St. John's Fire Station

Why kids like fire cars? Because they are red!
Red is a wonderful color in a painting, it attracts immediately the attention, even little small spots, I usually put tiny red spots in eyes, ears, nose and mouth when I do portraits, the viewer eyes will connect these tiny dots and wander around all the face, making the painting more interesting. This trick I learned from the wonderful artist Anne Watkins .
The last time I was in the Fire Station they told me that Saturday mornings they take out the cars to clean the station. I couldn't resist such an opportunity so I went there very early, no matter the weather was very bad. At a certain point it started raining and drops start falling on my Moleskine. The pen stopped working (maybe because is water-resistant?) So I ran to find shelter at the bus stop. There, while waiting for my bus, I finished the painting with red watercolor.

Open 7 Am

Painting outdoors could be quite complicate. I carry a huge bag with a lot of materials. The biggest problem is to find a place to seat. Then spreading the colors and water around me and start to paint. I have already lost any inhibition when painting, but I still prefer streets with less people. In most of the cases I just sit on the pavement. I always forget a basic rule: Let the colors dry, get up and stretch. I am learning a lot with every new watercolor here. In this picture I got fascinated by the negative space around the tree.

Genticorum & Andrew O'Brien in Rocket Cafe

Andrew James O'Brien opened the Genticorum concert in the Rocket Room in Saint John's

Genticorum is a group from Quebec. The music was great. The songs were all about funny stories, but I didn't understand much because they were in french.

Yellow Belly

One of the thing that I find fascinating in this city are the advertising signs on wall. Specially the ones with a vintage typography.

Rainy days are also very interesting for watercolors : you can paint all the reflections on the wet floor. (I did this base in a photo I took) I still want to do some sketches of the interior.

In the fire station

Every day I try to explore and try to sketch places that represent the city in some way. St. John's buildings are made in wood. Fires happens very often in the city. Therefore the fire department is a very important institution here. I have never had draw fire fighters before, I didn't know what to expect when I first approach the fire station and ask if I can draw them. I got a very interesting tour were most of my questions were answer. I had to confess I used to have many stereotypes about firefighters, I though that their uniforms were red for example (here they are dark blue). I also asked one of the fire fighters if they got calls to fetch cats from threes, he said: " yes, but we don't go there, we tell the people that the cat will come down by himself when becomes hungry." " And what if the people insist?" I asked. The guy answered: "Well, I then ask them if they've ever seen a cat's skeleton on a three"

The fire fighters in St . John's have many duties and traditions. On Saturdays they have always pea soup and one of the fire fighters is in charge of cooking it. I have never seen somebody to cook in such a martial way. I had never tasted pea soup before, so they invited to eat with them. The soup was great. (While he was cooking the alarm rang, he turned off the heat and went to his car. He came back 20 minutes later , it was a false alarm)

The Duke of Duckworth

There is a TV show, called the Republic of Doyle. St. John's looks wonderful in it. The characters usually meet in this traditional pub in St. John's.

Rocket Cafe

One of my favorite places in St. John's is the Rocket Cafe in Water Street. It have a great atmosphere, good food and coffee.