Finding views of st Lawrence river

Painting in downtown Montreal made me want to see the river up close and paint the water flowing by. It was surprisingly hard to find a view of the river, I crossed bridge Concorde but it was surrounded by tall construction fences, then the south shore of st Helen's island was overgrown with thick foliage. Finally I found a small gap and could paint this scene. Part of st Lawrence river, this narrow portion is called Chenel le Moyne located between st Helen's and Notre Dame islands. When the sun is shining the water becomes turquoise, but today it was mostly overcast.  

Chenel le Moyne from st Helen's, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2025

Looping around a bridge and onto Notre Dame island, which has the racetrack that is used by cyclists in th summer, I got a view of the top of Jacques Cartier bridge over the tops of trees of st Helen's island. That is the same channel, le Moyne, as the last painting but seen from the other angle. The paper was a 300lbs rough press which made for fantastic textures on the flowing water. 

Chenel le Moyne from Notre Dame, watercolour 6 x 7.5" rough press, August 2025

I caught another view of the river on Pont des Îles (island bridge) that connects st Helen and Notre Dame islands, you can see the pedestrian and car bridge in the middle, the south end of Cartier bridge in the background, and part of the Expo 67 dome in the top left. I liked the way the water had a deep blue-green that I made with a mix of burnt sienna (PR101) and indo blue (PB60). When mixing those two paints, they can go from dark brown to charcoal grey, to dark turquoise depending on the proportion used. As a watercolour painter the combination of burnt sienna and dark blue is one of the key mixing axis. I use indo blue but it works well with French ultramarine. Right next to the shore line on the left, you see the dark brown, that is mostly burnt sienna with a touch of blue, while the water is mostly blue with a touch of burnt sienna. I have had a similar combination on my palette since around 1990. 

Chenel le Moyne from island bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" hot press, August 2025