Good thing that oil and water don’t mix and that no damage was done to my painting or I would have decapitated those two women who couldn’t control their dogs and who didn’t even apologise when their 4 too eager to jump in the water canines nearly knocked off my easel. Then, one of the dogs got out of the water and spattered water all over my painting – I’m still fuming about this – Not only should they have kept their dogs on a leash, but they shouldn’t have a swim in the pond either. I made sure to report this incident to the authorities at Parc Jean-Drapeau.
Ducks taking a rest around one in the afternoon.
Anyway, I named this painting “L’île des canards”, which literally stands for “the island of the ducks”. Where “the island” can either refer to the one you see in my painting or Sainte-Hélène island; the bigger island where the pond and island in my painting are located — See the island’s exact location on Paintmap.
The beauty and tranquility (that is when there are no unleashed dogs and their idiot owners rampaging the area ) inspired me to make this painting. Here you could observe a family of ducks and eight ducklings swim across this pond. Around one in the afternoon the ducks take a rest on the island while the ducklings, which are now old enough to wander around on their own swim, dive and explore every corner of the pond.
This painting was also an experiment where I’m trying Canson Canva-Paper; a ready for oil or acrylic paper – I liked it – I was surprised at how thick that paper is. It didn’t absorb the oil out of the paint like some other canvas papers do, though I should say that I did apply a ground colour to the canvas paper. Even though no priming or preparation is necessary, I think it would be interesting to try with some gesso, maybe to add some texture variation and relief to the painting surface but that’s another experiment for another time.
L'île des canards - 16x8.5 oil on paper by Kim C Pelletier
A large flat brush was used to paint the light and shadow masses, completes the illusion of depth and perspective in this shed..
Characteristic feature of Montreal’s urbanism of the 1890-1930, back alleys formally were a place of gathering between neighbours, a play ground for the children (hockey in winter and base-ball in the summer) and for the passage of itinerant merchants such as the sharpener or scrap collector. Today back alleys serve as hiking or biking trail and access to the gardens and private parking spaces – Interesting fact: According to Yves Séguin, author of “Marcher à Montréal et ses environs” the city’s back alleys total for 450 km (280 miles)
To be noted that some back alleys in Montreal Central South area have names but the one in my painting doesn’t, so I named it after one of the street that it parallels. Ruelle Provençale is one of the prettiest alleys I’ve seen around the area. I’m told that the citizens maintain it, planting flowers and trimming the trees regularly.
Pretty flowers in the alley planted and maintained by the citizens.
I must say that I’m quite happy with this plein air painting, especially how I did the back of that shed. I used some off-white/yellow to paint the mass of light and a mixture of Sepia and Ultramarine blue to paint the mass of shadow – That’s it –The brain does the rest of the job completing the illusion of depth and perspective.
One of the reasons I wanted to try plein air painting was that I was looking to loosen my painting style and well, what they say is true; it helps to use a large brush. For an 11 x 14 painting, a large brush means a size 6 or 7 flat brush (though not for this painting, I have sometimes used a #10) and I have gone no smaller than #4 flat brush and occasionally a #3 round brush for small details such as flowers.
Summer is almost over; I’ll start teaching drawing and painting classes in a month where I won’t have as much time for plein air painting. Although I’ll be able to complete one or two more paintings until then; to conclude my plein air painting project which has been about the Central South Montreal neighbourhood, I
Would like to invite you to watch this short film (15 min) called “Au bout de ma rue” (at the end of my street). Filmed in 1958, a time period where Central South was booming with activity, it tells the story of a young boy who decides to take a day off and goes “at the end of the street” exploring his neighbourhood.
Film: “Au bout de ma rue” (1958) by Louis-Georges Carrier National film board of Canada
Ruelle Provençale - Plein air painting. 11X14 oil on wood pannel by Kim C Pelletier (2010)
Several parks in Montreal have shallow pools called “pataugeoire”. The pool at Centre-Sud’s Mérédic Martin Park was very popular this past month of July.
I used a photo found on Internet for model of the child in this painting.
“Pateaugoires” are pools usually no deeper than a half foot of water and that can be found in many parks around Montreal. July has been very hot this year and what better subject to depict those hot summer days in the city than the “pataugoire”? – It sure brought back old memories though – I think that I must have been 5 or 6 years old the last time I remember my mother taking me to such place.
I also had to cheat a little bit for this painting. On the first time I went on location to make the sketches, the children were running too much and I couldn’t make a decent sketch of any of them. I should have brought a camera but I didn’t have one. So instead I went back home and searched Internet for pictures of children at the beach. I picked the one I liked best, made a sketch of that and transferred it onto the wood panel.
A thunderstorm interrupted me when I was about halfway through the painting. I quickly moved the painting to the dry box where it was protected from the rain, I packed up the rest of my stuff and hurried home. I came back 2 days later to complete the painting.
La Pataugeoire - 11 x 14 oil on wood panel by artist Kim C Pelletier
In the centre of the garden stands a large birdhouse
Another blue tree because I can!
Thank goodness we had thundershowers on Friday! The weather was so hot this past week, I could barely stand it. I went painting in plein air this Saturday at one of my favourite quiet place in the city called “Jardin Panet”.
In the heart of Montreal, on a vacant land behind an old manufacture hides Jardin Panet (1810 Panet street – see it on Paintmap) – You really have to know it’s there – I stumbled on itquite by accident 2 years ago and immediately fell in love with the place. Themed after ornithology and composting, Jardin Panet is one of 6 vacant land in the borough of Ville-Marie that were transformed into an oasis of nature by an organism named Sentier Urbain as a way to remedied the lack of green in the district given its location near major highways and its highly urbanized character.
Living in the garden are doves, finches, a duck named Camille and her duckling, a rabbit (that I haven’t seen yet) and fishes in several small ponds scattered across the garden. I love the place so much that I even brought a camera and made a little video montage of Jardin Panet – and in the centre of the garden stands a large birdhouse, which you may have guessed, is in my painting.
Painting the negative space using dark green and dabs of Ultramarine blue bring out and highlights the flower pots.
I wanted to depict the ambiance; that first feel one gets when entering the garden. I really like the dimension provided by the pond hidden in the dark foliage at the foot of the birdhouse and the flower pots sitting in the sun in front plan – I have found that painting the negative space, using in this instance a very dark green and dabs of Ultramarine blue, really does the trick to bring out and highlight the stems and leaves on the foremost plants.
Jardin Panet (2010) 11X14 Oil on wood panel by artist Kim C Pelletier.
This painting was done on an orange ground. So far, I have found that I prefer working on orange or Carmin red grounds than the blue or purple grounds I have tried earlier.
One of Montreal’s gay village icon, Café Européen.
Already a month has gone-by since my last post. Work and the jazz festival have been holding me back and then the weather has also been making my plein air painting plans difficult to follow through. However, I do have one more plein air painting that I completed about two weeks ago but that I have been neglecting to post in here.
The village is perhaps Central-South-Montreal’s liveliest area with its clubs, cafés and restaurants, and is also home to the Festival International Montréal en Arts (FIMA). Located in the heart of the village, Café Européen is likely the most well-known and iconic complex of the area (the complex also includes the Oscar Wilde Pub, the Club Sandwich and Bourbon Hotel), and I have long wanted to paint it since I find that the subject is perfect for the kind of loose, painterly feel I had in mind.
I could have gone even looser, I think, but I’m very happy with the results that I got with this plein air painting. I actually went on location three times. The first time to make a quick sketch and the second time I went, by the time I have arrived, there were big clouds covering the sky. I waited for the sky to clear-up and it did but there were other clouds ahead – the lighting ambiance was shifting too quickly – and I didn’t want to end up like I did with my plein air painting of Avenue Lartigue, so I packed-up and left and came back another day. I was looking for a really, really bright day kind of ambiance. On the third time, I arrived on location slightly before noon and there was not a single cloud in the sky.
Paint what you see, not what your brain thinks it sees!
Some people have a hard time with the yellow sidewalk but it really is how it looks. One of things I try to aim for in plein air painting is to capture the at-first-glance ambiance or if you prefer; what you see when quickly looking through your squinting eyes. Get those colours and values down correctly and you’ve got a credible impression of the scene you want to depict – But our brain often tend to trick us – We tell ourselves: “Sidewalks are made of concrete and concrete is grey therefore I’m going to paint my sidewalk grey.”
A similar thing goes on with tree trunks, where inexperienced painters paint the trunks brown. Tree trunks are not brown; they are yellow, green, red, blue; they are all sorts of colours, which will vary depending on the time of day, type of light source and other factors. So turn-off your brain and paint what you see instead of what you think you are seeing
As for the colours (and last note) it is not really important to get the exact colour but it is important to get the correct value.
Café Européen (2010) - Plein air painting, 11x14 oil on Masonite by Kim C Pelletier
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) inspired me to make this painting. Here you could observe a family of ducks and eight ducklings swim across this pond. Around one in the afternoon the ducks take a rest on the island while the ducklings, which are now old enough to wander around on their own swim, dive and explore every corner of the pond.
