Dagwood's early Autumn

From time to time I do a painting of the local Dagwood's submarine sandwich shop on Sherbrooke, mostly due to its proximity between work and home, but also due to its interesting shapes and colours. It probably looks different every time I paint it, although this one seems to be pretty accurate. Its deadline time at work once again, but this year I am ahead of the game and should get everything submitted on time and to a high standard. Last year it got a little overwhelming, you can see I painted late on September 30th 2024, and lamented the idea of deadlines being a thing. Should be called a lifeline! Anyways, with the pressure easing once again and nice weather I should be able to do more painting outdoors. 

Dagwood's early Autumn, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Late afternoon scenes around Old Montreal

In the background you see Habitat 67, once part of Expo 67, the apartments are now privately owned and still lived in to this day. In the foreground is part of the st Lawrence river where it connects up with the port and the Peel basin. Leisure craft were hanging out, the people catching rays and playing music, while diners ate at the fancy floating restaurant that has a spa on top. 

Habitat 67 boats spa, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Finding some shade, I was fascinated by these birds soaring around in circles with the up drafts and down drafts. Mostly seagulls, there were also a few pigeons zooming about, seemingly just for fun, and why not? There is actually a bridge here, and they were flying under it, around, then over the buildings, and back over the water in circles. With the sun low, it created a silver lining effect on the birds feathers in motion. It seemed impossible to paint this on location, no photos... so I spent some time trying to memorize the shapes of the gulls and pigeons as they flew, and how the sun affected their feathers. After making a pale outline with a number 2 paint brush, I filled in the entirety of the space around the birds, which was a tricky painting in its own right, then quickly filled in the birds' shadows and textures being careful to leave the highlight showing (no white paint is used). As I finished, a security guard walked up and said nice painting, but you have to leave its not permitted to stand here! So that's why the painting is not initialed. At least I got to finish the painting. 

Silver lining birds, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

On the way back I stopped near of Berri/UQAM station looking north, and saw a large fleet of cop cars with blue and red lights blinking everywhere. A distant sound of drums and chanting could be heard, and on the horizon a group of protesters was approaching. After the painting, I rode north along the bike path and went by the group, they were Palestinian supporters protesting the war in the middle east. Everything seemed to go down peacefully here, and some of the cop cars dissipated. 

Cops Berri station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Bright lights, big city

Pretty sure there is a movie called Bright lights, big city, with Michael J Fox, but the name of the blog seemed fitting for these two paintings. The first one shows an anxiety-inducing montage of traffic lights on Maisonneuve downtown, which was only a little bit exaggerated from reality! The bottom of the painting shows the road jammed with cars and the sidewalks and bike paths overflowing with people. Looking up above the mess and the sun is just about to dip down below a skyscraper. 

Lights big city, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

I sat down on a bench to make a cup of tepid instant coffee, and admired the bizarre reflection in the glass building across the street. It was reflecting the image of another glass building that was reflecting the sun. So I am looking east here, but somehow depicting the sun which is setting over on the west. I have no idea how it happened, the reflection must have ping-ponged around like that. Reflections are a little wobbly because the glass is not perfect, especially in the older buildings. 

Sun reflection reflection, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Views over and under the Rosemont bridge

The Rosemont bridge that merges with Van Horne connects Mile End neighborhood with Le Plateau. In the background, you see a massive glass condo complex they built up over the Rosemont metro station, there must be hundreds of units. In the foreground, you see the end of the overpass bridge, with a gravel walking path that I was standing on next to my bike as usual. Another artist was around, they had a professional camera setup and were taking long-exposure pictures of the graffiti under the bridge, probably with the same idea I had. Since this bridge is going to be demolished and replaced, it might be the last chances to paint it. But the painting I did tells more of a story. Under the bridge someone had installed a plywood box complete with a door and padlock for security. It was surrounded by pots and pails full of items. Then off to the left on the other side of the path, there was a small structure made from wooden shipping palettes, and inside of it there was a wooden chair with a toilette seat on it and a hole. It was a do-it-yourself outhouse. 

Over and under, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

In this scene, you can see all the graffiti under the bridge, even the pylon had graffiti on it. All by the same person, PJD25! The pylon had a flyer attached with an image of the nearby factory and water-tower structure that is derelict. The city is deciding what to do with it, and this flyer was advertising a community feedback event where people can talk to city officials about the project. 

 Graffiti under bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Here is a quick painting of the sun over the bridge. Unfortunately a large truck was dropping off dumpsters nearby and it was making an incredible racket so I had to hurry this one and move on. 

Sun over bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Blue sky Autumn in Le Plateau

On the way back from Anatol Spices, this scene caught my eye of a yellow tree and a green planter with lavender still growing. At this time, the sky was all blue and the sun was shining as strong as it does in Autumn. With the trees changing colour, its a good chance to practice making natural-looking yellow and oranges. 

Yellow tree green planter, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

On st Dominique and Beaubien there is the well-kept Dépanneur Chea Enr. Unlike most, this dépanneur is very clean, in good repair, and with fresh paint all around. I liked how the Molson Export sign played on the blue background, and the green/red contrast of the colour scheme of the shop. The sign was painted with enough detail such that anyone who knows the beer would know what the label says. Its a popular brand in Montreal. 

Molson Export sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Sundown on the Cityscape

Next to Atwater station a number of tall glass skyscraper condos were recently built. Although the sunset was completely blocked, I saw the orange light of the descending sun illuminating the top of a building reflected in the corner windows of the skyscraper. Speaking of illumination, I got a spam email today at work inviting me to join the Illuminati, a secret society... just click the link below! Of course I deleted and blocked the sender, as if a secret society is going to send mass emails. Or maybe they do? 

Sundown reflections, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

As the shadows creeped up the side of this condo building, an intense sliver of orange-on-blue was created. Getting the value of the blue sky correct is key here, it has to be a shade or two darker than the orange highlight. In the foreground is the top of an old turn-of-the-century triplex building, they even had a small planter garden on top. 

Descending sun towers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Looking west along st Catherine downtown, I got a good view of the dusty rose sky, intermixed with lilac tones and a neutral blue-violet. The painting looks as if I am standing in the oncoming traffic but in fact, I am safely tucked behind giant concrete pots with plants in them. The street is to be permanently cut off at this point, where the Quartier Spectacle begins. So those cars were just sitting there, waiting to turn. 

Dusk and lights downtown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Apparently Place Ville Marie was once the tallest structure in Canada, and it still dominates the skyline especially at night. The beam of light on top is constantly rotating. I painted the same building at a distance, from the Lachine canal near Verdun a few months ago at night, that blog got almost 50 views which is a lot for my blog! This one was a lot more technical, I established a detailed outline in paint and then went about filling in the blocks of colour, making sure to leave a fuzzy beam of white space for the light. In the foreground is the upper trim of an old jewelry store, I am standing just in front of the now closed Bay looking south west.  

Place Ville Marie night lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Old Montreal night lights

It was not really night time, although the sun was down. It gets dark here earlier and earlier with each day that passes. I set up on st Laurent down in China town looking east and made a painting of the night lights overhead and on the multitude of signs and windows. It was a challenging painting to get right, the key element was the blue fade of the twilight-sky behind the tree and red flags being illuminated from overhead lamps. It came out remarkably well although the pedestrians are faded, almost apparition like, but it almost gives a sense of movement.  

China town lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

It was getting pretty dark by now and clouds were rolling in. The sky was done with just two paints, indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange (PO73). The clouds are a roughly equal mix and diluted with water, the dark sky is mostly PB60 with a good daub of PO73. It was also a difficult painting to work up, starting with a paint outline, then filling in element by element, followed by detailing. People kept talking to me, including in French so I had that to contend with that too. Luckily I can hold a basic conversation in French. 

Bonsecours market lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Some scenes appear to be impossible to paint and this was one of them. I reasoned that the large cruise boat would fit on the paper by holding up the paper to the scene. After outlining in paint, I worked the sky around all the light elements, then began blocking in the other areas, leaving plenty of space for highlights. I did the water in two steps, one was fast vertical brush strokes with texture to get the light beam reflections, and two were the many waves, also done with maximum texture to create a glitter effect. I am back to using brand new Arches paper (no more backs of cut up paintings!), which is a relief. I can get better effects on new paper, and the washes hold well. A yellow signature completes the painting. 

Cruise boat lights, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Sundown on the demo mall

Maybe you thought since the old mall on Côte Saint-Luc was demolished that I would stop making paintings of it, but think again! For some reason I found myself on the corner, looking towards the setting sun with the pile of rubble in the foreground. From this angle I could see the tiles that used to be in the foyer, and large chunks of glass from the windows that I painted when they were intact. The sun was catching the tops of trees and some of the condos across the street. 

Sundown on the demo mall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Twisty Groove Embrace

 

Earlier this year, in May, I discovered a small empty plot that was overgrown with large trees and tall grass. I nicknamed the location Twisty Groove. In the middle of the lot is a fallen, sun-bleached tree with some sort of flexible ventilation piping wrapped around it by some intrepid artist. It is a fascinating motif, and these empty lots have a way of getting developed so I decided to make a few paintings in the area. In July I went back and painted butterflies, although the grass was so tall I could barely see the twisted pipe around the tree. Today I managed to find my way here from the rue Pullman bridge, then east along Notre Dame just past the Turcot interchange. It looks like someone had weed-whacked, so I could get a good view of the fallen tree and twisted ventilation pipe. It was as if the tree and the pipe were embracing, in the sense of a python snake resting in the sun on a tree branch. In the background is the Glen hospital looming on the horizon. 

Twisty Groove Embrace, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Gravel field flowers and Kruger factory

Across the rue Pullman bridge by bicycle brought me to another long gravel field, packed down like concrete. It used to be part of an enormous Glen train yard for a long time, so the earth is packed and probably contaminated with oil and heavy metals. But the grass and wild flowers didn't mind too much. As I painted before, there are plenty of yellow flowers in these areas, but today I saw an area covered in what appeared to be cosmos flowers. They were small and close to the ground, but the colours were unmistakable, white, pale pink and deep magenta. I painted them a lot larger to make the design pop, and because I had to paint the grey gravel around all the flowers without messing it up. In the background is the usual dystopian view of the Turcot interchange where highway 15 crosses over the train tracks, route 136, and Notre dame avenue.  

Cosmos in gravel field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

I composed this scene in roughly two equal sections, the Kruger paper and cardboard recycling factory at the top, and the gravel field on the bottom. Running across the middle is Notre Dame avenue and a few cars zipping by. The tall wall of the factory had an opening which gave a view to the endless stacks of paper and cardboard. There was something oddly pleasing about the aroma of wet cardboard in the air. If I am not mistaken, these large gravel fields, between route 139 and Notre Dame, might be part of the re-naturalization project. Although I do enjoy these areas as they are, and I can see nature slowly re-naturalizing itself without any help. 

Kruger factory gravel field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Falaise Escarpment forest

In the background you see the spire of the st Jacques bridge up near the Glen hospital, with highway 15 running north south. To the left is the Falaise escarpment area, which used to be the banks of Otter Lake before they drained it for the Lachine canal. Locals have gone through and pulled all the old tires and junk out of the forest, and now the city has announced a re-naturalization plan for the area. I hope they can get rid of all the creeper vines that are pulling trees down and maybe make a walking path so people can enjoy some nature. Each tree had a different shade of green ranging from olive to bright green, interspersed with orange. 

Falaise Escarpment Hwy 15, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

In this sombre scene, you are looking west along Notre Dame avenue. The gantry crane that sits beside the Lachine canal can be seen on the horizon. As Autumn approaches, these decorative shrubs turn coppery-yellow and dark red. The red shrub is done with mixes of perylene maroon (PR179), quin magenta (PV55), black (PBk6), and dabs of red (PR254) on top. If you want dark red its best to add black, because adding green will give it a brown tint. 

Yellow and red shrubs, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

I just thought it was funny that this anxiety-inducing highway sign was saying to make a U turn. Its always fun to paint the train tracks too, although I was rather hoping the train would be parked here today. I am standing on the Falaise walking path that goes from Hwy 138 all the way to the Rue Pullman bridge. The Rue Pullman bridge can be crossed on a wide bike path to access the Kruger recycling and packaging factory and the twisty groove area that I have painted before. 

You turn? watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Quartier des Spectacles signs and games

Down in the Quartier des Spectacles there was a massive construction project at the contemporary art gallery, which has been gutted to the steel beams, but I had enough of construction for one day. This sign was a great economy of design, it had no less then five symbols plus a message, pedestrian zone. Some wise-ass had pasted an ET (the extraterrestrial) sticker over top of the pedestrian head, which made me laugh. This is the ET Zone! The other symbols mean no parking, no cars, no skateboarding or roller skates, and please walk your bike, that means you too Elliott. 

ET Zone, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Along st Catherines which is closed off to traffic, there were giant chess boards (made of some durable cloth), and giant chess pieces. People were walking on the board and moving the pieces, with great concentration on their faces. Many spectators sat around watching, perhaps waiting for their turn to play. I barely know how to play chess, too bad they couldn't have XXO boards I could win that half the time. 

Giant chess, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

 

I did this painting when I arrived at Place des Arts simply because I was cold, and this location was in fill sun. The temperature got down to 10 ℃ this morning and it was just a little higher than that as I rode my bike through town. 

Colourful buildings tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Construction reflections

One of the challenges I set for myself this year was to master reflections and transparencies. The painting of three busses did a good job of it, and I used some of those lessons to capture the reflections in the side windows of this large construction vehicle sitting on Dorchester blvd in Westmount. The whole section of road was closed off to traffic, and as usual, there were no construction people working. I started with an outline of the vehicle, then painted the sun-highlight and tint on the window area. Then I completed most of the vehicle and background before doing the overlays on the window. There was a shrubbery in the background going across and the interior of the cab showing as transparencies, and the row of 19th century housing that was behind me was reflecting. The message here is to juxtapose the demolition vehicles with the image of the housing which is probably doomed to re-development. The Westmount re-development was controversial project, and I guess we will see how it turns out in the end, and make some more paintings of the neighborhood. 

Construction reflections, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Construction Site #5: Greene and Dorchester

Greene avenue which is over on the east side of Westmount is undergoing a renovation, the entire portion is shut off south of Maisonneuve avenue all the way to Dorchester boulevard. This area around Dorchester has been approved for re-development, so say goodbye to parking lots and historically important housing, and say hello to more brick and glass condos. But we need more housing something something. Its made for some good art subjects this year, and this one is another installment of my 44 construction sites of Montreal series. 

Stop construction, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

A large, aged parking lot surrounded by established landscaping is the main feature of this neighborhood. I don't know if parking lots can be deemed heritage property, but this one sure has a lot of character. Trees like this line the entirety of Dorchester blvd. 

Tree shrub sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

The trees are so old here, their bark is heavily textured and patterned with moss and scars. These parking signs were painted a cadaverous grey, but peeling paint revealed a burnt sienna undercoat, and rusty iron under that. I wanted to capture all the textures, which overcome the grey, brown and green surroundings. 

Parking lot textures, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Downtown rush hour

Veering off the canal bike path at the peel basin brought me up Robert Bourassa street at the corner of Wellington. The sun was getting low, and everyone seemed to be fleeing Montreal by train, car and bus. Funny thing is the STM (public transit Montreal) is set to go on strike next week. Together with all the road construction, its never been better to ride a bike! The entire painting by the way, revolves around the impressive tree. I painted it first, then composed the other elements around it, so as to integrate the natural element with the artificial elements. The background buildings were done with abstract colours and patterns loosely based on reality. I usually take artistic liberties with the skyscrapers. 

Sun train cars bus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

A bit to the west on Wellington, there was a scene of the light rail train going south out of the city, and the cars and a bus going under the bridge. In the background are some of the sky-high condo apartments in Griffintown. I was fighting it a little today, after not painting a lot this week, just a few abstracts and the demolished mall. This weekend should be a good one though. 

Train bridge cars bus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Trees and industry around Lachine canal

Getting out after work for a ride down the Lachine canal bike path, I found a good angle on these interesting trees that have two different qualities of bark. On the bottom the bark is beige and has a vertical texture, on the top trunk and branches the bark is grey and has horizontal and spotted textures. To paint the sun effect I applied concentric circles of yellow, orange, blue and cyan, then let it dry enough to paint over top with the trees and leaves. 

Hybrid trees back lit, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Across the canal there were huge piles of what looked to be recycled asphalt and concrete, and a large storage shed perhaps for road salt, or heavy equipment. I left out the abundant telephone poles and wires just to keep the sky area clean, and because the paint was not drying very fast today. 

Huge piles and shed, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

A little further to the east and there is a very tall factory with an even taller chimney. Who knows what its for, it looked like a space shuttle launching pad. The canal here is overgrown with mounds of earth and grass. At various stages, they have removed the canal wall and allowed the shore to grow naturally, usually with reeds. I am standing on such a spot making this painting, although you can't see it in the picture. 

Tall factory, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

 

Not every painting works out and this is what I consider to be a bomb! The shape of the shed got wobbly and nothing would dry properly. Its entirely possible that the cool, darker conditions are creeping up on us. In the winter, I have to change up my style significantly, but hey, a few days left in summer officially!

Wobbly shed, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Curio Folio: Pizza-Tomato

I was at an experimental foods trade show recently and dropped by the genetically-modified tomato booth to see what was new. As you may have heard, awhile ago they developed a genetically-modified tomato that is shaped in a cube, to make for easier stacking at the grocery store, and they added a frost-resist gene so that tomatoes can grow all winter. It creeps some people out, understandably so, the anti-freeze gene actually came from a fish. But that is yesterday's news. At the trade show, they had a new type of genetically-modified tomato called a pizza-tomato. Since photography was not allowed, to protect trade secrets of course, I had to settle for making this watercolour painting later on from memory. The painting doesn't quite do justice to the real thing... it was flat and triangular like a slice of pizza, with a protruding crust-like shape near the stem. Since they had samples I got to eat one, in fact, they introduced genes from pepperoni, cheese, green peppers and mushrooms such that the tomato actually tasted like pizza. There was another variety...meat lovers, which included genes from sausage, beef, and chorizo ham. It may take awhile to hit the market, so you saw it here first in my curio folio. 

Curio Folio: Pizza-Tomato, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2025

Summer end palette cleansers

With the end of the summer in sight, I did some palette cleansing and thought about the upcoming autumn season. Usually I am in the throws of teaching and semester meetings, but being on sabbatical means I can concentrate on research all the time at work. The autumn season last year was a bit of a blur by comparison, somehow I managed to juggle everything, and make some decent autumn paintings along the way. It was a very long season, with weeks on end of blue skies. The leaves went from green to olive to brown, without producing sharp orange and red like we've seen in the past. For that we need a cold snap towards the end of September, then no rain or wind for awhile. 

Nutritional Paints, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2025

Balance is key to any painting composition, visual balance that is. Making a design perfectly symmetrical is not very effective for most paintings, so one has to find other ways to create visual balance. In this small abstract I created left-leaning swirls with right-leaning cubes and waves. The eye, I mean your eye, will move around most of this design freely without getting hung up on one spot or another. Van Gogh was a master of this idea... in his Starry Night painting the eye roams around each star, the tree, the city, the mountains, and back to the stars. 

Composition Council, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2025

Demo mall finally demoed

At the beginning of the year I discovered an old strip mall on Côte st-Luc that was slated for demolition and made a painting of the shop on the end, a closed hairdresser shop. In this painting, you can see that the mall has finally been demolished, perhaps late last week. As the sun was going down, one pile of rubble was illuminated by the setting sun, that is approximately where the hairdresser's was located. I recognized some of the teal-coloured bricks from the dépanneur, and from the pink store that was a nail and beauty salon. There was also a laundry mat that only just closed about a month ago, the last store to remain open. I painted quite a few scenes here, the last one on a stormy day just a few days before it was demolished. As the busses and cars drive on by, I wonder what they thought of the rubble, or of the guy standing next to his bike painting a picture of it? It was worth the effort, doing paintings on this location, and some of my favorite paintings of the year were done of the demo-mall in winter. Like I often tell myself, the time to paint something is when you see it. 

Demoed, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Motel Normandie scenery, final thoughts on trip

Cilei and I stayed at a Motel outside of Louiseville for the weekend trip which you can see in the painting. The owner had seen me painting around, and came over to talk a bit, turns out he and his wife bought the Motel in the 1990's from the original owners who built it in the 1970's. It was a decent enough place for the price, and the highway was not too noisy at night, although the train was thunderous. I scanned and updated the previous blogs from our trip, with additional comments and corrections. 

Moteal Normandie sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

The view out the back was very relaxing, there were views of soybean fields and corn fields, with some neat blue pine trees reminiscent of Van Gogh's Cyprus trees from southern France. Turns out you can skip the trip to southern France and go to Louiseville Quebec instead. Louise is the name of a royal dignitary who was part of the British colonial times, one of the main roads is King road. So the architecture had a mix of Anglo and Franco themes, and the locals we talked to at the businesses were bilingual. The bakery Le Pain Griffé was incredible, great baguette and even better smoked salmon sandwich. Unfortunately they closed Sunday which precluded our plans to buy the local confectionery they had for sale. In the foreground of the painting you see a composter... that was a nice touch we could compost our banana peels, apple cores and coffee grinds. 

Fields and tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Here is the same scene on a horizontal format. Van Gogh had landscapes with dramatic undulations and mountains in the background, while here it was laser-beam flat until you got up to the hiking trails in st Ursule. Another neat spot was the adjacent town, Yamachiche, which had a UNESCO certified wetlands on the embankments of lake st Pierre. Long boardwalks took us all the way to the waterfront where we saw an endless expanse of reeds. Signs along the way showed all the different kinds of birds that were supposes to live there but we did not see any. All in all, this trip was a life-changing, immersive journey into the cultural melting-pot of lower Quebec, and we savoured the mouth-watering street food including a notable smoked-salmon sandwich and locally made jams. I might be exaggerating a little, but it was indeed a good weekend getaway a stones-throw, and a few highways, to the north of Montreal. 

Fields and trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025 

Trois-Rivières Laviolette Bridge

From the vantage point of Parc Hector-Langevin in Trois-Rivières there was a good view of the Laviolette Bridge that crosses the st Lawrence river. The park we were standing in had some wonderful installments made in collaboration with the local indigenous peoples. There was a neat sculpture with a feather on top, fire in the middle, and roots on the bottom, symbolizing the interactions between the colonials and the indigenous. Other works of art included carved marble, stained glass imagery and flower gardens. Most of Trois-Rivières downtown had public areas that were thoughtful land well done, although the poverty was also evident. The city struggled from the get go as a port-town, and then had various ups and downs as the port business dissipated. There was a pylon in the scene too which made me feel at home. 

Laviolette Bridge,watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Motel Normandie Garden

Motel Normandie has land around it with composting, a picnic table, seats behind the rooms outside, and a large vegetable garden with grape vines. I stood in the shade of the grape vines and got an up-close view. The owner and operator lives on the premise so he's always here for customers, and him and his wife live off the land to an extent. It took awhile to do this, reminiscent of the grapes of Tuscany painting I did 25 years ago but that one was bigger and took a month. I started this painting by doing the outlines of the grapes and vegetables with their local colours. Then I filled in the complicated background with earthy green tones, followed by yellow overlays with bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184). You can see my initials on the blue water collector, that is the bismuth yellow over top of blue. Then I filled in the grapes and vegetables with sun highlights and shadows, with additional details on the vines, pine trees, and earth. 

Grapes and vegetable garden, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Chute de St. Ursule, sunflowers

The park Chute de st Ursule has a nice hiking path with views of a river. Here, we stood on a narrow bridge and you see the tips of my shoes, looking down. The water chute was blasting down and spraying upwards. It has carved a deep gorge in the black and brown rocks. There was a guard railing with mesh that I omitted from the painting to create drama. 

 

Down the chute, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

At the end of the park the river makes a sharp turn creating a rocky peninsula. There was a picnic bench in the shade, surrounded by river and great views. It was the best picnic locale in the world I think. We ate artisinal sandwiches we bought earlier in the morning in Louisville. The river is called the Maskinongé, which is an indigenous word that translates into running water, or water-source, something like that. The information center at the park mentioned the colonial history of the region but not the indigenous history. I found little information on the internet either. 

Boulder sparkling river watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

Driving east then south along picturesque highways surrounded by rolling farmland we arrived at Passion Lavandre a ritzy tourist trap for fancy cyclists and city folk on weekend road trips. We picked up some fragrant items and drank espresso and cappuccino sitting next to lavender fields. The coffee tastes better with the aroma of lavender in the breeze. Like a spring fawn dancing across a sun-kissed meadow as Dad would say. I made a painting of the end of season sunflowers, they were all drooping and pointing south. 

Drooping sunflowers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025