Year end tally 2025, vegetable circuit

In 2020 during the downtime, I catalogued all of the paintings I had done since 1989 and kept it up ever since. Its been a regular activity throughout the year, to name, number and catalogue the paintings into a spreadsheet. The main reason is to help find the paintings, for example, my cousin bought some of the images and I used the catalogue number to find the paintings and do high res scans. It also helps me to see where I've been in terms of productivity, not that the number of paintings really matters. Picasso was known to have created close to 150,000 pieces of artwork, although many of those were prints and mass produced pieces. Most of the paintings in my collection are very small, postcard sized, although I also do the occasional larger piece. Since 1989, I made about 6380 paintings, and in 2025 alone, I made 1060 paintings. Including Vegetable Circuit, an abstract painting shown above. There is a graph at the end of this blog, 

Vegetable circuit, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, December 2025

Here is a graph of the number of paintings since 2019,  per year. There was a huge jump in the pandemic year and it increased lately. For 2026 I might shift into less numbers but larger paintings on location, otherwise I will start running out of boxes to store them. But then again I said the same thing at the beginning of 2025. 

 

 

Frozen dumpster, icy reflections,

Behind the High school there is a large parking lot that was totally iced over. Somehow, a few cars were still navigating it and parking here. In the middle of the parking lot there is a large maroon-coloured dumpster which I painted with a mix of perylene maroon (PR179) and quinacridone purple (PV55). With the cold temperatures and windchill persisting, paint dried slowly resulting in a slightly dull finish. It does give the atmosphere of a very cold day. 

Dumpster frozen lot, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 

Last location painting of the year, here is the frozen surface of the basketball court in Coffee Park, its reflecting trees and a passing commuter train. Its been a good year... I posted the 2025 year in review, and will update the annual painting count shortly. I have a few ideas for 2026, and it wont be long to wait, happy new years ! 

Icy reflections, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025  

Icy surfaces everywhere, chip truck

Parked out in front of City Fruiterie was this chips truck, I changed the brand to be my initials but you can probably guess which brand it was! I used some of my still life techniques to paint the truck, including fonts, and shiny things. The view was cropped because there were not too many places to stand next to my bike and paint today, I found a little corner at the strip mall where the locals hang out in the summer, it blocked most of the wind chill. 

Chip truck, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4972b)

Speaking of wind chill, I had just dropped off some donation items at the local Renaissance thrift store, and made a quick painting out in the expansive parking lot. The entire parking lot was frozen solid like a skating rink, making it impossible to ride. I had to walk my bike around the edges where the snow was crunchy. The painting was much brighter and with more contrast upon completion, but the slow drying time allowed paint to soak into the paper more than usual. This tends to happen when the windchill approaches -30℃. My water is heavily salted in the winter to prevent freezing, but it still freezes a bit in these conditions.  

Frozen parking lot, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025  (No. 4987b)

Diner Domes and other winter scenes

Down in the Old Port Montreal, boats are gone from the frozen marina, and replaced with... diner domes? I hadn't seen these before, geodesic plastic domes sitting upon a table and two chairs. There were about two dozen such domes strewn about the wharves, unoccupied for the time being. With some internet searching, these diner domes are part of an outdoor restaurant, at night they are illuminated with LED lights and attended to by a waiter. 

Diner dome, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4987)

The artificial beach in Old Port is covered in snow, making the umbrellas look rather useless. In the background, the restaurant boat that is usually sitting in the canal near Atwater market was moored on a dock, not operational. Wind had swept over the snow-covered sand creating a wavy pattern. 

Snow umbrella restaurant boat, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025  (No. 4986b)

From Viger Square there was a good view of Cartier bridge and Molson's old brewery, still standing. When painting with heavily salted water in the winter, the paint stays moist for quite awhile. I have two wood drying racks, so I can do two paintings on location, ride to the next spot, and change for fresh papers. For dexterity, I wear very thin gloves underneath the oven-mitt gauntlets, so when I need to change papers I take off the outer-mitts briefly, but never expose skin to the frigid conditions.  

Bridge and Molson's from Viger square, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4984b)

 

Sunlight a valuable commodity?

Riding across the Maisonneuve bike path in downtown Montreal and you start to realize that sunlight is a valuable commodity in the city. From Atwater market all the way to Place des Arts, there is hardly a sliver of light. After they finished the massive condo towers recently, the last remaining sunlight is all but gone. Standing in the shadow of Montreal, I thought, might as well embrace the situation and paint the scene as it is, giant monolith-like condo towers blocking the sun entirely. 

Montreal Shadows, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4988)

Off towards the Place des Arts building, where they hold the University convocation and other types of entertainment, there was a sliver of light coming through. I've painted this snow pile before, for the same reason, its one of the few spots that gets sun this time of year. Those condo towers get plenty of sun through their all-glass exteriors... the condo owners, no doubt, are sitting up there having a cup of coffee with sun in their living room. While the rest of us plebs down on the street walk in the shadows.  

Sliver of light, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4986a)

Turning south I rode towards Old Montreal and stopped off at Viger square, a recently renovated park area with seating and about a million interlocking bricks. Heavy snow fall, undisturbed, cast a warm glow and produced flat blue shadows. A single trail of footprints cut through the snow. Framed structures sprawl throughout the square offering a Stonehenge-like display of concrete.

Viger Square snow shadows, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4985b)  

Westhaven field cold day

Down at the end of Harley street in Westhaven there is a field I talked about in the year in review post, today I stopped by to make a few paintings on a cold weekend. Behind the trees you see the Perform centre on the left and the sports dome that collapsed earlier this year on the right. The Perform center has a long and tall tinted glass window that runs around the back of the building, you see it in the painting, that's where the administrators have their giant board room that is seldom used for anything. Back in my office and the laboratory where everyone actually works there are no windows! 

Field dome perform, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4984a)

As the background dried in the previous painting, I turned towards the west and painted this view of Raffi's auto shop with a truck parked out front. Tall trees filled the sky. It was fairly quiet out, not much traffic and most shops including the auto shop were closed, although Snowdon Bakery was open and I picked up a couple of fresh loaves of bread. 
Raffi's with truck, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4985a)  

Holiday paintings in Bolton

Over a brief holiday to visit Mom and Dad, I completed a few paintings around the backyard and valley. Their house backs onto a ravine, so there are plenty of forest scenes to be painted. Above is a scene of a very tall pine tree in the backyard, with the colourful christmas lights on the railing of the balcony. 

Tree deck lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4979b)

Down in the valley, tall grass and reeds were poking out over deep snow. Bright sun illuminated the scene, creating blue shadows and a warm glow. The reeds are done with raw sienna, a dab of burnt sienna, then a dab of raw umber. All three paints are called PBr7 (brown pigment 7) but look and handle differently. 

Sun over valley, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4982a)

This willow tree still had some yellowish streaks which contrasted nicely against the blue sky. I first established the blue sky with a simple colour fade (described in my page on how to paint the sky), then daubed in some moist yellow ochre to let it blend wet-in-wet. As it dried, I worked on the previous painting (sun over valley), then went back to this one and applied the dry-brush tree trunk and branch textures. 

Winter willow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4983a)

Last time I painted this pond there were still geese remaining. No geese this time around, just some logs encased in ice. With the temperature and amount of salt in the water, I went for an impressionist style using short, distinct brushstrokes. In this way, the scene can be completed in one go without waiting for layers to dry. As a watercolour painter I am always thinking about the timing and order of things to create a finished work on location. 

Logs frozen pond, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4983b) 

Squirrels were bounding through the snow, like this one, looking for some forgotten nut or morsel of food. In the winter, they send one squirrel out at a time, leaving the rest of the family in the nest. The squirrels here in Montreal do the same thing when the temperature drops enough. If it warms, several will come out at the same time, its a matter of heat conservation. Another neat thing we learned is that squirrels will purr like a cat if you can get close enough and they are relaxed. Cilei got me a squirrel T-shirt printed and made in Montreal for christmas, it is cool. We got lots of chocolates, puzzles and warm socks too. 

Squirrel bounding snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025 (No. 4982b)