Looking back, Tadoussac Sauguenay river

Here is an old painting I did in Tadoussac, looking due north up the Saguenay river. Cold wind was blasting down the river valley, it was October. From this vantage point, looking south, there were whales jumping out of the water. They feed at the mouth of the Saguenay because the warm water mixes with the st Lawrence here, creating conditions for food to grow. I have always wanted to return here to do paintings, its a very rugged landscape.  

Tadoussac Sauguenay river, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, 2008

 

Sunset Coffee street, Night lights Girouard

I was standing there with my bike thinking where should I go? Here on Coffee street one can turn south east along the Maisonneuve bike path towards downtown, or go across to the st Jacques connector with the Lachine canal, or continue through NDG to ville st Pierre toward the canal and Lachine. Or turn right and go home! Then I figured, just make a painting right here, of the sunset on Coffee street. 

Sunset Coffee street, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This scene is about where Girouard merges with Decarie underground, in the background you see the radio tower with red lights, the bike shop with yellow street lights, and some red glow from the underground road in the foreground. Cars were driving by on Maisonneuve. 

Night lights Girouard, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Sailboat river scene

The last painting from my trip to Dorval on the weekend, here is a scene of a sailboat on the river. I was standing in the Pine Beach park looking due west, with sun glaring on the river. I used side-drag technique to apply the shimmer, then filled in with a variety of textural techniques. To get the sailboat right, I made the triangle shape first, then painted the scene around it. After painting a bunch of chaotic scenes at the airport it was somewhat refreshing to do this painting. My parents actually taught me how to sail and I took lessons as a teen, so maybe one day I can sail again. For now, I'll settle for making a painting!

Sailboat river scene, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Dorval sunflowers, pine trees and other scenes

In front of the Dorval commuter train station there is a garden full of small sunflowers. The city bus was parked in behind, and a plane was landing at the Montreal airport. I made these ones yesterday on my way back from painting around the Montreal airport. 

Sunflowers bus Dorval station, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

One of the main roads in Dorval is called Pine Beach Blvd., it must have once connected to a beach on the river with pine-trees. Now there are just a few pine trees around like you see in the painting, with no sign of a beach. There is a bike path here, and park area.  The pine bark is a mix of brown earth (PBr7) and magenta (PV55) with various tints and textures applied. 

Pine tree beach, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

To get from the airport area to Dorval's urban area, you have to go under the tunnel at the Pine beach station. Its a fairly small, well lit tunnel with fresh white paint, they must have to cover up graffiti on a regular basis. This old building had a Coke a Cola sign that I warped into my own initials. It is called Pine Beach grocery and convenience, but yesterday it was all closed up, perhaps permanently. A lot of 'deps' go out of business. Dep means dépanneur which is Fench for convenience store. 

Pine Beach dépanneur, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This was actually done in Ville st Pierre on my way back, it shows some tall industrial silos with sun-glare. In the upper background are the Turcot interchange overpasses. The city plans to demolish and rebuild that part of the Turcot in places to make a transit connector hub with better access to the airport. 

Industrial silos sun glare, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Montreal airport other scenes

After painting scenes that you might expect of planes taking off at the airport, I made a few other paintings in the area. This one shows the frontal view from the bike path on Cardinal Av., you see the main airport terminal in the background with the construction disaster out in front of it, where the parking garages used to be. It was a tricky painting with a lot of detail, I smelled jet fuel exhaust while painting. 

Airport construction, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

The one neat thing about airports is the amount of nature that gets preserved in and around, like the vast fields of grass that I enjoy painting. Here, a massive clump of reeds was growing in a ditch. You see some planes on the tarmac in the background. 

Reeds near airport, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September 2026

Of course I couldn't resist painting this lime-coloured dumpster, with a bit of airport shown on the upper left. That's the radar dome thing in the background. I liked the yellow sign on the chartreuse dumpster, and surrounded it with different shades of green for contrast. 

Airport dumpster, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Finally from the airport, a scene of the main YUL Montreal Airport sign next to the highway, although I changed it obviously to my inititals. It looks like a monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

PJD monolith, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

 

YUL airport takeoff

From Jacques-de-Lesseps Park there are first hand views of airplanes taking off from the Montreal airport, YUL is the airport code.  This plane was accelerating down the runway to take off. Planes of all sizes were taking off ranging from small 10 seaters all the way up to massive jumbo planes. The neat thing was a giant field of grass with light/shade from clouds. I used bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184), with blends of green (PG36) and dark green (PBk31). 

YUL airplane takeoff, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

The air radar dome in the background looked like a planet on the horizon. A group of planes with teal-coloured tail fins sat waiting. 

Airport vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

And takeoff! I studied several planes taking off before outlining this one with paint, and filling in the rest. It was partly clouds today, with a hazy blue-green horizon. There are quite a few more from the airport area and Dorval, will post later. Note to self, to ride here I took the lakeshore bike path to the end of Park Summerlea, then up 55th Av all the way (dont take 55 north, continue under bridge), then turn left at the end, onto Jenkins, and go through the parking lot. 

Takeoff! watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Ride along Lachine canal, uncertain weather

With uncertain weather I struck out by bike to the Lachine canal and rode west. The first scene was this big tree next to a curvy part of the canal. The tree is perylene green (PBk31) at the bottom, blended with dilute yellow (PY154) towards the top. When dry, bismuth yellow (PY184) and other colours are daubed on for texture. 

Curvy canal big tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Same location looking due south to an overpass highway, and you see the canal with some graffiti on the structure. That's st Patrick street going under the bridge. Its a very complex painting, the perspective on the bridge looking up was key.  

Canal overpass perspective, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

In ville st Pierre an old Truck depot and warehouse complex is on its last legs, as is this old truck trailer. It had a pale rust under-tint with a star shape surrounded by neutral blue. These subtle pastel colours contrasted against the dark green and yellow foliage. By now there was some rain coming down but I found a ledge to stand under and continue painting these scenes.

Star truck rust, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Similar spot but looking east along a back road, its called Rue Berge-du-Canal and open to the public, although a fairly quiet place it seems a little iffy. At any rate, this squirrel hopped by and I included it in the painting. 

Squirrel backroad, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Finally time to stop, and paint this stop sign, although I changed the lettering to my name. Using pure pyrol red (PR254) made it pop, and I surrounded the sign with several variations of green to further make the red stand out. In the background you see part of the ville st Pierre highway system. 

Stop blocks bins, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026