR101), and dark lamp post and railings complete the effect.
Dusk on canal with lamp, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025
Just after the sun set, before I did the other painting, I did one of the train going over the bridge. In the background is a sprawling industrial complex turned into condos. Some of that structure used to be the Coleco factory that made toys until the 1970's when production went over seas. I swung by the glass factory after dark but the scene was not impressive, and I saw another good painting along the canal, but decided to save a few things for another day.
Train over canal sundown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025
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