Ville st Henri is a little neighborhood stuck between Point st Charles and Verdun, it lies on the north side of the Lachine canal. Most of the time I am riding through it to get to the canal but have made quite a few paintings there over the years. It is a mix of industrial blue collar with a slow gentrification occurring. The side of this house had crumbling plaster walls painted over with white. Incongruously, a motor boat was parked next to the building. People were hanging their clothes on it, but I omitted that detail from the painting. Doing this one reminded me a lot of painting in Spain, with the white plaster, blue sky and warm temperatures.
Ville st Henri boat, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024
The first painting had a cool colour scheme with blue, green, white, and grey, this one had a warm colour scheme with earthy oranges and cream-siding. I was standing on a wide pedestrian alley, it has benches and walking paths with good tree cover for about a kilometer going through the neighborhood. The path starts at park Gadbois and ends about at the Metro station I like to call Oscar Peterson. The neat thing about painting fences like this is that the wood stain used the same pigments that I have on my palette. In this case it was a mix of yellow ochre (PY43) and burnt umber (PBr7) and touches of burnt ochre (PR101).
Flowering shrubs and vines on fence, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024
Along the main drag if you can call it that, many old houses still stand. This one looked freshly renovated, it had a light beige siding with chocolate coloured trim. The whole street was lines with these trees, they were making pale yellow flowers that smelled a bit like lilac even though they were clearly not lilac trees.
Tiramisu House, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024
A long, covered alley was plastered with graffiti. At the end of the tunnel there was some bright yellow and green foliage. Right in the middle of the passage there is a gap in the structures, which let in a piercing beam of light. I almost didn't paint this one, but it was such an unusual challenge I had to try it.
Graffiti Alley, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024
There is a nice field of grass next to the bicycle store, which is tucked away on the left behind the tree leaves. In the background there are a number of buildings including the grocery store parking garage, the top of Home Depot, and some of the downtown sky scrapers. To paint the field I applied a wet-in-wet layer of dark yellow, orange, and olive (PY110 + PBk31), then over painted the grass elements with gusto. I like how the leaves and grass are delicate and lively, you can really get the sense of a breezy day.
Grassy Field near bike shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024
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