Girouard underpass, curves, vines, bridge span

The Girouard underpass connects down to the Decarie expressway heading south in this view. Up on the curving sidewalk, one gets a good view of the curving ramps and shadows cast down grassy hillsides. Around this area there is a small forest, growing between highways. 

Girouard underpass curves, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

This tree had creeper vines on it, usually I tear them down but today I made a painting. These vines, Virginia creeper, turn red, orange and yellow in Autumn. After highways are cut through the land, the land slowly grows back where it can. 

Girouard underpass vines, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

The new st Jacques bridge span can be seen from here, with all sorts of cars and trucks heading out of the city. There was no graffiti on these walls, but I added my initials there on the bottom right anyways, as if spray-painted.

Girouard underpass bridge span, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

Autumn Frédéric Back Park, surrealistic realism

Out at Frédéric Back Park its always fun to paint, the scenery is superb and Autumn brings a range of yellow, orange and reds. This location, up in st Michel area, used to be an open pit mine, which was then turned into landfill for Montreal city waste. After filling it in, the city figured out a way to turn the land into sports parks and walking trails. In doing so, they installed spherical structures to deal with methane emissions. 

Sumacs vista, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

In this surrealistic viewpoint, I made the spheres float on a smooth golf-green, with some flags in the background. I was last here around the same time last year and made some paintings. 

Golf or something, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Getting closer to the spheres, and a plane went in for a landing at Pierre Trudeau airport. In fact, planes were constantly flying over. Much of the park area is landscaped and maintained, each sphere has a mowed grassy area around it for access. People are free to walk and ride around on wide trails. 

Plane landing sphere, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Like I made it up, but this was more or less the scene! Montreal skyline in the background, people flying kites in the middle, and spheres strewn about the landscape in the foreground. Life imitates art sometimes. 

Kites and spheres, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Finally getting a close-up, here is a sphere with its glass window visible. Some sort of valve is attached to interior piping. All around were a sumptuous blend of earthy Autumn colours and textures, with a purplish-yellow sky.  

Valve in sphere, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Composing the sky

Going down Glen hill, I was thinking about composing the sky. It seems like a background element, and most of the time it is, but its shape and consistency  plays an important role in any landscape scene. Here, the sky occupies about half the painting, giving a sense of scale to the highway overpass and steep hillside. 

Highway hillside, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Similar spot, looking up at Glen hill, and the sky is only added to complete the overall effect. In this case the triangular wedge of the road is central to the composition. The road was done with a pale orange wash, then once dry, a purplish grey finishing wash. I let the washes dry completely before packing the painting into my bike bag to avoid smudging. 

Looking up Glen hill, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

At the bottom of the hill looking under the highway, that's Courcelle street, I saw some graffiti illuminated by a shaft of light. This was a very technical painting to do, and I was careful to use clean water and an unused paintbrush to apply the central magenta colour-fill on the graffiti. And the sky, you see a small wedge of it towards the upper right, its just there to give a sense of atmosphere. 

Light shaft graffiti watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Finally for my exploration of sky compositions, this one has a triangular wedge of sky, adorned with a flock of pigeons flying away. Below, a bunch of electrical pole devices are sitting in an area, this is some kind of city works building. 

Pigeons over city works, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

And one last scene of a dépanneur in Hochelaga, it has a red and green 7UP sign which is a rarity, normally its a coke or sometimes Pepsi. Like many such shops, its fully integrated with a residential building. A local was walking down the sidewalk, scraping stickers off of posts... I think he was a good citizen removing graffiti to keep the streets looking nice. In fact, a lot of graffiti looked to be removed and buffed over, so Hochelage is putting effort into keeping the neighborhood looking nice. 

Dépanneur Clair Hochelage, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

Zen factory trucks and traffic

Putting together purple-grey and a variety of olive-greens with neutral yellow created an autumn glow in this painting of the Zen factory. Its an old abandoned warehouse that has since been covered in graffiti and severely degraded. The city plans to develop the lot. That's called 'infill' where lands is turned into dense buildings. 

Zen factory autumn colours, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

This location is right next to route 10, and you see an on ramp here, with trucks parked in the foreground. I liked the reflective truck, its neat to paint such forms. I started with a three-tone wash, let dry, then painted it over with texturing and detail. Wearing glasses helped. 

Trucks trucks trucks, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

I've used this composition before, placing a prominent tree at the center of the painting, then surrounding it with asymmetrical features. On the right is the Zen factory, on the left are the highway and traffic elements. The tree was done with successive layers and texturing, with plenty of yellow ochre (PY43), and a daub of bismuth vanadate yellow at the top (PY184). 

Prominent tree traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Sun down, night downtown Montreal

I was downtown after work before the sun went down, and before the rain started at Ernest Cormier Esplanade park which is near the autoroute, Fort street, and across from the Canadian Architecture center. This scene is looking north at a gloomy sky, done wet-in-wet with a variety of purple, orange, and cyan tints. 

Gloomy sky downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Still in the park, same spot but looking east, I did a painting of a tree with traffic in the background. Painting in these conditions is tough because of the moisture and lack of sun, although it wasn't raining yet. 

Wide tree traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

With construction on st Catherine I had a good place to stand with my bike and paint this scene on the corner of st Marc. Its Chef Lee noodles, although I changed the sign to my initials. Still added bienvenue (welcome) to appease the language-sign police, thanks Robert Bourassa. 

Cheff Lee evening, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

With night upon us, I headed over to the Dollarama area across from Cabot square, because there is bright light here from the store, and an overhang to block rain, which had picked up. A lot of people were talking to me, it must be the glasses making me seem more approachable! To do such paintings, I first apply the bright colours, then work through the washes and texturing. I actually painted this one and the next one simultaneously, which is a trick I learned for winter painting.  

Cabot square Dollarama bus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

I established the background of the other painting, then this painting, then went back and forth as they dried. In fact, neither one dried properly on location, so I had to arrange them in my bike bag to dry without smudging. Its time to start brining my wood drying racks on locations, which are needed when moisture is high, or winter. The scene by the way is Cabot square, looking south towards one of the newer condo towers they built. 

watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Harley street Autumn my shadow

Its that time of year when the sun goes down earlier and earlier, now its beginning to set shortly after work hours. When the sun gets low it casts a subtle amber glow, some refer to this time as the golden hour. In the view, I am standing on Harley and Elmhurst looking due south towards the empty lot. Shadows were low and geese were flying by honking loudly.

Sun down empty lot, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Starting with my shadow and bike shadow in a rich purple mix (PB60 + PV55 + PR102) I applied successive washes and texturing until a garden emerged. The foreground was just tilled earth, in the background some last flowers were blooming in yellow-orange with olive-green foliage. Its a tricky effect to get right, if the initial wash is too moist it all blends together, if its too pale the shadow shape disappears. Wearing my new glasses helped a lot to place the brush strokes and properly see the moisture levels on the paper, brush and palette. 

My shadow community garden, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Coffee park seeing autumn flowers train

Feeling like painting but somewhat tired, I stopped at Coffee park and made a few paintings. Cold and windy, I had to wear the good old gauntlet gloves by the end of the session. Here, I am looking due west with a view of pale violet flowers, black fence, walking path and trees. I've been using more violet tints (PV55) in the mixes lately and stopped adding bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) which was popular in the summer.  The letters and numbers are pigment codes for the paints I use, pigment codes are common across brands even if the names of the paint vary.

Violet flowers black fence, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Similar spot looking up towards the sun, I had my new glasses on while painting, at least for looking down at the painting. At distance the reading glasses make things look blurry. I acquired prescription glasses which are fantastic, and then bought a case of 6 reading glasses with my magnification from Amazon for less than $30, so about $5 a pair. That way, I can bring the cheap ones on my painting trips and not worry about loosing or dropping them. It remains to be seen how the glasses will hold up at -20℃, since I paint outdoors in the winter. 

Sun roof tops, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Capturing the cars with a slight blurr created a kind of camera lens effect. Actually the paper just absorbed more than expected and I could not create sharp details in the foreground, but I like the effect any ways. It was so windy here, luckily I had an extra elastic to keep the paper on the cardboard backing. I guess we are getting to the bad-weather-painting time of the year. 

Commuter train cars going by, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

I forgot to put the glasses on for this one, even though they were dangling from my neck on a neck strap! When I finally put the glasses on, I was a little surprised at how rough it really was. So its 'clear' now that I needed glasses for painting, as well as reading. With the cheaper ones to bring on trips like this, even though they are not as good as the prescription ones, they bring me back to about 75% which is better than barely seeing things that are close! You live, you learn. 

Earthy autumn colours, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

Autumn canal bridge and industrial

With Autumn well underway, trees are turning various shades of yellow, orange and olive. The grass is also lightening to olive and brown tints. I did the water with a three-toned blue wash, let dry, then applied a variety of wavy lines. 

Autumn colours canal lock, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Here is a view of the highway 10 overpass bridge span, with a shimmering canal in the foreground. Similar to the previous painting, I applied the washes first, then over-painted with wavy strokes. The foliage was done with heavy mixes of yellow ochre (PY43) and various other Autumn-like colours.

Bridge canal shimmer, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Making my way to the Kruger paper factory, I did this painting of a cargo-train, and silos in the background. The forms were built up with successive layers, texturing, and detailing with brush-work. It was a mostly monochrome scene, just blue from the sky with greyish beige throughout. So I emphasized purple (PV55) in the shadow areas. 

Kruger train silos, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Running out of many paints on my palette, I had to make due, and use lots of purple! It came out looking earthy and almost psychedelic. 

Autumn trees ess curve, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026  

All the views, Old Malt

Taking a tour around the Old Malt building slated for redevelopment, I did this one from its east side. An interesting roof line made for decent composition, and the patch work of graffiti added ambiance. The sky yesterday had a thin layer of textured clouds stretching across. 

Side horizontal old malt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

At this time of year the sun stays low, which casts a slightly amber glow due to atmospheric effects. In this horizontal composition I also included the pink house, and a few other features including the bright sun orb. The pink house was part of the maltage, but some street artists painted it in its iconic colour, and added green shutters and fake flow pots. It also lights up at night from the inside, also here.  

Bright sun old malt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Looking up, you see a crumbling brick facade, a plethora of plants growing, and pigeons roosting high on top. It was a neat perspective. Locals and tourists were milling about, some photographing the structure, and a few intrepid explores wandering about inside the fence which is not allowed. As I painted, there was a distinct buzzing sound, like a large bee, then I spotted a small drone flying around the building high up. So I decided to investigate further. 

Looking up old malt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Leaving my bike on the street, taking the bike bag, ignoring the no trespassing signs and danger sings, I hopped over the 3 meter fence, easily scaled the side of the old malt building with my bare hands, its about 20 stories tall, and found my way to the apex, the pink house. It was a dangerous and foolish thing to do, and I could have gotten in trouble, or worse. But it may be the last chance to explore. Here is the view standing next to the pink house, looking down. And the drone buzzed past me, probably catching it on film. Darn, I suppose there is a YouTube video now of me standing up there with my bike, making a painting. Or, my bike was on the ground, that was the story.

Looking down old malt drone, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Old Malt ruins

After hearing about the old Maltage ruins collapsing or, nearly collapsing, I headed down there to make some more paintings. The street, st Ambroise was fenced off all around the back part of the structure, and I could see the brick wall peeling off in places around the windows high up. A large graffiti adorned the wall, it actually said MONET. 

Old malt back graf, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

And a row of pylons, many cars were showing up and turning around because the road is blocked off. That overhead protector was there for years to protect pedestrians, now the sidewalk and road are blocked off. The plan is to turn the whole thing into a forested area with a pond for waterfowl. Just kidding, condos. 

Pylons old malt rear, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

And a side view, looking at some loading device, it probably filled trucks as they drove through the opening. The new Maltage is downtown around the old Port area, its fully functional. I did a few more at this location and will post later. 

Old malt side cone, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Old Montreal dusk colours

With cool, overcast weather I sought out artificial lighting and colours to paint in Old Montreal. This corner shop was decorated pink and orange inside, with some decorations outside too, including a smiley face. The smiley face is actually a form of graffiti, someone puts a large sticker up, in this case, it was left up by the shop keepers. 

Pink shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

What gives, a painter in Old Montreal and he paints a scene of an alley full of dumpsters. A big chunky fire escape also added ambiance to the scene.  

Dumpster alley fire escape, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This restaurant had bright yellow signs and lighting, which I abstracted into a series of squares and rectangles. The rest of the scene was cool and gloomy. 

Yellow restaurant abstraction, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Peel basin, tents overpass towers commuter train

Nearby the highway overpass at Peel basin, this group of tents were set up and people living in them. I captured that in the painting along with traffic, and part of a new condo in the background. That red thing is an umbrella not a pylon, I wasn't wearing my glasses for painting today!

Tents overpass traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

In the background are a few of the condo towers built recently, like the last ten years or so, with the elevated train (el) and canal in the foreground. The central wash blurred out, it was difficult conditions to paint in with cool dark and humid air. 

Towers el canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

The commuter trains were transporting people out of the city, so I composed this scene to give an impression of the train being lonely. Like, heading off into the sky almost. To do so, I moved the bridge supports and omitted one, and put the train off to the left as far as possible. On the right, you have a condo, with solid terrain across the bottom. Intentional back-wash, using a yellow wash, created the eerie glow in the sky. It was unpredictable painting today. There are more of Old Montreal I will post soon. 

Headin home, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Lave auto signs and lights

One of the few businesses remaining along Maisonneuve street, its Lave Auto, French for car wash. They proudly advertise that the washing is done by hand, as opposed to automated buffing machines. Several people get work here, so it creates jobs to have small businesses like this in town. 

Lave auto signs, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

A neon tube light created an eerie glow inside the car wash. Once car was going through, and a truck was parked out front. The outer facade was once red brick but has been painted over several times to cover graffiti. 

Lave auto neon light, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Yellow and orange trees provided a backdrop for the Lave Auto, with many sings and the garage doors visible. Unfortunately there was a for sale sign out front in among the signs, so this business is set to change ownership with an uncertain future. 

Lave auto horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Overcast autumn canal near bridge

The leaves are starting to go red orange and yellow, with some falling onto the ground and water. It was overcast today, soft violet-grey and cyan tinted the canal. I used plenty of quin violet (PV55) a modern pigment that most brands carry. For the tree it was an interesting mix of perylene maroon (PR179) and pyrol orange (PO73). 

Autumn overcast canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Working up a scene like this in light mist-rain condition is tough, the paint constantly soaks into the paper making dark areas grey out. With a lot of experience in these conditions, I adapt my technique to avoid excessive over-washes, and apply darks first when the paper is still relatively dry. 

Bridge canal graffiti, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Here the rain-mist picked up a bit, but I managed to get through it and produce this painting. An orange buoy in the canal contrasted against the red-orange vines in the background. 

Orange buoy vines Autumn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026