Parc Honoré Mercier, Montreal

After completing the 27 stations of the green line Montreal, I headed down to the nearby Parc Honoré Mercier, which is situated along the St. Lawrence river. Most of the shore line is blocked by the port between Montreal and here, but the park is very long and has many good viewpoints. The water was a dusky turquoise which contrasted nicely with the phthalo blue sky. My recent experience with the metro station series actually helped out here, I used an adjusted version of my concrete formula for the tree bark, and the neutral yellows I learned over the last few months. There were a lot of noisy motor boats but I edited them out. 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, August 2020

Farther than I have ever been before on bike, I found my way down to the rocky shore line which had many large rocks placed there to prevent erosion acting as a breakwater. The choppy water was mostly the result of motorboats going by all the time, but the wind was also fairly strong. I used short interlocking brush strokes to build up the sky blue reflections with the pea soup under colour of the river. To get the highlights I dragged a moist brush sideways, very quickly. Hauling my bike over the rocks was a real chore, and it occurred to me that maybe I would get a flat tire or something, but luckily my trusty old bike remained in tact and carried me home. 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, August 2020