Full moon and other night lights

Riding down Boulevard Decarie, there was a clear view of the full moon hanging high in the sky. On the sidewalk in front of a car dealership, a number of bright lights made for an interesting composition. At first glance you see a bunch of light sources each with a different shape and colour, then realize one of them is hanging in the sky! In the background is a view of Montreal, probably parts of Verdun on the horizon. As usual the paint froze on the paper leaving a distinct granular effect. 

Where's the moon? watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

Speaking of bright lights, this scene, looking due south east, reminded me of that children's play-set called light bright. It is a black surface with peg holes, in which you insert coloured plastic pegs that light up when you turn on the light bulb. With all the traffic lights, car lights, house and street lights, it made for quite an effect. The rainbow looking thing is the Champlain bridge, the incoming traffic had white/yellow lights, and the outgoing traffic had red tail lights, while the bridge itself was illuminated in blue-green. I did a close up of the bridge at night last year, Night Sky Autoroute 15.  This is the kind of painting where you get into it, then wonder what you got into, there were tons of little details to fill in, all while standing next to my bike in frigid weather with cars and occasional people passing by. I hung in there, then had time to add the tree to the first painting, which took a long time to dry. Hopefully the winter painting is over soon, I am looking forward to some warm weather painting again.

Light bright, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  

Heaps of snow parking lot

Down at the Provigo parking lot, also the Pharmaprix parking lot, there are enormous heaps of snow, several meters high. Filled with grit and sand, the snow is white, blue and dark brown with flecks of black and yellow. In the background you see part of the tall condo on the corner of Sherbrooke and Cavendish, and some of the housing along Sherbrooke. I cleaned the wooden racks and elastics with soap and water to prevent unsightly runoff into the edges of my paintings, which helped things stay cleaner here. It was frigid weather despite a nice blue sky. 

Heaps of snow parking lot, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Thawing ice on water effects

With much improved weather I made it down to the st Lawrence river in Old Montreal. Along the way there were police blockades along Maisonneuve with a large group of Iranian flag wavers yelling and chanting. The dramatic news of the day caused commotion, and its difficult for the Iranians in Montreal including all the students at the University. In the painting, I show some of the chunks of ice going down the river, with swirling, dark blue water all around. Its been awhile since the water has been visible. 

 Ice flows river, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Where the boats moor at the port, it seems like an ice breaker ship keeps a path clear. All around, the ice was melting and fragmenting into chunks. Apparently its set to freeze again for a few days which will make for a fine mess in Montreal. It may be tough or impossible to ride the bike tomorrow if all the snow melts then freezes. 

Cracked ice river, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

At the end of the Lachine Canal there are a few holding areas where the tug boats used to park. One of them is still there, as a tourist attraction. I am looking along the edge of this basin, which is starting to melt and show the water. What ice is remaining has greyish yellow and blue green tints. That nice tree bark colour is raw umber (PBr7) with some burnt sienna (PR101). 

Partial melt canal end, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

 

Day moon lamps Coffee Park

Over at Coffee Park I noticed the moon clearly visible during the late afternoon, hanging over the trees and commuter train tracks. Using artistic license I moved the moon down to fit on the page. The blue sky looks almost as if it were painted with cobalt blue, with that soft granular effect, but it is actually phthalo blue, which froze and formed crystallization patterns. A train rolled by, adding to a sombre atmosphere. 

Day moon commuter train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

 

There are new lamps in Coffee Park, they also constructed a new community building and water park area last summer. I liked how the lamps looked like UFO ships, and how the yellow-orange contrasted with the cool blue and turquoise background elements. Despite waiting awhile for it to dry, the background remained stubbornly moist and made the trees blend in a bit. Anyways, the colours and textures are nice, and the walking path invites you to go for a stroll. 

Lamps Coffee Park, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Trenholme park snow sunset

After getting the LUFA farms vegetable pickup over in Trenholme park, I made a quick painting of the sunset reflecting off the snow and nearby cars. To create the red-orange glow of the sunset I mixed pyrol orange (PO73) and orange (PO62), but the real trick is to surround the orange tints in blue, brown and grey mixtures to make the contrast pop. I added trees and some other details afterwards. Most of the trees are dark brown, burnt umber (PBr7) and indo blue (PB60), with small branches at the top illuminated with yellow ochre (PY43) and orange. I added a patch of turquoise snow, and a dark purplish base to the buildings to give a cold feeling that was permeated by warm orange tones. Colours do not actually have temperature, its a myth, but still, I find the idea of warm/cool helpful in several respects. 

Trenholme park snow sunset, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

Empress Theater snowy night

Recently it was announced that the historic Empress Theater in NDG would be torn down, sort of. It seems they will attempt to preserve the facade with steel supports behind it, leaving an open park area where the theater was. Might as well tear down the whole thing if that's the idea, but hey, you gotta leave something for the graffiti (and watercolour) artists to paint! In this painting, I was standing across Sherbrooke street in a snow embankment next to the sidewalk, and did a painting of the left part of the facade with the fire escape, and a street lamp illuminating with an eerie glow. 

Empress fire escape, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Looking just to the right of the Empress theater, there are a few shops with bright neon signs and warm interior lighting cutting through a gloomy evening. With overcast skies on a winter night, it takes on a kind of greenish-grey glow with blue and orange tints. I ran the mixture off raw sienna (PBr7) and tinted with indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange (PO73). Next time I will lean into the raw sienna-blue mix more, to get the greenish glow, which only comes out a little bit in this painting. That greenish grey sky colour is difficult, with a bit more tweaking maybe I can get it right. In 2023 I did a good night painting of a dépanneur with a greenish sky, you can see it in this blog.  

View next to Empress, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Chilly night paintings downtown

The half moon was hanging high in the sky over the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Actually, it was over my left shoulder, but it looked better to compose it this way. In the foreground is the highway that runs under the city, you can see the cars down on the roads from this vantage point, nearby where I painted on a sunny day last November. Since mayor before last decided to upgrade the lighting system on the Cartier bridge, its made for some neat paintings including these ones!

Half moon over bridge lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

 

These paintings were too moist to add much detail, which explains the lack of a signature... I decided to leave them as is, no touch ups at home afterwards. Zooming in, you might see the crystalline textures that form when salty water freezes on location. Its not easy to get out of a warm couch under a blanket and decide to go for a bike ride with such wind chill at night, but its a neat thing that these paintings even exist now, I guess that's the reward of painting on location. This location is right next to the outdoor skating rink. 

Neon lights trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026  

Sunset and pylon puddle

Over at Benny park near the sports complex there is a small forest of pine trees that catch the sunset. The well-trodden snowy hill in the foreground was reflecting a variety of pastel colours from the sky. I got the whole painting done on location including the tree details. 

Sunset Benny pine trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Walking past this puddle reflecting a pylon (and another construction sign off to the right), I thought, when will I get the chance to paint this again? Lucky me, right place right time! It was a real challenger to get all the blue, brown, grey and orange working together with dirty melting snow. Looks like it will stay hovering around zero for a while yet. 

Pylon puddle, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 
 

Snow field shadows

This empty lot on the corner of Peel and Ottawa streets, in the Griffintown neighborhood, had a fresh blanket of snow. It is one of the few, if any, places where you can get full sun in downtown Montreal especially in the winter when the angle of the sun is low. In the painting, you are looking North-West, that row of housing in the middle is community housing protected from Condo development. Instead of a Condo, this empty lot is slated to become an outdoor community commerce area, hopefully with some trees here and there. Montreal is allergic to empty space, so it has to be filled up as soon as possible.  

Empty lot winter vista, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

From the same vantage point, looking West, there is a Fire station on Young street casting a long shadow across the mostly undisturbed snowy field, just a few foot paths crossing the view. The snow shadow seemed to have two tones, a blue violet out in the field which I mixed with indo blue (PB60) and dark magenta (PV55), then a more greenish-blue in the distance I made by daubing phthalo blue (PB15) into the other mixture. Maybe it was all the same colour and my eyes were playing tricks on me. With the cold icy-wind blasting in from the west I couldn't see much when I painted this! 

Fire station snow shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Sun shining on Dorchester Square

 

From the look of it you might conclude it was warm today, but it was anything but. Strong, icy wind pelted Montreal which had received a fresh blanket of snow the night before. These trees in Dorchester Square line a walking path that only a few pigeons were brave enough to stroll down. Occasionally a group of pigeons landed right next to me anticipating food. To keep the top part of this painting clean, I omitted the background which was full of skyscraper buildings in shadow. 

Pigeons strolling, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Many tour buses park around Dorchester square, although I did not see too many tourists. Maybe they were staying on the bus which would have been smart today. The pigeons were hanging out on top of the archway of the Dominion building in the background, they were probably catching some heat off the front door of the facade. This was a tough painting to complete due to difficult conditions, the palette blew onto the ground a few times. Luckily I was dressed heavily for the occasion, all parts wind-proofed and insulated. Still the paint froze on the palette and the slow-drying salty water was a pain as usual. 

Tour bus Dominion building,watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

To keep things moving I did two paintings at a time. For example, I painted the background elements for this one, worked on the bus painting, then finished this one with the dark overlays. The paint brush handles like a gooey crayon in these conditions, so its hard to paint straight lines. The left is a car rental building, the right is part of the impressive Sun Life building. 

Car rental Sun Life, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

Being a 'square' instead of a 'park' means that they can lay a million expensive stone bricks instead of having grass. At least the square is still surrounded by tall trees which house many squirrels. The medieval-looking building in the background is the old Windsor Station, now a community center. As you can tell, Dorchester square is at the center of some historic parts of Montreal. Dorchester was a British army figure, in fact, the main street through downtown Montreal was called Dorchester until they renamed it after a Quebec politician. This square retains the name though. 

Snow piles Dorchester square, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Frosty scenes near the train tracks

Just before sunset I got down to the train tracks near campus and made a few paintings. It was pretty frosty out there, you can see all the ice crystals that formed in the watercolour washes up in the sky, and in my shadow at the front. The commuter train went by and cars were heading home after a days work. Between the road and the bike path there was a triangle of fresh snow that cast my shadow in a neutral sky blue. 

Road path tracks my shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Looking to the west, the commuter train rumbled by. The foliage around the train tracks, including trees and vines, made for some good contrasts with the straight lines of the train tracks. When composing scenes in the winter, its important to keep an eye on the compositions because there is not a whole lot of colour to work with. In this case I used a variety of overlapping lines, in the first painting I relied on the triangle of snow to carry the scene. Hopefully it warms up a bit and I can paint some more. 

Train foliage, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Peel basin and canal frozen snowy

Making it from downtown to the peel basin, I found some more sun shine and a good view of the old pier covered in snow. At the base of the canal wall, there was a trail of paw prints, likely belonging to a fox that walks around here in the winter. I did not see the fox this time, but have painted it in the past here and here. When painting in the winter with salt water and freezing temperatures, you have to paint a lot darker knowing that it will dry light. In fact, you loose about two full shades of darkness when it dries. For that reason, I dab in plenty of darks like indo blue (PB60), dark magenta (PV55), and carbon black (PBk6). 

Peel basin paw prints, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Its funny I've never really painted these old towers by the canal, they are long defunct and rusting away. Recently hydro quebec announced they will remove all the towers, but some critics are saying they are heritage objects that should be saved. From an artistic standpoint they are more of a pain, so they could take them away, but maybe they are part of the history. Seeing them up close it looks more like they are ready to fall down.  

 Old towers by canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Still cold downtown Montreal

At least the bike was in good shape, all the gears changed and the chain was moving. Its still cold in Montreal, down at Place des Arts was a rare spot where the sun came through. In the foreground, you see parts of the metro station, and some piles of snow. With sun beaming down it warmed a little, but my toes were still getting cold. 

Cold toes, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

Here is a painting of one of the Jazz buildings, in fact, the Concordia University convocation happens here too. I get to sit up on the stage wearing regalia and clap for hours on end! Its the same stage where the late Robin Williams did a comedy show decades ago. In the foreground, you see one of the twisty jazz lamps and a few trees protruding from the snow. 

Jazz lamp, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

This was the first painting of the day, at Vendome metro station half way between NDG and downtown. I almost chickened out and headed home from here, but pushed onwards while the sun was shining and I had the free time. Today required heavily salted water, and the paintings were kind of freezing instead of drying. 

Venome snow piles, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 
 

Bananas mango apple

The fruit looks a little bit different here in Canada especially when painting indoors in the the evening with artificial lights. By comparison, in Brazil I got to paint fresh fruit of great variety out in the South American sun when it was shining. Keep in mind its freezing cold outside with a meter of snow, so we are lucky to have any fresh fruit at all, and to be fair, the bananas at the other grocery store looked a lot better than these ones. That mango incidentally, is probably from Brazil anyways! Painting fruit can be difficult, although the shapes are simple enough, there are colour variations and textures to pay attention to, and different light and shadow effects. Its good practice anyways, and I kind of enjoy it more and more. Cezanne was famous for painting still life of fruit, he would set up a whole table full and paint the whole scene. 

Bananas mango apple, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, February 2026 

Mounds of snow Raffi Auto

Yeah, now you know I am back in Montreal, here is a painting of Raffi Auto shop on Harley street in the Westhaven neighborhood done at lunch hour today. It was an enormously difficult painting to complete because I completely lost my cold acclimatization while in Brazil, not to mention came down with a lingering head-cold. The other adjustment was I had to use salt water, and as usual, the blobs of paint were frozen hard as a rock on the palette. Brazil in contrast, I used fresh water, and the paints were goopy and tacky due to the heat. Somehow, I held on and got the entire Raffi painting done on location as you can see, including my initials in place of their sign. Its set to warm up to a balmy zero ℃ after the weekend, although we still wont be wearing the new flip-flops quite yet!

Mounds of snow Raffi Auto, 6 x 7.5" watercolour February 2026

Brazil 2026 palette: earthy and warm

I painted a picture of my palette from the Brazil trip, actually I had two palettes with the identical set up. I also brought three extra tubes of paint, yellow (PY154), dark blue (PB60), and dark green (PBk31). There are 22 blobs of paint on the palette, although several of them are duplicates so there were 18 distinct paints. The duplicates were there because of different uses, for example in position 11 there is a yellow to mix greens with, and position 16 is the same yellow but used to mix oranges. Each day I rinsed the mixing areas lightly with water and a hogs hair brush to keep it clean, and washed my brushes with glycerine-based soap and water. This kept the colours fresh for each day of painting. 

Since its my third trip to Brazil I already had notes and experience. Raw sienna (PBr7) was important so I added a big blob of it in the upper left mixing area (position 13), and used it a lot. The yellow went fast too, which was fun because I never use much yellow in the Canadian winter, but in the Brazil landscape its the number 1 colour to use. Magenta got a real workout in Brazil, I carry a dark magenta (PV55, position 6) and a bright magenta (PR122 position 20), these mix well with the indo blue (PB60 position 7 and 15) to make purple. The colourful flowering trees used these mixtures. Since the soil in South America is a deep red earth colour, it permeates much of the landscape. So I used plenty of burnt sienna (PR101) which actually contains the same iron oxide pigment that is in the soil, and also in the beans!

Brazil 2026 palette: warmth

Here are some more details, I tried to number the position of each paint, but the first one was cut off in the scan, 

1.  yellow ochre (PY43, also PY42).... this is great in a dilute wash for creating the subtle yellow tint in the Brazilian sky. I applied it to most of the cloudy areas. Also mix with purple to get glowing warm greys.  

2. umber (PBr7),  good for sweaty concrete, also weathered Brazilian plaster that is common on some buildings. 

3. burnt umber (PBr7), shadow area of mangoes, some tree barks, center of some flowers.  

4. burnt sienna (PBr7), exposed south american earth, clay pots

5. maroon (PY179), dark red shadows on clay pots, fruit, red flowers

6. dark magenta (PV55), purple flowers, deep red mixtures

7. dark blue (PB60), dark purple, cool sky at top of painting, mix with earth for charcoal neutrals, cloud shadows, mix with yellow for distant mountain blue. 

8. phthalo green blue shade (PG7), car windshields, dilute wash for horizon cyan colour with phthalo blue

9. dark green (PBk31), pine trees, dark shadows of trees, shadow on grass

10. phthalo green yellow shade (PG36), greenery with yellow mixes, background of Brazil flag

11. yellow (PY154) greenery with yellow mixes, chatreuse, mix with black for shadow

12. orange-yellow (PY110), olive greens, warm tint on chartreuse

13. Raw sienna (PBr7), add to most mixtures, thin glaze for warmpth

14*. pyrol orange (PO73), night skies with dark blue, and for neutral purple shades.  

15. dark indo blue (PO60), night skies with pyrol orange, and for neutral purple shades.   

16.  yellow (PY154), same as other yellow, for mixing warm yellows like flowers, car headlights, bananas!

17. orange (PO62), use for orange objects like ... oranges! sun highlight on brown objects or exposed soil, and cats fur

18. pyrol orange (PO73), bright orange in some fruits, pylons 

19. pyrol red (PR254), tail lights of cars, some flowers, some fruit

20. magenta (PR122), magenta flowers, bright purples

21. blue sapphire (PB15), sky blue, mix with PG7 for horizon blue, some  blue objects like water-collectors in Brazil

22. black (PBk6), dark shadows like under cars some times, also for making dark yellow, dark green, dark red. use dilute for initial painting outline

 

 *pyrol orange and indo blue are both very high chroma pigments and mix a fantastic range of dark blue to smokey violets, however, if you mix them with other paints, they get dirty and the mix wont look nice. So I keep a secondary set of blobs just for mixing these two paints together. 

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