Snowy night intense purple sky

An old bridge next to the autoroute 15 overpass is now reserved for bikes and pedestrians, it can be seen toward the right side of the painting complete with customized graffiti. In the background, is a large factory on st Patrick close to av de L'Eglise, now its a mix of different kinds of businesses like gyms and studios.  A yellowish lamp was illuminating the fresh snow and concrete embankments of the bridge head and canal. It was a tricky painting to pull off on location especially considering the wet snow constanly falling. Both paintings today were completed on location... I have some really warm and waterproof clothing to make it possible. 

Passerelle Côte-st-Paul night snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

The first layer of this painting was done at the location, but it quickly turned into a mushy mess because wet snow was coming down strongly onto the painting. Since I had the second wood drying rack, I could put it back into my bike bag and move to the next location (seen in the first painting of the blog). When I finished the bridge painting, I then finished this one... just standing next to my bike. I really thought it was a distaster, like a waste of paper after the first layer got soaked, but the main shapes and colours held up, and the sky got an incredible wet and windy texture. The graffiti was all done by my crew, FITZ, CILS, DYER, PJD25 and DDAWG. 

Silo dumpsters snow storm, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Purple sky snow covered night

Thick blankets of snow covered everything in Montreal including these pine trees near Decarie expressway. Nearby lamps were casting an amber tint over the snow, intermixing with purple from the sky. Getting the subtle tints right was the challenges, for example the pine trees go from orange to grey, and the snow had variations of orange and caramel tones. 

Pine trees near Decarie tint, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Strong white flood-lights illuminated the local skateboard park which was blanket in snow. In the background is the local school with a few orange lamps. It was very quiet here, almost silent due to the time of day and the snow, which absorbs sound effectively. To do the glow-effect of the lamp, a series of rings are made wet-in-wet starting with greenish pale yellow, then merging with the soft purple sky. 

Snow covered skateboard park, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

First snow, heaps of it!

The snow finally arrived in large amounts, covering Montreal with a thick blanket. With temperatures slightly below 0 ℃ the snow accumulated all day leaving most things completely covered. In this scene, a fire hydrant, shrub, car and trees were barely visible under the piles of snow. Since the leaves had not completely fallen off yet, it made many tree branches bend and droop downwards. 

First piles of snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

A large tree on Somerled accumulated snow on all its branches, with some yellowish leaves poking through. A traffic sign was plastered in snow making it impossible to read, while cars went by also covered in snow. Painting watercolour, or any colour, in these conditions is difficult to say the least but I have been doing it for years, or decades rather. I built a drying rack, its a balsa-wood frame, sized to the paper (6 x 7.5") that I place on top of the paper and use elastics to fasten it to a stiff piece of cardboard. This device will protect the surface of the painting from smudging when it goes back into the bag, and makes it easier to handle in rough conditions. I made a second drying rack this season so I can paint two at once. Its possible to reload it on  location with fresh paper, but keep in mind, I am wearing oven-mitt style gloves for the entire process. I think today's paintings have the most amount of detail possible to do while wearing oven-mitts in the middle of a snow storm! They are not really oven mitts, they are dear-skin insulated gauntlets from Canada Outfitters, where I also got my wool base layer. 

Snow covered tree Somerled, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Train bridges thinking big

Down at the Peel basin the ice fog created an eerie glow penetrated by the orange-yellow light from a lamp. The bike path runs under these bridges, and in the background is the new graffiti by SLUK, a massive piece up on the new Maltage silos. A train rumbled by overhead. 

Train bridges ice fog, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Light rail overhead and commuter trains on the lower rails were crisscrossing with a rattle and rumble. New construction had a greyish chartreuse, while the old bridge was painted in a bluish charcoal. In the bottom right corner is a small piece of the obsolete train bridge, it is a rusted iron structure covered in graffiti now. 

Two trains bridges, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Somehow, this writer (graffiti person) got on top of an enormous 20 story silo and rappelled down the side, making a large piece with paint rollers. The writing looked to be about 7 stories tall, located on the upper portion of the structure. It wasn't there last week, so it must have been done very recently. The actual name was mentioned in the first painting, here I changed it to my initials. Although graffiti is illegal and there are enormous amounts of it now, one has to admire the audacity to do something like this. It made me think about my paintings... I need to go bigger and more impressive... but on paper and not with spray paint! 

Thinking big, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

 

Ice fog Dorchester square

With ice fog in the forecast, it made for some interesting scenes where the tops of skyscrapers were obscured by cloud. In the foreground, is a war memorial, in the background is the mighty Place Ville Marie building shrouded in clouds. Things worked better with a small brush, but the paint was pretty soggy and unpredictable today. 

Ice fog downtown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

At the tops of these yellow trees at Dorchester square there was a large squirrel nest and squirrels hopping around the branches. Thick ice fog enveloped the buildings in the background, and a thin layer of mist was everywhere. 

Living high life, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

This old artillery piece, likely from world war II sits next to the war memorial. One day before remembrance day, we remember those who lost their lives in the war. Once again the paint was being stubborn today making details elusive. At the illusion of fog is quite authentic. 

Artillery ice fog, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Brief snow storm downtown

Across from Cabot square sits the old Forum where the Canadiens used to play. Nowadays its a mall with several street-level shops and restaurants including a dollar store. The dollar store is barely visible in the painting, just a streak of yellow off to the bottom right. I was mostly standing on this location because there is a wide ledge overhead which provided some shelter from the brief snow storm that hit Montreal this afternoon. People even had umbrellas, and I was wearing a combination of winter wear and rain wear. For a more pleasant view of this area check out the sunflowers that were growing in Cabot square this summer. 

Old Forum corner,  watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

To complete this painting, I stood next to a bus stop shelter which blocked the direct wind and snow which was coming down close to vertically. The old Forum building is in the background, with the Cabot square paths and landscaping in the foreground. There were a lot more trees than this, but the conditions precluded any overlay detailing. Its always an adjustment period going into the winter. The truth is, that I enjoy painting in the winter, in fact I did a few on a trip out to Montreal in the 1990's, I will paste one below...

Cabot square snow storm, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2025 

  

Here is one of the old paintings I did on a trip to Montreal in 1997, it was the first one I remember doing on the trip, which probably makes it the first location painting I ever did in Montreal. Prior to that, I had been painting on location in Ontario for a few years. 

Big Bottle, Winter,  watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, 1997 (No. 1056) 

First snow of the season, wet

Going out into the uncertain weather today, I found a ledge along st Catherine street with some shelter from the cold wet snow. You have to be really committed to your art, in more ways than one, in order to paint on a day like today! The roads were slick with an icy snow layer and light rain. Together with the construction pylons it was so Montreal. 

Wet snow construction, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Looking west, and there was a view of an old building that the city plans to renovate, or perhaps demolish, I believe its the old Packard building, based on some google searching and a fuzzy image of the logo over the front door. Its all shuttered now, but it used to have shops on the ground level and studios on the top levels. Despite the shelter, snow still pelted down onto the painting. 

Packard building profile, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

The entire upper two floors of the building are encased in a re-enforced black mesh to prevent debris from falling onto the sidewalk. It was once a glorious building it would seem, hopefully they can clean off all the graffiti and bring it back to life. For the first painting I had salt water, but the temperature was slightly above zero so I switched to fresh water for the remaining paintings. Salt water wont freeze easily, but it makes the paint dry a lot slower. 

Packard building front, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2025