Last painting from Brazil Trip

On what we though was the last day of the trip, I did this scene of a pink flower in a shrub outside of the locked gate of the family home. It seemed to be symbolic of São Paulo, a beautiful city locked behind tall walls, barbed wire and gates. There is a massive wealth disparity here, rich people fly to work in helicopters from their luxury condos, while poor people live in brick and tin shanties. Slavery only ended towards the end of the 19th century, in 1872 there were around 1.5 million slaves out of a population of 10 million people. With about 150 years passing, the wealth inequity is nowhere near to being leveled out, so the rich people build higher walls and taller fences. You can see my paintings from a wealthy area called Indaiatuba, rated the best city in Brazil to live in, where the houses are sleek and behind gated communities. Cilei's family is approximately in the middle class, they are well off enough to have proper houses and afford good education, which has to be paid for since the public education system is underfunded. The painting was meant to show the contrast of the sturdy steel fencing with a palm tree and delicate flower in the background. 

Pink flower locked gate, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

In this scene, a massive jungle tree is still visible over the top of the auto shop across the street from the family home. When Cilei's dad built the home about 45 years ago, the entire neighborhood had trees like this, and rain forest-clouds would form. It was a quiet jungle paradise. Now it is a densely populated built-up neighborhood right next to a noisy highway. But it still has the charm and great views, and most of all, its a family home full of love and camaraderie. We commented how a wealthy person living alone behind a gated community with millions of Reals to spend is perhaps not as rich as a person living day-to-day and surrounded by friends and family. All the same, we could have done without the motorcycles zooming by. 

Tall tree autoshop, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

 

Waiting in the departure gate late at night and out flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems with the airplane, better than when up in the air I guess. That meant another 5 hours of waiting in various lines to get to a hotel. The next day there was down time, so I made a few last painting, this one showing a biplane-installation, it was actually up on a pole like a monument, but I omitted the pole to make it look like it was landing. In fact, huge passenger planes were zooming by at very low altitude to land at the nearby GRU airport. Cars and a commuter train could be seen in the background. 

Biplane near hotel, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

Finally, I found a Brazilian flag to paint, seen in the center of the painting. The building had something to do with the airport, it was glass-paneled with plaster walls. So all of the Brazil paintings are up on the blog now, there was one more I did at the Buddhist temple that I added to the end of the blog here. I also scanned all of the paintings, re-uploaded the images for better quality, and corrected the typos and formatting issues I had while blogging on the phone. Back in Montreal its -17℃ and I have no desire to paint outside for the time being! Luckily it will warm up a bit this week. I will write a blog on the Brazil palette soon, there were some interesting things to talk about regarding paints. It was a good trip all in all with a bit of vacation, visiting, and working remotely all the while, and I have a sun tan to show for it! 

Brazil flag near hotel, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026  

Cat nap and scenes around the family house

Up on the laundry platform, at the top of the spiral staircase, the cat was having a nap. Some of my laundry was up there drying, although there was not a whole lot of sun the last few days, it rained profusely. You can also see the concrete walls painted cobalt blue with orange tiling, and the outdoor laundry room under the platform. 

Cat nap, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

 

In front of the family home there is a very steep road in bad shape, on the other side they built up a bunch of auto-shops and car supplier businesses. This yellow-leaf tree was quite impressive against the greyish background. It made for a very textural scene. 

Yellow tree, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

 

Near the end of the trip and I had not used all of the 8 x 10" that I brought. This one shows more of the roof tops visible from the bedroom window. Its an impressive array of angles, textures and colours. When it rains, these roofs must be completely leak-proof, otherwise the houses would flood. Up in the top left you see some of the mega-condo complex they built over the last 3 years. 

More roof tops, 8 x 10" watercolour, February 2026 

 

 

The Park Ipe neighborhood is centered on a sports-park, now its full of basketball, volleyball, small soccer pitches, and tennis courts.  Here you see a quick painting done of the tennis courts while out on a walk with Cilei's father and nephew. It rained shortly after we left. 

Tennis court, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

Urban landscapes São Paulo

Today at lunch hour, I went out to paint some typical urban landscape scenes in the neighborhood. This one shows a gas station near the highway off ramp, with dense and colourful housing in the background. Everything is a little chaotic and noisy here, and the visuals are very busy, which matches the ambiance 

Gas station dense housing, 6 x 7.5" watercolour February 2026 

 

Looking towards the overpass, you can see the heavy traffic with cars trucks and motorcycles zipping by. In the background, jungle hills have been replaced with built-up housing and condos on the horizon. A factory and warehouse are nestled in among the residential area. Apparently, zoning laws are not really a thing here in Brazil! 

Traffic residential, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

Magenta dragon fruit

Here is a magenta dragon fruit, actually part of the cactus family. Despite its brilliant  magenta interior, its flavour is rather mild, like a pear or melon. Tiny black seeds have a crunchy consistency like chia. Magenta has had quite a workout on this trip, flowers, trees and fruit like this feature variations that I made primarily with quin magenta (PR122) and purple magenta (PV55). Even though paints are called magenta they are only about half way between red and true magenta. Only one paint falls on magenta, its called carbazol violet (PV23) and its very dark, like purple grape juice concentrate. Next time I come to Brazil in summer (Canadian winter) I will have to remember to bring along some carbazol violet. 

Magenta dragon fruit, 6 x 7.5 " watercolour, February 2026 

New facility in Park Ipe neighborhood

The house is in Park Ipe neighborhood, once a secluded jungle paradise, now its a bustling city soon to get its own metro (subway) stop. They built a small outdoor workout facility nearby, it has tall trees that drop large leaves on the ground. There are several tables here with tile chess boards part of the concrete surface.  

Chess tables in blue, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026

 

These trees have a blue-grey bark covered in dark yellow and deep green moss. Large leaves were strewn about. Cilei and I tidied up the leaves and picked up some trash before leaving. 

Mossy tree big leaves, 6 x 7.5"  watercolour , February 2026

 

Dotted along the highway are small motels painted in bright colours and decorated with things like hearts or hot peppers shaped like lips. Instead of front doors, they have a large garage door that lets people in from the highway, like a drive through motel? In the background are the tall jungle trees I painted a few days back during sunset. Cars and trucks rumbled by. 

Roadside ♡♡♡ motel, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

Paulista museum and jungle gardens

Located down town in Paulista neighborhood, this is a side view of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, MASM. It was built on large support pillars so as the maintain the horizon view, although you don't see the view on this angle. To enter you wait underneath the go up several flights of stairs. We were impressed with the blend of historical and contemporary paintings on the top floor, with modern installations and concept art on the basement floor. Some highlights were a self portrait by Rembrandt, indigenous Brazilian landscapes, and a collection of impressionist art including Van Gogh. There was actually a good variety of every painting era going back to the 14th century. 

MASP side view, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

 

Across the street is a large park with jungle gardens and a white-tiled network of paths, probably tiled with quartz. We saw a 1971 painting in the museum, and these tiles were around even back then. Over the years, patches of tiles have been lost. The spaces got filled up with dark grey asphalt. Moss and grime have grown over making the path a work of abstract art in itself. You see some of the jungle plants and trees in the background. 

Jungle gardens, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

More digital abstract art

Using the skerchbook phone app I can make endless doodles. With a bunch of brush options there are quite a few tricks to learn. I've been a prolific doodler since the first piece of paper was put infront of me, and I started doing abstract paintings frequently around the year 2000. Some of the colours like the magenta tongue and cyan sky in the image above are impossible to create with real watercolours. 

Tongue totem 800 x 1200 digital, February 2026 

At least digital art doesn't take up any physical space. I could do endless variations of these types of drawings. Andy Warhol was one of the first artists to make digital art in the 1980's, a company paid him to make art on their new computer drawing program. 

Three eye scribbles, 800 x 1000, digital February 2026

Going for a black and white scheme, this one made use of quite a few different brushes. Since it was grey scale I could add a lot more textural variations. Its possible to zoom in which facilitated the more detailed patterns. Its like finger painting in kindergarten again!

Bubble and pepper explosion, 800 x 1000 digital February 2026 

a few more colourful trees

Trees around the neighborhood here in Brazil are very colourful. In some cases we have similar plants in Canada but they grow indoors and are very small. Like geraniums, I saw them in the tropics once and they were the size of a medium tree. To make the purple colours I used combinations of magenta (PR122) dark blue (PB60) and deep magenta (PV55). 

Magenta purple tree, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

 

This tree was a type of croton, a popular house plant in Canada, but a 5 meter high tree in Brazil. I suppose many house plants originate from south America, like the snake plants grow wild here at the base of larger trees. They grow in the pockets created by spindly roots with very little soil. 

Croton tree, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

Full moon, steep road night

The moon was full on February 1st in São Paulo, with overcast conditions I got this view from up near the laundry platform, the moon was surrounded in a fuzzy yellowish halo. First I outlined the scene, then filled in details. When painting the moon, I started with the sky around it and left a circle ... I make the circle big and then adjust the circle until its circular...easier said than done. Then I washed it over with a yellowish glaze (PY43) to give it a fuzzy appearance.

Full moon over Park Ipe, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026

The Park Ipe neighborhood is very hilly. As you can see from this night painting, the road in front of the house is steep. Cars and motorcycles labor to get up the hill which creates loud engine noises. Artificial light was the only source here which made colours odd. There are huge jungle trees in the background, painted as near black silhouettes against a dark blue sky. The tree colour was black (Pbk6) and perylene green (PBk31).

Steep hill night, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

On the way (digital)

On the way to visit family we drove past this scene in their neighborhood. I only got a few seconds to look at it before the car turned left, so this is my best memory, done with Sketchpad app. I mostly used the vintage pen and coarse watercolour tool. It has a colour selection to allow hue saturation and value adjustments. To do the setting sun, I used a similar approach to when I paint, along with the smudge brush. I did half a dozen abstracts yesterday with the app, Ill post those some time. We are going to visit another friend today, Davide who is active on Instagram, he is an art professor. 

On the way 800 x 1200, digital February 2026

Trees and pylons

This tree is growing up in the forest by the house. Its bark is peeling off in great ribbons, leaving a bare surface towards the top. The tree is at least 30 meters high. I used a lot of earth paints for this one like burnt sienna, yellow ochre and raw umber. Topless trees.

Tree peeling bark, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

 

We walked up to another park but the main bridge was under construction making it impossible to get in. So we sat in the shade, and I made a painting of  these pylons instead. Using my 'Montreal orange' mix here came in handy...pyrol orange (PO73) with benzi orange (PO62). 

Pylons path, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

Trees sunset highway

Across the highway there is a row of old growth trees, maybe 10 or 20 stories tall. Its part of the religious convent that was apparently sold to developers. I hope these trees are still here next time we visit. The sun was going down which created some interesting light effects. 

Tall trees sunset, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026

 

Here is the view from the overpass looking northeast, the highway was clogged with noisy smelly traffic which made me feel right at home like back in Montreal. I am quite used to painting rows of cars and highways. In this case, there was a wonderful pastel sunset with tall trees in the background. 

Pastel sunset traffic tall trees, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026

 

I started this one earlier but it rained, so I quickly moved on. The idea was to capture the variety of tree colours and textures in the park across from the house. 

Tree textures study, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

Scenes from memory on app

Being on this kind trip which is part vacation, part visiting, part working (for Concordia University) has been interesting. The grad student application deadline is soon, with a number of last minute students I interviewed over whats app, several collaborative grants, managing the students in my lab, researching and planning the sabbatical project, and making some paintings when time allows. On the recent excursion we drove by quite a few fantastic scenes that would have been great paintings. So I downloaded an app called sketchbook and scribbled in the scenes from memory. The first one shows a colourful gas truck. 

 

This scene, also from Indaiatuba, which I just learned is the number one ranked city in Brazil for living, shows a colourful cop car with lights, and a pink magenta flowering tree in the background. 

 For this scene, I liked the triangular piece of grass, and the imagery of a palm tree getting visually squeezed out by two massive condo towers in the background. The sketch app has a large array of pens and brushes, and I could use my colour knowledge to find the right hue, saturation and values. All the same I would have rather painted the scenes on location. I also saw stray dogs chasing cars, and enormous cactus plants growing infront of colourful plaster houses.

River falls, insect mound, Indaiatuba

Through Indaiatuba runs a long park next to a river, its more of a water control canal than a river but the city has tried to spruce it up with walking paths, footbridges and landscaped trees. Looking down the slope, I got this view of a small waterfalls and could hear the water splashing. The embankments were heavily eroded, revealing a rusty red-orange earth from below.

River small falls, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026

 

We had seen these large mounds in fields and parks around town, about a meter high, they are probably termite or maybe ant colonies. I wanted to paint one but we were stuck in a car and there wasn't a whole of free time, so I was glad to find one of them in this park. Down the slope is the river, it was at a low point. Later, a massive rain storm arrived and on the way out of Indaiatuba we saw the river really full and flowing.

Insect mound river embankment, 6 x 7.5 watercolour, January 2026 

Scenery from Cardeal and Indaiatuba

There is a vast area of sugar plantations with a well-to-do city called Indaiatuba, about an hour and a half bus ride north of São Paulo, Brazil. Nearby, there is a quaint village called Cardeal, which not a car dealership but the Portuguese word for Cardinal. In the painting you get a good vista view of rolling hills of sugar cane dotted with dense trees.

Sugarcane fields Cardeal, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026.  

 

This is the side view of an old train station in Cardeal, its long defunct but still maintained for heritage. A number of stray dogs were running about. The photo is crooked... when I get back to Canada I will scan the collection and update the images. 

 

Old train station Cardeal, 6 x 7.5", watercolour, January 2026

 

 

Back in Indaiatuba, Cilei and I were staying with a friend who lives in a gated community. Surrounded by a high wall with barbed wire, electrical wire, and a face-recognition gate, it was rather like staying in a medium security prison, with nicer furniture. The houses were a stark contrast to other homes I had seen in São Paulo, these were designed by architects, fully plastered and painted, with expensive landscaping and fancy cars parked on the open driveways. Kids played on the streets. It was like being in Canada, but a lot hotter. 

Gated housing, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

 

Standing in the blazing heat, trying to soak in as much as I could, I did a last scene from inside the gated community. Strangely enough I felt more anxiety standing here painting, everyone was glancing suspiciously at me. Was there a no painting rule I wondered? The wealth and class divide is very obvious in Brazil, in a large part its due to the after effects of colonialism. This community had little by way of diversity as compared to the other neighborhoods I stayed in, so you get the idea. They also had an affinity for vintage Volkswagen beetle cars, we saw about half a dozen in here fully restored.

 

Inside the gated community vista, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026

Alll the fruit

 

All the fruit on a tray minus the mango we ate! There are two varieties of bananas, limes I picked, a green-skinned orange, red plums, peaches and grapes. In the background, anchoring the whole composition, is a yellow honeydew melon set against a cobalt blue-painted wall. People take for granted just how good the fruit is here, and painting it in bright Brazilian sunlight really made the image pop off the page. 

All the fruit, 8 x 10" watercolour, January 2026 

Grapes peaches limes

Here are some of the other fruit items we bought at the market on the weekend including peaches and grapes. They has plenty of limes there too, but the ones in the painting were the ones I picked from the tree on Cile's land. In the background is the tiled patio that sits atop the garage. The full sun overhead was blasting heat downwards...wish I could send some to Montreal they need it! 

Grapes peaches limes, watercolour, January 2026 

Market banana vendor

Bananas are picked fresh and brought to this street market which we visited on the weekend. Its only open on Sundays, then it moves to other streets. Once a major event, the market's popularity has waned over the years as more people prefer to buy all their food at a major grocery store. At the market, prices can be haggled, and Cilei got some good discounts on bananas. I posted a blog of the banana painting. 

Banana vendor, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

Flowering trees magenta pink white

Magenta is a rare colour to see in nature, but in Brazil there are large trees filled with magenta flowers. This one had red-magenta I mixed with quin magenta (PR122) tinted with pyrol red (PR254) and dark magenta shadows (PV55). The number codes are for the pigment identification, since different companies use different names I list the pigment codes. 

Magenta flowering tree, 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, January 2026 

 

Pink flowers on this tree were very small and in bunches. I mixed dilute pyrol red tinted with quin magenta to get the pink, then applied it in one large blob. Once dry, which happened fast in this heat, I daubed on the green leaves and filled in the rest of the street scene. 

Pink flowering tree gates, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

 

White flowers adorned this tree, I used a pale grey mix tinted with yellow, blue and a purplish grey, then over painted the foliage. A red car and fortress-like house in the background completes the São Paulo vibe.

White flowering tree, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

Fresh fruit fresh fresh very fresh

With the chaos back home, power out and thirty below, luckily Cilene was checking and saved the big fish. Guppies and loaches may have made it too despite the cold temperature without heat for a few days. Cilei and I are staying in the warm part of Montreal, its called São Paulo, where the fruit is very fresh. There are several types of bananas here which I painted, they are on a decorative metal tray with the house cat in the background. 

Three types of bannas,  8 x 10" watercolour, January 2026

 

These lychees, or dragon fruit, were picked fresh with a deep maroon colour I made with perylene maroon (PR179), pyrol red (PR254), dark magenta (PV55) and some black (PBk6). The leaves are yellow orange (PY110) with a green tint (PG36). They tasted as good as they looked. 

Lychee on branch, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026

Of course, next up is a sliced mango. The locals take for granted that mangoes grow all over the place, in Canada we only get them shipped. Here they can pick fresh off the mango tree. Cilei has a mango tree on her land but it has not made fruit yet. I used A Van Gogh style for this one, and really played the cobalt blue wall against the juicy yellow-orange of the mango, with its tri-coloured skin. Cobalt blue was made with phthalo blue (PB15 red shade) and my favorite indo blue (PB60). This painting looks like you can eat it. ...and yes I did it was great.

Sliced mango, 6 x 7.5 watercolour, January 2026 

 

Chickens and interior scene

On Cilei's land they have chickens running free, we went there with her dad to feed them. They scooted around clucking and warbling as I painted, probably wondering if more food was coming. Their plumage was a variety of beige, orange, grey and black with red crests. Those trees are lemon and lime trees, we picked half a dozen before leaving. 

Chicken run, 6 x 7.5" watercolour January 2026

Inside the small house her Dad built, you see the Montreal-style brick wall she requested. They wanted to plaster over it but the whole dream here was a Montreal-style exposed brick wall. Last time I was here I scraped off paint splatters to make it look nice. The window frames are a stained hardwood, with exposed concrete completing the scene.

Montreal style in Brazil, 6 x 7.5" watercolour January 2026 

A few more Grande Praia scenes

 

Praia means beach, grande means large...so this beach-side city is called Large Beach. Being so close to São Paulo makes it a prime weekend getaway location. These flowers were growing on a tree in the sidewalk, they looked delicate like rose petals. Since it was raining I stood under a ledge to complete this one. 

Pink flowering tree 6 x 7.5 watercolour, January 2026 

 

I had  to find a Brazilian dumpster to paint...this one was on the way to the beach in front of a new house being built. It was much smaller than Montreal dumpsters because the trucks and roads are smaller. 

Brazil dumpster yellow, 6 x 7.5.'' watercolour January 2026 

 

With steady drizzle I painted fast, its a food cart on the beach in among palm trees. More than just a food cart, its a mobile restaurant run by a local family. They even set up umbrellas and beach chairs. The french fries were excellent and the coconut water was fresh out of a coconut...like they bring you the coconut with a hole in the top and a straw. 

Food cart palm trees, 6 x7.5 watercolour, January 2026 

 

Finally some sunny weather on the last day and I did a painting of pigeons on the beach and bright blue Haviana flip flops. 

Pigeons flip flops, 6 x 7.5" watercolour January 2026