Sun going down Lachine canal

Cars were zipping over the bridge, and perpendicular along st Patrick on the other side of the Lachine canal. I've painted this scene many times with the billboard, partly because this is about as far as I can get in the winter when the bike path freezes over. The sun was almost down at this point, which created a light orange glow on the horizon. 

Bridge billboard canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025

These sumac trees were changing all sorts of colours, but I ran out of bismuth vanadate yellow on the palette and could not quite complete the effect as planned. Its a good location though, and easy enough to get to from the canal bike path. I was having all kinds of trouble with the paintings today for some reason, it seems the seasonal changes always brings about challenges, so I'll go ahead and blame it on the weather! 

Red lights red sumac, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025 

Dépanneur dog and factory scenes

A stray dog trotted by as I painted a picture of the Dépanneur st Henri, as if it had just exited the store. The store was a true corner store, on the corner of a dense triplex that extended down the block in both directions. Apparently its graffiti town, and the store front had been marred by scribbles and scrawls.  

Dépanneur dog, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025

A factory was long ago turned into condos, and on the other side which runs along Courcelles, there is an artisanal donut store and fancy restaurant. The factory was much longer than the painting shows, I had some trouble scaling it properly onto the small format. 

Factory and bins, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025

It was tough to get a good angle so I tried standing near the sidewalk but messed up the perspective. I do like the shade of orange in the shadow areas. Its a massive factory complex, worth a painting or two. After a bit of internet sleuthing, this is the old Tooke Brothers clothing factory built in 1899, and enlarged around the 1960's, now its called the El Pro lofts building. I saw some examples of their clothes on the internet, people are still selling them as vintage products, a tie was going for $65! 

Factory angles, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025

Fire station sunset

A chilly wind brought in the month of October. I found myself up on Côte Saint-Luc picking up some Persian-style kebabs at Mazzeh, and made a quick painting of the fire station on the north side of the street. The sky was painted first so that it could dry, then I worked on the driveway and structure of the station. As the sky dried I overlaid the silhouette of the trees using a mix of carbon black (PBk6) with dabs of green (PG36) and yellow (PY184). Then I could put the fire truck in, and over-paint with the garage door window frames. Lastly, some colour highlights in the flood lights, yellow posts, and fire hydrant between the two doors. 

Fire station sunset, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2025