View from Mont Royal, St. Lawrence River, Montreal

Surely this painting was inspired by the Island of Paradise... Ile de la Reunion. Volatile and passionate, the island served up some of the best landscapes I've ever seen. But alas, this is a much different island, Montreal. I was sitting up at one of the tourist stop-offs up on Mont Royal. Indeed, buses of tourists were stopping to take pictures. In the distance you see St. Lawrence River, with trees and buildings of downtown Montreal filling the middle-ground.

The river was highly reflective on this day, with the sun very bright. To capture this effect, I started by laying down the sky, almost all the way down the painting. Because it was so hot, I was able to let this wash get completely dry (don't try to do this when it's cloudy because the wash will take like half an hour to dry and you can't put anything on top). When dry, I put in the distant mountains using a combination of purple and blue and light green. The rest of the painting is hard to describe... just tried not to force too much detail... and tried to channel the energy of the island..both of them.

6.5x9" cold press, 2012