Red Dumpsters, Teal Roof Hot Dogs

Seeking out dumpsters today, I finally found some worth painting just off the Maisonneuve bike path at the downtown Concordia Campus. The last of the sunlight was illuminating the wall and part of the dumpster creating a dramatic lighting effect. The green windows provided a good colour contrast with the red, and the black garbage bags had value contrast with the sunlit brick wall. Yellow poles, meant to prevent vehicles from colliding with the structures helped to cut through all the grey. The red colour was made with pyrol red (PR254) and a touch of magenta (PR122).

Red Dumpsters Sun Beam, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3558b)

On the way back I veered off to the south and turned on Notre Dame street and stopped in Ville st Henri at the restaurant with the distinctive teal roof. Mixing the colour was a challenge, it is mostly green, but leaning slightly to cyan, slightly more than phthalo green. After one failed attempt and some adjustments thereafter, I got the mix right with phthalo green blue shade (PG7), a touch of phthalo blue sapphire (PB15), and a bit of grey to cut the chroma and darken it. To get that warm brown plaster wall in background I mixed a green umber (PBr7) with orange (PO62), then painted in my initials instead of the graffiti. Today I stopped by Avenue des Arts and picked up some more pyrol orange (PO73), its a colour I used for night skies, but then ran out and didn't replace it. Turns out it can't be replaced for that purpose with any of the other red-orange options, or with red paints either. So indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange should give me some good night sky. I notice a dark cyan too at night which I haven't worked out either. There is always something to learn !

Teal Roof Hot Dogs, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3552b)

Perry Island Beginning of Fall

I couldn't resist riding east to visit Perry Island, a tiny lump of land with trees and a rocky shore. Here I am looking back across the river with a mighty oak tree sprawling across the sky. Unfortunately, the tree is in a lot of distress, many branches were bare and dead, probably a beetle or worm got to it. There were small trees throughout the island, probably planted by some citizens by the look of it. To adjust the foliage towards fall colours, I mixed green-yellow (PG36+PY154) with orange yellow (PY110), or I painted the green directly on the paper and dabbed in the orange yellow. It's that time of year when the leaves start to change colour. I even saw some flashes of red leaves on the bike ride.

Perry Island, Prairie River, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3561a)

Riding back, this scene on Perry Island caught my attention. The tall trees were cool colours on the bottom but light and warm colours at the top. I started by painting the outlines in yellow at the top and blue at the bottom, then filled in the trees and background as the painting dried. It was so cool and humid that the paint never really dried, but it gave a glowing effect to this forest scene. Van Gogh used to paint the tree trunks in all manner of colours like green, red, purple, white, he was obviously using the trees as a colour motif.

Perry Island,  Trees Light and Shadow version 2, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3560b)

This was the first version I did of the scene. I painted the entire background first, then attempted to paint the trees over top. Unfortunately I misjudged the drying rate and the layers collapsed giving a dark muddy appearance. In version 2 I took a different approach, that is to paint the trees first, then fill in the background. Being a location painter who paints all seasons means technical adjustments. The  main adjustments are the palette selection, and adapting the technique to air temperature and humidity. 

Perry Island,  Trees Light and Shadow version 1, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3561b)

Sun behind Sacré-Coeur Hospital

Sacré-Coeur Hospital is up on the north shore of Montreal not far from Prairie River. I had a checkup there which is why I made another painting of a hospital to go with the last one. This scene is looking up at the top portion of the main entrance facade, with the sun rising just behind one of the corners. It was a difficult effect to achieve especially during a cool and humid morning to contend with. The sun appeared to have a peach halo surrounded by a yellow halo, then a greyish blue sky all around. It dried just enough for me to paint the structure over top using mixtures of red ochre (PR101), umber (PR101) and yellow ochre (PY43). In fact my palette became such a mess I'm not even sure what mixtures I used! It turned out well enough, it has a kind of religious feel to it inspired by the ornate decorations of the hospital. It was built in a Gothic- Romanesque style with a healthy dose of Montreal brick and concrete.

Sun behind Sacré-Coeur Hospital, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3560a)

Full Moon Clear Sky

Tonight was one of the special full moons called the harvest moon, mostly due to its occurrence around the time farmers would harvest their crops. It was a lot higher in the sky than it appears, next time I will bring some of the 4 x 12" to compose it on the vertical. That condo on the bottom is where we live, although that is the top two floors. Since I am missing pyrol orange (PO73) I tried benzi orange (PO36) which has the identical hue angle, but mixed differently with indo blue (PB60). But it made an almost black mixture, and fading to brown and cream colour. It ended up looking pretty intense though, and the three different sources of light are obvious (moon, window and street lamp). If I had to paint the midnight sky then this combo wold be perfect (PO36 + PB60). 

Moon over Condo Dark Sky watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3558a)

 

Down the street, the moon was hanging over the fire station. The sky is dark blue in this painting, I mixed indo blue (PB60) with pyrol red (PR254), then switched it to phthalo sapphire (PB15) with some magenta (PR122). The detailed colour notes are mostly for my sake, as I try to refine the best colour mix to paint a night sky. At any rate, it is an effective painting, it really creates and eerie glow. I think I will pick up more pyrol orange next time I am at the art store.

Moon Over Fire Station Dark Blue Sky, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3559a)

Grant Grunt

Spending time grant writing lately has impeded the art somewhat, but then again that's what scientists are supposed to do, see science vs. art. This quick painting sums it up, a figure stretched thin with head in clouds spews out pages of 'Best Science!' with dollar signs in their eyes. A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow awaits the winners. The majority of the painting was done using bone black (PBk9) and a touch of Prussian blue in the face of the character (PB27). I did the black and blue colour scheme awhile ago on location and quite enjoyed the challenge, but its not something I followed up on since I was exploring colour intensely in the past few years. I suddenly had the urge to try the colour scheme again, maybe it symbolizes the feelings of grant writing, being black and blue. Next time I go on location maybe I will paint some pictures of dumpsters and trash cans with a black and blue colour scheme, why not?

Grant Grunt, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, September 2023 (No. 3649a)

Auto Shop at Dusk, Trees are Gone

Just before the sun went completely away for the day I sat down in front of the condo and made a quick painting of the auto shop at dusk. I cut it pretty close because it was dark shortly after completing the painting. Since they painted the auto shop grey I figured out that it is a very slight violet grey but nearly completely desaturated. The main event was the sky which transitioned from a dull cyan, to a greyish green, to a faint salmon-coloured horizon. To get the rich brick shadow colour of the building in the background, I mixed red ochre (PR101) with burnt umber (also PR101). The pigment code PR means pigment red, and the number refers to the particular pigment. PR101 actually refers to dozens of distinct paint pigments ranging from brick red, dark violet, to dark chocolatey brown. You can read more about it by clicking the earth tab on this page on handprint.com. The burnt umber I used here is called transparent burnt umber from Schmincke company, the pigment is commonly used as a wood stain to give things a dark oak or walnut appearance. As a paint, it looks like a cup of espresso but you wouldn't want to drink it! By the way, the tall trees that used to sweep the background are gone now, they had been over-run with choke vines and finally had to be cut down. If you want to see what I am talking about, click here, for a painting I made back in April.

Auto Shop at Dusk, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2023 (No. 3556)

Time and Space are Fine

 

After seeing some graffiti proclaiming that space and time are doomed, I decided to make an abstract painting with a counter argument that space and time are in fact, fine. The painting was mostly improvised on the spot, it was not based on any prior drawings or doodles. I saw my cell phone sitting on a chair next to the fish tank, and it was reflecting the water bubbles upside-down, which you can sort of see in the phone-like shape bottom left. An asteroid is passing by, with a probe descending on a parachute, inspired by the latest space mission. Eerie neon symbols hover in the inky black, green and magenta sky. What painting about space and time would be complete without a Dali-esque melting clock? Based on the image, maybe space and time are not fine, but that's okay.

Time and Space are Fine, watercolour 11 x 15" cold press, September 2023