Seeing Seagulls at the Super C

 Try saying that five times fast! I detoured along St. Jacques Street on the way home hoping to find a good view of downtown Montreal through the trees. Unfortunately the brush was very dense as you can see on the left side of the painting. So I turned to face the Super C grocery store, with a good angle on the sun and a few seagulls mulling about. They were obviously expecting that I had something for them to eat but alas it was not to be!

The brick silhouette mixture in the back was red brown (PR101/PBr7) with perylene maroon (PR179) and a touch of raw umber (PBr7). Lately I have been adding carbon black (PBk6) but this time I left it out and trusted the perylene maroon and raw umber to carry the darkness through. It worked great, and I can see a deep maroon that is quite nice. The parking lot basic formula is indothrene blue (PB60) with perylene maroon which gives a neutral red-purple, to which I add yellow ochre (PY43) to give it the yellow tint. The yellow ochre is important because it has a low chroma and can really hold its colour in tints. By varying the amounts of those three paints, and the amount of water, I can reproduce almost any form of asphalt whether it be new, old, sun-bleached, daytime, night time, or sunset. 

Seeing Seagulls at the Super C, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3098a)

A few palette cleansing abstracts

You have heard of reality T.V. but what about surreality T.V. ? In this abstract painting I explored the concept with a faux wood T.V. frame and a 1960's style surreal landscape straight out of a Star-trek episode. For those of you who weren't around back then, T.V's were often encased in elaborate wood cabinets rather like furniture. My family even converted one into a fish tank.

Surreality T.V. watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, April 2022 (No. 3007b)

 

As I continue to use up the last of the paint on my winter palette, it was time for the brown and yellow paint to go. This small abstract had some organic elements along with what seemed to be an explosion in the background. It could also be a horses tail, or a paintbrush. I used yellow ochre to over-paint my initials and some other details. You are not 'supposed to' over-paint with heavy layers, but after years of painting and breaking rules, the watercolour police have never come to knock on my door.

Ochre Explosion, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April 2022 (No. 3106b)

No Time for Tech

 How many screens does it take? We are surrounded by them, screens on our phones, tablets, computers, TVs, car, even the bank ATM has a screen now. At least my toaster doesn't have a screen...  yet. In the painting a little fellow in a hazmat suit is resting on the beach taking some time away from the screens. But there they are, lurking in the background. To paint this scene I was cleaning the winter palette, so there was quite a bit of red brown (PR101/PBr7) and ochre (PY43) left over. The blue on the screens and reflecting on the person is phthalo blue red shade (PB15), made by Holbein they call it phthalo sapphire.

No Time for Tech, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, April 2022 (No.3009b)

Corner Sherbrooke and Cavendish

After work I wandered a bit along Sherbrooke and found this noisy scene on the corner of Sherbrooke and Cavendish looking to the south. The apartment building is getting a facelift, so the sidewalk is covered in a red and green protection for pedestrians. Many cars were going past and I heard lots of honking and yelling. As usual I had earplugs in so it wasn't too bad. 

Lately I noticed that if I add perylene maroon (PR179) to my dark mixtures they really get dark, and stay dark. If I just mix indo blue and carbon black it tends to dry as a dark grey. I used the perylene maroon here, and the darks stayed more dark than I expected, as seen in the light standard, and the apartment building. It gives kind of a neat atmosphere and makes the red and green pop even more, so I kind of like it.

Corner Sherbrooke and Cavendish (red and green), watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3097b)

Metro Grocery at Night

 Bright lights from inside the Metro Grocery illuminate the sidewalk. A green glow is cast off the street from a nearby traffic light. The sky is a dark indigo with maroon clouds and a few stars shining. Today the weather was fantastic and I could get out to do this quick painting of the scene across the street without even a touque!  I wrote a special page on night painting, which you can find on the dropdown menu, or if you have the menu showing it is on the page options.

Metro Grocery at Night, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3096b)

Ride to Lachine, Cool Day

 

Lachine used to be a major trading point due to its proximity to the Lachine rapids. The traders would have to stop here before making a portage. Nowadays the river is dredged and wide open for ships, but most of the goods go by train and truck not by boat anymore. The building in the painting is the old fur trading post that was preserved and now acts as a museum. It wasn't open today, we visited it a few years ago and saw all the examples of furs, and the story behind the industry. There is a well used bike and walking path that goes along the river bank and offers spectacular views of St. Lawrence river. I used a new kind of watercolour paper by Stathmore called Aquarius II. It seemed extremely thin but handled the paint well, in fact it was fantastic. Instead of rag pulp (cotton) it uses some kind of synthetic alternative.

View from Fur Trading Post, Lachine, watercolour 8 x 10", aquarius II, April  2022

 

This building used to be a church or a town hall or something, but now it is a retail store. Cars were winding up and down the main drag, St. Joseph Blvd, and the beginnings of the canal can be seen at the bottom of the painting. It was supposed to be warm and sunny today but it was cool and overcast.

Main Drag, Lachine, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3096a)

 

I found a very small park located just off the main drag with a view of the canal. There is actually a smaller part of the canal that effectively acts as a water access for some houses. I suppose it used to be for waiting on the locks or something. The walking train is seen through the trees, and then the boat docks in the background.

View through Trees, Lachine, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3097a)

Saturday painting, Ville St. Henri and Downtown

 

On the way back I got stopped at the train crossing. From experience I knew it could last ten or even twenty minutes so I busted out the paint kit and got to work. The fellow in the blue jacket arrived and looked at the painting, he was amazed that I could paint so fast, and I told him that I'm a human camera. Its funny how some of the best paintings can capture a moment.

Train Crossing, Ville Henri, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3107)

 

St. Ambroise street is most famous for its namesake, St. Ambroise brewery that makes a variety of classic Quebec beers. It used to be a purely industrial area but with the Atwater market and constant condo developments along the canal, it has quickly gentrified. You are more likely to see people walking little dogs and drinking coffee than you will see a factory worker. The scene shows some of the old buildings and a few parked cars. The thing that looks like a van was an Amazon prime delivery vehicle.

St. Ambroise Street, Ville St. Henri, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3106a)

 

I've no idea what these giant green silos were used for, maybe plastic polymers since the building in the background used to make Calico toys. Now the building is office space and condos and the silos are a palette for graffiti artists. Wanting to get in on the action, I replaced the foreground graffiti with my initials. No vandalism here. 

Green Silos and Condos, Ville St. Henri, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3008a)

 

I continued down Notre Dame avenue for awhile until the traffic got too heavy and then turned back. This scene was neat, a veritable fortress of windows. I was thinking to myself, what would have Monet or Van Gogh made of this scene? I managed to squeeze in a lot of detail, and captured some of the light and shadow patterns on the road. The tallest building is the Habs Condo, the Montreal Canadiens awhile back developed some of their land into a condo project, complete with logo on top.

Habs Condos Downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3092b)