Sunset on canal, ready or not

As an artist, you are either ready or not to paint a scene like this. The effect barely lasts 10 minutes, and a photograph would never capture the subtle hues and warm grey tones in the shadowed elements. To start, all the painting gear is set up in the saddle pack of my bike, which I can set up with the kickstand anywhere in a matter of a minute and be painting. Today the paint was goopy from the humidity making it even more of a challenge, so I adapted my technique and let the colours flow as they wished. 

Pink house sunset with clouds, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Another iconic scene on the Lachine canal, this old rusty water tower that defines the old industrial skyline. If you were to cross the canal and find your way underneath this tower, you would be in a hipster micro-brew restaurant where the cyclists go for a beer. Luckily I got the sky down quickly and with as little moisture as possible to facilitate the over-painting of the water tower and building elements. At this time of day, green becomes near black, so I added shadow green (PBk31) and carbon black (PBk6 ). The letters and numbers in parenthesis are the colour pigment codes.  

Sundown water tower, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Across the canal, there is a festival set-up with tents, booths, and an old jet stream camper trailer reflecting the sky. In the back left of the painting, there is a tower structure from Verdun water works, although in real life it was much further to the east, I brought the element in using my artistic license. The humid and muggy weather looks to be sticking around for awhile, it will make for some challenging location conditions, but still a lot easier and more pleasant than painting outside in the winter! 

Canal festival setup, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

 

Last minutes of light, NDG sunset

As the sun sets, buildings catch an orange light on top as the shadows stretch across the street and ascend into darkness. In this scene, the rear of the cultural center, the sun has set to the north west, creating a colourful silhouette of the building which is clad in blue, red, pink and green. On my left, I didn't show it, there is a community garden and a few people tending to their plants. 

Sunset over cultural center, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Earlier I was up at the demo mall and made this painting of the view across the street. When orange sunlight hits the bricks, they take on a variety of warm earth tones. Even the shadows appear to glow. I did some nice ones like this last year including sunset on Walkley, and sundown in NDG. When the sun is going down there is not much time left to paint, so I tend to stay in NDG or close by. 

Sun setting on apartments, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Initially, I rode out to the old strip mall that is slated for demolition to see if it was still there, and made a painting of the barber shop on the east side of the building. Its on an odd angle because the roof slopes up on an angle. I may stop by again this year from time to time since I started a series on this structure. My favorite one was the same view, but looking from across the street in winter of this year January.  

Demo mall sun down, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Blue magenta and yellow bins, Dr. Dumpster strikes again

The thing about painting dumpsters is that they are usually in parking lots or driveways with good sight lines, and being big blocks of colour they are relatively easy. Rectangles also make for decent composition. In this case, there were blue, magenta and yellow bins in a row out in the back parking lot of the new Royalmount mall. I saw them from afar and was drawn in like a moth to a candle. It was ironic that the mall buildings in the background also looked like dumpsters, although that was probably not the intention. A hot sun was beaming down from behind, luckily I brought along a bucket hat I could wear to protect my neck and ears. Its been nice to roast in the sun for the last few days, soon enough I will be complaining about the heat!  The blue was done with royal blue (PB60) and phthalo sapphire (PB15), the magenta was quin megenta (PR122) with quin purple (PV55) shadows, and the yellow was benzi yello (PY154) with dark yellow shadows. To make dark yellow, I add either a greenish grey or orangish grey depending on tint. Iron oxides (PR101) and umbers (Pbr7) create the rust effects.

Blue magenta and yellow bins, watercolour 8 x 11" cold press, June 2025

Under the autoroute, no return!

It started out well enough, I decide to ride north on the back-roads... this involves going to Decarie mall, under the train tracks, through the Walmart shopping area and behind the old Hippodrome which is now a grassy field. Continuing north brings the industrial park and auto-route 40. Going under the auto-route enters into Bois de Brise neighborhood, and a large personal storage warehouse painted green, orange and white. This massive peony bush was growing next to an orange door... I tried to get the peonies as small as possible, there were actually thousands of blooms. 

Peonies and orange door, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Next I took on a scene of these pedestrian signs strewn about, their arrows were pointing in all different directions. In the midst of painting it, the CN train went by and I took the opportunity to paint the front of the engine under the auto-route. In retrospect, I should have taken the opportunity to cross back to Montreal before this train arrived because it actually stopped, and the 'clang clang clang' just kept going and going. Luckily I had earplugs. A service pickup truck went by and I knew there was trouble. 

Signs and CN engine, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Turns out the train was stopped for like 30 minutes, then when it started moving it took another 10 minutes to go by, it was several kilometers long. I took the opportunity to paint the stopped train, it was a complex scene but I had time. On the top of the painting is the bottom side of the auto-route, then in the middle is the back of a maroon train car, and the front of a metal-framed train car. Then the train X and lights which were flashing the whole time, and some barriers in the foreground. Adding to the effect, the train car had graffiti on it. In the end it looks almost like an abstract painting! 

No go, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

The education of intelligence

Funny thing about 'artificial intelligence' otherwise known as machine learning, is that a human has to teach it how to function. True story, not a Curio Folio this time, artificial intelligence started with early computers in the 1960's, the military was trying to use them to predict missile trajectories for interceptions. They used something called a ROC, a type of math equation that could be adjusted with a formula. They taught the computer to keep trying formulas until it learned the best one for the interception. Then they could add air speed, wind, and other variables and keep training the computer. This allowed missile interceptions to be much faster especially when computers sped up in subsequent generations. Modern 'AI' is all based on the same concept, albeit much more ambitious and involving trillions of data points. 

The education of intelligence, watercolour 7 x 11" cold press, June 2025

Bridge and other scenes

I was somewhere east of the Cartier bridge along Notre Dame street when I came across a small field full of wild daisies, with an unobstructed view of the river and bridge. Up to this point, large orange container-train cars, fences, and some kind of festival installment blocked the view. The traffic behind me was kind of noisy, but you wouldn't know it from this fantastic scene. Its like Monet showed up and painted the Cartier bridge! 
 

Wild daisies Cartier bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

In this unique composition, the Cartier bridge is seen directly overhead, with the boxy green steel supports underneath. Its a north view, so that's where the bridge slopes down into Montreal. The bridge is an inverted triangle stretching from top almost to bottom, while the steel supports are squares. Since the sun was over my left shoulder, the shadow of the bridge fell to the right.  

Bridge composition, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

In a nearby parking lot, someone was storing their winter tires? Three were in white bags, one was open, at least I hope those bags had tires in them I didn't check them out. This is one of those scenes that only Darlington would paint... I have to keep up my brand of being 'Monet of the parking lot' after all. 

Tires in parking lot, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Downtown Montreal, bring on the heat

I thought this iconic milk bottle advertisement was gone, but there it was above one of the old brick buildings on Lucien L'Allier street. hidden behind all the new sky scraper condos they put in the old parking lot near the Bell Center. I did a winter scene of this milk bottle sometime around 1998, it was not surrounded by buildings back then.The weather today was far from being winter though, it was a hot sun, blue sky, with just a cool breeze. Bring on the heat I say.

Guaranteed fresh, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

When I was painting the milk bottle scene, people kept stopping, talking, taking pictures, lingering around... but it wasn't on account of me... there was some fancy sports car parked behind me. I often see people stop and take pictures in front of Ferrari cars and the like, as if pretending to own the car, which seems lame but whatever. This car had GTR on the front grill, which I just looked up and its a Nissan, so like, a budget Ferrari. The funny thing was as I painted, I noticed a parking ticket in the windshield which I included in the painting, they were parked near a fire hydrant. 

Parking ticket GTR, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

A bit further on, I painted a scene of the Montreal Canadiens sign high atop the Centre Bell. Next time I need to paint the red shape a lot thinner and leave more room for the blue line. Of course, there are only concerts there now, the Canadiens were eliminated in the first round against Washington.  To make the red brick, I mixed burnt sienna (PR101) with pyrrol red (PR154), its a scintillating mixture. 

Centre Bell rear, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Gravel field, yellow flowers, traffic

In between highways down in the Turcot interchange, just off the bike path, there is a very long and wide gravel field, its covered in heavy pea-stone gravel. Over the years, plants have started to grow up through the stones, such as several varieties of yellow flowers, some leafy red-and-green plants, tufts of grass, and many of those hybrid poplar trees that grow along the canal. Given enough time this would become a forest, although, eventually the city will come by and mow it all down one would assume.  

Gravel field yellow flowers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

In this composition, the gravel field was simplified into its colour and textural elements, with more detail on the highway ramps, cars and trucks heading home in rush hour. Standing here, I was completely surrounded by the large, flat field, with just the hum of traffic in the background. It was a big difference from st Pierre where people kept talking to me!

Traffic and gravel field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Using a triangular composition, I painted the gravel field with yellow shrubs in the bottom portion, then cut the highway across the middle on an angle. Montreal's skyline, a row of trees, and a prominent highway sign anchor the rest of the composition. The traffic was painted so as to evoke a sense of chaos and clutter, even though it looked a lot more organized in real life. My initials are on the sign were it otherwise said Angrignon straight ahead, or st Jacques turn off to the right. When we drive back from Ontario, this is where we turn right to go back up to NDG. 

Sign traffic shrubs, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Blue house, ghost bike, La Belle Province

Interesting culture can exist anywhere including near the highway overpass here in ville st Pierre, technically part of upper Lachine. I painted this blue house a few times in the pandemic, and with icicles in winter 2021. This time I wanted to depict the environment which includes elevated highway overpasses in the background. Two people from the hair-and-nails place next to where I was standing came out and looked, they seemed impressed. I enjoy when locals see me as an artist finding subject matter in their area. 

Blue house highway, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Apparently a boy named Tyrell Sterling died in a bike accident here in 2012, and the Montreal ghost bike initiative installed a memorial consisting of a bike painted white locked to a white poll, with a plaque. Mourners put plastic flowers, a picture, and scrawled thoughtful notes on the seat. It was not the same bike as was in the accident, they use old bikes for the memorial. I did another painting of a ghost bike from the same area, on the opposite corner closer to the highway. As a cyclist, you wonder if its safe here, and it is only if you pay attention and follow the traffic signals. 

Ghost bike Tyrell Sterling, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

La Belle Province is a famous Quebecois eatery featuring burgers, hotdogs and french fries mostly. This outlet looks to be from the 1960's or 70's, the sign on top is quite impressive, and the contrast between bricks and blue paneling was neat. Although, the whole place seems rather run down, a look I tried to emulate with side-drag brush strokes to create texturing. Two of the chefs also came out and looked at me painting, they seemed impressed by the effort, and somewhat surprised that I was painting the scene. I said the sign is old, and they agreed. I was well known today. 

La Belle Province, watercolour 6  x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Field work

Scientists have to do field work from time to time, and so do artists apparently on their lunch breaks. This pleather chair was in the field where I have made paintings many times before, including a chair in a field of yellow buttercups, two chairs in autumn, and many more. The locals bring chairs out here to sit and talk or even eat, there was a whole table here once. There were some people here hanging out before I painted the scene, I waited for them to leave while painting the other scenes. The brown on the chair was done with raw umber (PBr7), a bit of burnt sienna (PR101), carbon black (PBk6), and dilute indo blue (PB60) for the highlights, and some yellow to show the reflecting light from the grass. 

Pleather chair with daisies, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

They just planted several rows of trees on part of the field near the community garden, the white tags were still on them, blowing in the breeze. It was a nice turn of events, that someone had the wherewithal to plant some trees in a field of grass. New subject matter, and a continued chronicling of  this small clearing at the end of Harley street. Its the same place I painted the toilette and dog poo awhile back!

 

New trees field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Large concrete blocks were strewn about along the sidewalk, so the locals installed gardens around them and planted a wide variety of flowers and ornamental plants. You can see how the concrete blocks are barely visible behind the colourful foliage. I used a variety of brush strokes in the foreground, and a blurry-wash in the background to complement the scene. Whenever I paint ground flowers like this I think of Van Gogh, he painted many scenes of irises, clumps of grass, and other things he saw on the ground. 

Community flowers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Dépanneur Bon Jour and other scenes along the bike path

After a massive downpour of rain, the sky cleared up and I could get out for a decent bike ride before the sun went down. It was cool and breezy with a warm sun. This dépanneur is on the Maisonneuve bike path, its the same one I painted for a fleeting moment when the sun set back in 2022. Today, I saw that it has a name Bon Jour, which I inscribed on the main sign even though that writing was actually on the front of the awning. Artistic license, I get to change things! I like the sky reflection on the shiny brick wall next to the sign, it was done with a grey-blue to brown fade, then over-painted with side-drag texturing for the brick effect.  

Dépanneur Bon Jour, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

A little further along and I came across the chaos of Crescent street where they were busy setting up the facilities for the F1 or grand prix or whatever it is, millions of people visit every year for it. They had shut off the bike path so we all had to walk out bikes on the crowded sidewalk. In the midst of the chaos I set up my bike on a corner off to the side and made a painting looking north. 

Crescent street  umbrellas, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

Similarly, the Place des Arts was being set up for Jazz fest, you see the main stage in the foreground from the rear, and in the background there is an old brown-brick hotel on the left, and the twin condo skyscrapers on the right. This painting was a real jumble of things, it all centers on the tall pink panel, with the pointy tent against the black background. 

Jazz fest preparations, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

Curio Folio: Da Vinci's Toaster

While exploring the metal sculptures near the train tracks, I ventured down a narrow path into an over-grown area only to find a small clearing with a large boulder in the center. As the sun shone down through the tree canopy, I saw that it was not a boulder, but a crypt of sorts, with a rusted metal door on the opposite side. So rusted in fact, that when I touched the door the hinges disintegrated leaving the door slightly ajar. A cold, stale burst of air hit me, along with a whooshing sound from below. Unable to contain my curiosity I moved aside the door and walked down a narrow stair case into a large space below, it was a section of the old Montreal metro system they had begun in the 19th century then sealed up and abandoned before completion. Somewhere above was a grating that allowed sunlight to come in, and then I saw it, a strange, twisted metal sculpture not unlike the ones up around the train tracks. But this one was different, being a scientist, I knew the metal aging and methods put it from the early 16th century, and further inspection revealed that it had an authentic signature of Leonardo Da Vinci. This must have been the long lost "Da Vinci's Toaster" that was stolen from the Montreal museum of fine arts in 1972. Just so people would believe my story, I made an accurate watercolour painting of it, because I don't bring my smart phone or camera when location painting. Clearly the device was a sort of primitive toaster, how it was powered I could not discern. Perhaps it was designed to cook pop tarts, which were recently discovered to have been invented 1.6 million years ago by Homo erectus proto-humans. We may never know. Debris began to fall from the ceiling and I rushed the painting, then escaped just in time. The entrance collapsed behind me. I just covered it up with some foliage, never to be found again except in my Curio Folio.  

Curio Folio: Da Vinci's Toaster, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

Bike ride part two, to the island

Connecting Montreal to st Helen island is a long spit of land that houses a container port, and the famous Habitat 67. All along the fence there were several varieties of wildflowers growing including pink flowers from clover, a similar white-pink version, yellow buttercups perhaps, and some kind of purple cone. The rest of the scene was pale and grey by contrast, owing in part to the smog that still enveloped the city. 

Wild flowers cityscape, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

The city recently renovated the techno park, where they do techno and alternative music shows in the summer. The island also hosts the formula one which is gearing up for another year (pun intended). The tall black tower is one of many strewn about the area, its to install speakers and lights during a show for surround sound experience. The tents are probably going to be used to sell food and merchandise for the F1 event. I was happy to find half a dozen brand new blue elastics on the ground, I use them to fix the paper to the backing when it gets windy. 

Techno park tents, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Heading back via the Jacques Cartier bridge I stopped to make this painting of the Cartier bridge (top), the off ramp (middle), the roller coasters (lower middle) and the top of the entrance to park La Ronde (bottom). Its a bizarre scene no doubt, I have painted on this location many times to capture the various structures and features of the bridge and park. 

Bridge and rollercoaster, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Bike ride part one, canal to island

Upon arriving to the Lachine canal via Ville st Henri this is the scene that greets you... a jut of land where people recline and enjoy the sun, with old industrial structures in the background. The main building is where the old paper makers, st Armand, used to be... I visited them once before they moved and learned a bit about paper making and bought a pile of their watercolour paper. On the top right you see the iconic rusty old water tower, underneath there is a hipster brew pup restaurant. It was a pretty good day today, breezy and just a little smoggy. 

Canal ripples, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

All along st Patrick there are still warehouses and light industrial although if you look closely a lot of them have been converted into other business ventures like a climbing-wall complex, and a brew pub. I stopped here to make a painting just because I liked the colour of the graffiti, it was a nice cyan surrounded by violet-magenta. Plus, these buildings have a way of getting gentrified into condos, or something else, I could see this one becoming a spa or nail shop one day. 

Warehouse st Patrick, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

 

Crossing over to isle st Helen you ride under the highway then past the Canada Maltage factory which is still actively making malt, likely for beer. This massive 5 story-high vat was prominent between two of the big silo structures. I have no idea what it is, but a good guess might be some sort of receptacle for when they clean the silos, like a toilette basically. Who know, I just call it the malt thing. 

The malt thing, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Griffintown elevations

Griffintown used to be an industrial area that became an eclectic artist community, now its being highly developed into condominiums. In this scene, you see an segment of the elevated commuter train that goes south to suburban Longueuil connecting the to downtown core. I was standing in a parking lot at the corner of Wellington street and a small side-street called Ann. Today the rain subsided but it remained hazy and smoggy. 

Elevated train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Soaring in the backgroud are a few of the new mega condos they built downtown, clad in gleaming greenish-blue glass. In the foreground are some remnants of industrial Griffintown, an old tar and shingle warehouse with smoke pipes. The structure actually houses a fancy hipster restaurant now. With all the condos, there are a lot of young people in the neighborhood, in fact, the nearby Lachine canal had several little festivals going on. The bike path was so over-run with people I detoured off and found solace in this empty parking lot, a small oasis int he city for Dr. Dumpster to do some painting. 

Skyline near train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

Pink sun setting

The final act of today's setting sun was for the pink orb to drop behind a dusty blue haze. Its the first time I've seen such a colour on location, I mixed it using purple magenta (PR122) with pyrol red (PR254). The rest of the colours were difficult to judge, and even more difficult to paint. Trees and buildings were about 20% reduced chroma (intensity) and a value lighter than normal due to the forest fire haze that enveloped Montreal. Car headlights shone through from the Decarie highway below. In the previous blog, I suggested that fossil fuels used in construction and cars was the cause of global warming, hence the forest fires, but lets not forget that paint pigments used in watercolour paint, including purple magenta and pyrol red are made from petro-chemical distillates. The irony is rich. But I do feel for the people, many indigenous, who live close to the areas that are on on fire, and sincerely hope we can all find some solution to stop the worrying trend. I'd rather not ever have the opportunity to paint such scenes again in my lifetime. 

Pink sun setting, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

Smokey sky from forest fires in Canada

Everywhere I stopped, the world was burning. I hate that 'smokey sky' has become part of my art repertoire, its a few years running now that Montreal has been enveloped in haze from massive Canadian forest fires. And the irony was that today I painted pictures of both the cause and the effect. Here we see more towering cranes erecting condominium buildings near the glen yard hospital, framing the tangerine sun that was nearly set. Rows of cars are parked underneath.  

Tangerine sun cranes, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

Looking west the sky had an eerie pastel glow while the horizon line, filing up with more condominium developments was enshrouded in forest fire smoke. Cars roared by the major highway 720 underneath, running parallel to huge warehouses and industry. 

Pastel sky forest smoke, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

This one was done first, the sun was still beginning its decent into the haze. Under the overpass, the Girouard street connected to Decarie, cars constantly streamed by producing a noxious fume that combined with the smoke. The forest fires might seem far away but the cause, fossil fuel burning, is right under our noses. 

Sun descending into haze, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Curio Folio: Amoeba Canis

Looking under the microscope the other day at the University I saw something curious. Based on its size, just a little over 20 microns, that means micro meters or millionth of a meter, it had to be a microbe. I could tell from its shape and organelles that it was an amoeba. We don't normally see amoeba in the research laboratory so I went to take a picture with our high resolution digital camera only to find that the camera was out of service. Luckily I had my watercolour paints with me and could make a painting of the curiously shaped amoeba. What a wonderful addition to my new Curio Folio series. Maybe the ears, nose, eyes, tongue, tail and four legs were a coincidence, but it looked like our sister's and Fritz's pet dog Davidson. Once in a while scientists get to name things, so I took the opportunity to name this specimen Amoeba Canis... since Canis is the species name for dog. Then, in my excitement at the discovery, I bumped the microscope a little and the creature was gone from the field of view. I had to ask, "Who let the dogs out?"

Curio Folio: Amoeba Canis, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

Local scenes on a hot and muggy day

Continuing by bike to the Reno Depot parking lot on st Jacques street, I made another painting of the Petro Canada, I did a wide view of the station way back in 2023, and another one of this station last year. In this painting, I was drawn to the shape of the propane tank along side of the ice box and other containers, along with the cream-coloured glow from the hazy sun. I was rather hoping for clear blue sky considering the sweltering 32 C we got today, but severe wildfires in central Canada have brought smoky haze across Quebec. 

Propane tank gas station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

The truth is I would have painted anything, since its been all but rain the last few weeks, and yet more rain in the forecast, it seemed like these few days were a window of opportunity. Ever since I posted the United Kingdom painting of rain drops on glass, its like a weather curse was placed on us. But good for the plants at least, last summer was extremely dry by comparison. In the painting, I show the bike path where it turns south from Coffee street, then veers east along Maisonneuve parallel to the train tracks. 

Bike path beginning, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Barbie pink VW beetle

 

Around campus, someone drives around in a shiny metallic-pink Volkswagen beetle and today it was parked on Coffee street. I had seen it drive by a few times over the last month and thought about how to paint it, so today I took a shot at it. As I painted, several people stopped to take pictures... of the car, not me, and another person admired this painting and said they had respect for what I was doing to which I genuinely thanked them. 

 Barbie car spring v2, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

This was the first attempt at the scene, but the car's shapes and the exact shade of metallic-magenta was not correct. In the second version I kept the car palette closer to magenta (PR122) and flattened out the value structure. I still missed on getting the sky and tree reflections accurate. Maybe a picture would have been easier! 

Barbie car spring v1, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Train bridge late spring

Every year or so I paint this scene of the train bridge, there happens to be a great spot to set up the bike, and a great view. The bridge is done with indo blue (PB60) and burnt sienna (PR101), some purple (PV55) and black (PBk6). When I added the sun-glow to the top left using dilute yellow ochre (PY43) and yellow (PY154) the painting really popped. 

Train bridge late spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

We have all sorts of pylons in Montreal, including these orange and neon ones. To create the contrast, I surrounded the pylons in dark green and grey, with the heavy iron train bridge looming over top. Pylon paintings are quite typical of Montreal, I have even sold a few over the years.  

Pylons under bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025 

Behind the trees

Out in the park near Lachine there are great views of the river, and the leaves are starting to grow in full force. The ship may not look like much but it represents hundreds of years of history, starting with the large canoe's they used to portage across the rapids, then the Lachine canal bypass, and finally dredging the river and building the south canal where that ship is headed. There were a lot of birds chirping here. 
 

Ship behind trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

In the foreground are two rows of red and green trees. A bit earlier, and the red trees are pink, but I showed up here in early June so they had turned darker. In the background is the river, and Mercier bridge behind the trees. It was very hot and hazy today, looked like wildfire smoke might have been in the air. 

Red and Green Trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025