Lachine Canal, Lasalle, Montreal

Zest for colour in the fall, the trees turn and the geese fly south. This is the Lachine canal, looking to the East towards Verdun. I was on my way to Verdun when I stopped to make this painting in Lasalle just off St. Patrick Street. I was sitting right on the top of the wall of the canal here, my foot was dangling over the side! You can see the construction on the other side, they are rebuild the walls of the canal and eventually will open it up again for bikes. As I did this painting they were cutting trees down near the canal which seemed rather bad timing for me since the subject that inspired me most were the golden yellow trees.

Outlines are often used by the artist to establish the drawing and composition before doing the painting. In watercolour this is problematic because using a dark outline (like pencil) will show through in the final work. But is this bad? Van Gogh used paint to make outlines from what I can tell from studying his work, and he lets the outline show through in the final work. He probably picked this up from examining Japanese art. He was a big collector of Japanese prints, and even made copies. The Japanese artists used strong outlines to create energy in the work and define shapes. I almost always start with a light outline using paint, here I began with the top of the tree line on the upper left, then established the curving line of the canal, and the angle on the right embankment. I left the outline showing through in the tree line, and even accented it with some final strokes of red because I thought that line was strong and important to highlight the subject matter of interest. This painting is also a great example of a reflection on a wavy surface of water. I worked on that technique a lot last year in Amsterdam where there were plenty of canals.

5 x 7 " cold press, Watercolour, October 2019