Garage Bar in São Paulo

While in São Paulo recently there were a number of scenes that I could not paint for various reasons but I took some notes down for posterity. This is the first painting from the notes and my memory, it shows a garage that was converted into a small local bar. I saw this scene at night while Cilei and I were walking her brother's dog around the block. The interior of the garage was strongly lit from an illuminated glass-door fridge full of bottled beverages, and from some lights over the bar. A couple of fellows were there shooting the breeze over some drinks. Cilei's father actually knows the bartender, he lives in the house and recently his wife passed away so he decided to open a bar in his garage. Off to the right is an empty lot surrounded by a tall brick wall, and a long valley with apartments on the horizon. A palm tree was silhouetted against a dark purplish sky. I also took notes on an interesting sunset, and a view in the open market.

Garage Bar in São Paulo, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, June 2023 (No. 3655a)

Auto Shop Blue

Big news in NDG, the local auto shop painted their building a new colour. It used to be a wonderful dark red, likely venetian red, which I captured in countless paintings. I saw them scraping and priming the walls white, and Cilei jokingly said that they would paint it grey. Sure enough the next morning the auto shop was a pale cadaverous grey. This afternoon the sky had a hazy orange glow from the rampant wild fires in Quebec. In response to the boring choice of grey I decided to paint the auto shop with an exciting electric blue. Against the eerie amber sky, the imagined blue walls really pop in the painting. I think that if the auto shop owners could see how good their building looks in blue, they would have gone for it.  

Auto Shop Blue, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3468a)

White Flowers under Trees

On the way back I took the canal path and saw these white flowers, probably Queen Anne's Lace growing along side of the bike path for about a hundred meters. I stopped and made a painting of the flowers under these trees, with some shipping containers in the background. It was a delicate painting, the flowers had to pop out against a grey-green background, and the trees were casting a web of shadows over the scene. It was very windy today but generally quite a pleasant day to paint. After a tough slog in the winter, it is refreshing to paint in Spring weather.

White Flowers under Trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3467a)

Downtown Greens, Yellows and Purple

It was such a nice sunny day, I figured it was a perfect day to buy a new umbrella. My old one filly got destroyed in a wind storm and it was a matter of time before it would actually rain in Montreal. Since the Bay opened at 11am and I got there a bit early there was some time to do a painting in front of the Bay, which is unseen off to the right. This view is up Union Avenue. The bike near the bottom is my bike locked up, I wanted to keep an eye on it!

View up Union Avenue, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3466a)

 

In the square across the street from the Bay, they paved, bricked, and encased manicured flowers in large gardens. Nature is conquered! It took some time but I painted the various flowers and some background elements. If you look closely enough there are two pigeons walking around the garden, hoping for handouts.

Purple Irises, various white flowers, watercolour 7 x 10" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3613)

Colourful Trees and Shrubs around Town

At the nearby Loyola Park there is a walking path lined with various types of trees. Continuing my Spring theme of painting colourful trees and shrubs, here is an interesting dark red (maroon) tree sitting in a sea of green. In the foreground where the path splits is one of my signature garbage cans! To paint this scene, I applied the green grass and blue sky, then over-painted the shrub and background elements.
 

Red Tree Loyola Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3464b)

 

A steep embankment leads down to Cavendish underpass going to Cote des Neige neighborhood. The area around the underpass has good sight lines, shady trees and interesting landscaping which is why I have returned there many times after discovering the location during the pandemic. The violet shrub/tree was not a lilac, the flowers were much more delicate than I captured in the painting. Of course there were pylons of in the distance, they are another sign of Spring in Montreal.

Violet tree and Red Shrubs, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3465b)

A few more memories from Spain

Maybe its the persistent heat but something triggered memories of Spain. While in southern Spain the temperatures reached 40℃  but the air was very dry making it somewhat tolerable. Always on foot there were some pretty sweaty and exhausting days tromping around these ancient cities. Zamora was a day trip, the city had numerous archways, famous bridges, a cathedral, and lots of cobblestone roads. In this painting I used a variety of earth colours, probably by modifying transparent burnt sienna (PR101) the only earth paint I had at the time. The shadows are light and airy, too bad the buildings all look crooked and the right side seems unfinished. In many cases I was exhausted while painting which added to the challenge.

Zamora Spain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1998 (No. 0986)

Here is a spectacular view from atop Mount Urgull in San Sebastian (Donostia). There were old fortifications on the top of the mountain, over run by tourists of course, and at least one painter. I like the atmosphere in this painting, the water seems realistic. Looking at the mountain in the distance, it appears to be almost identical to the mountain I just painted in Brazil. Certain elements of the 1998 Spain paintings are fantastic even if there are a lot of mistakes here and there. Like, the right side of the painting tapers off. At least I left a good border around it in case of framing.

Mt Urgull San Sebastian (Donostia) watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1998 (No. 0844)

 

Here is an ambitious scene from Madrid near their city University. I had already painted the CN tower in Toronto a year prior, so this must have seemed somewhat familiar. To include a monument and a tall structure like this, with trees in the middle ground was a bold move for such a small format. For most of the Europe trip I painted without any fear. But what is to fear really, a bad painting? There were a few of those too. I like the pedestal, it was a great shade of grey, and the foliage is a dry olive green.

Madrid Ciudad University watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1998 (No. 0859)

Hot off the Press Paintings

We are in the midst of a mini heat wave, even before summer officially starts. I made it out of my chilly office yesterday and today to make a few quick paintings. This one shows a line of shrubs along one of the paths in front of the PERFORM Centre, with abundant white flowers. It is likely a spirea shrub,  common to NDG and often used on front lawns. I applied the light/shadow of the flowers first, then over-painted the foliage and filled in the background elements.

White flowering Shrubs,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2023 (No. 3464a)

 

Today it was even hotter, like a sauna as they say. This scene was on Harley street in the Westhaven neighborhood near the bakery and fruit store where I picked up some eats for a late lunch. I was contemplating how to depict a hot day in a landscape painting, and noticed some heat waves coming off the road and tops of cars, but that effect seemed rather impossible to paint. Then I noticed a long-lost winter mitten on top of a pole, symbolic of the end of winter. I also amped up the contrasts in the painting, lots of yellow tint and blue shadow with orange accents to simulate the feel of heat with colours.

Glove on Pole, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3465a)