I stopped first at 'triangle park', near the Vendome 5-way intersection, and made a painting of the neat tree that grows there. Its a birch tree, and its bark is always peeling off. Maybe it needs some extra birch tree nutrients. With a hazy, yellowish sky mid-afternoon, it was a sign of wild fire smoke once again. The yellows look really bright, the blues turn greyish, and everything has an eerie glow.
Birch tree bark peeling, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026
The yellow-orange sun was penetrating through a hazy pale-blue grey sky today. Hanging over a glass vaulted arch, it made for some interesting scenery to paint on location. A faint smell of 'camp-fire' confirmed this was from a far-off forest fire. I was standing in Dorchester square downtown, looking northwest.
Glass vaulted arch yellow sun, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026
Taking on this scene, while the sky dried on the previous painting, I captured the intersection of Rene-Levesque and Peel street. Avoiding blue, I tinted the cars yellow with dilute raw sienna (PBr7) and yellow ochre (PY43), then used black (PBk6) for shadowing and details. This painting seems significant to me, in that its perhaps the best painting yet of such a scene. When downtown the amount of stuff can be overwhelming. Using a sharper brush and larger sheet might get even better results.
Traffic near Dorchester square hazy day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026
This painting was a bit of a fail, the paper was absorbing too fast creating flat washes and difficult to control details. I will try the scene again sometime, although its always back-lit. Perhaps a night scene would be good here, its a famous pub with a lively crowd. Soon I will get back to using new paper, for now I am working on the backs of old paintings as I consolidate the collection a tad. There is one more to post from today, I will make a separate blog for it, its a neat one!
Peel PJD Pub, watercolour 6 x 9" cold press, August 2026
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