l'Ancienne-cour-de-triage Park

The other day I tried to paint during a massive rain storm, the second scene was this view of a turquoise bench in an adjacent park. After work I picked up my bike from the shop and rode off, with a new chain, rear cassette and pedals, and rode over to the same spot where I waited out the storm previously. The tea-coloured sky seemed to tint everything with a yellowish glow. After some research, this is called l'Ancienne-cour-de-triage Park. It was once a train yard, heavily contaminated, now its the Fresh water public works and this leisure park. Go figure. Before it was a train yard, there was a river called st Pierre river here. It would have run just about where you see the sidewalk in this painting. When it was pouring rain, I remarked that this sidewalk looked like a river with the amount of water coming down... how right I was! Of course, the actual river was buried a long time ago. 

Turquoise bench haze, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

 

According to an old faded  heritage sign here, this low stone wall and path would have been where the st Pierre river once flowed. I was trying to find local rivers on the island of Montreal and there seems to be almost none, now we know why. In the background, you see the Lachine canal. 

Old river line, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

Maybe it was the yellow haze but the grass seemed unusually chartreuse. I used copious amounts of bizmuth vanadate yellow (PY184) and touches of phthalo green yellow shade (PG36). There were a lot of people around, lounging, biking, and jogging, although I left them out of the painting this time. 

Bright chartreuse grass, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025