Between the highway and the canal lies a post-industrial neighborhood called Ville Saint-Henri. It was once bustling with factories, warehouses, and manufacturing plants, but now it is mostly condos, triplexes and cool hole-in-the-wall restaurants. I noticed right away that the
real hipsters live there, like literally in converted factories. This house was once part of a factory but an old hippie fellow turned it into a house, I saw home come out to water the sunflower (not in the painting). I liked the contrast between this industrial home buried in vines and trees with the distant view of Mont Royale where all the mansions have a view of Montreal. I'm sure for the old hippie he would much rather be here! The road went steeply under the train bridge creating a triangle composition on the bottom.
Hippie House, Ville St. Henri, 6.5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, Sept. 2020
Not far from that scene I found a green alley, that is where the city provides funding and support for local people to turn their alley way into a green park and walking path. This one had many large stones, trees, and decorative grass. The building is what really grabbed my attention, it was a neutralized warm yellow and rust-red, with all kind of crooked lines. The building was as crooked as you see in the painting!
Green Alley, Yellow and Rust House, 5 x 7" hot press, watercolour, Sept. 2020
Turning another corner, I found a long, almost 5 or 6 blocks, of a road that they converted into more green space, rows of trees, benches and grass lined the walkways. There were many birds and squirrels among the forested laneway. This scene caught the corner of my eye and I braked, found a bench and made this painting. It was an easy composition because this is exactly how it was, minus a few telephone poles and wired. The open space had been converted into what appears to be a pear orchard. I used a lot of neutral tones here by adding carbon black, water, and colour in the right proportions.
Pink Houses Atop the Old Factory, with Pear Orchard, 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, Sept. 2020
On the way back I rode behind the grocery store parking lot area and found a great view of downtown Montreal from just behind the elevated highway. The highway was still shut off for construction so it was completely silent, I could almost hear a pin drop! The entire area had been planted with local plants and trees creating a kind of oasis in the parking lot. Hey, good name for the painting!
City View, Oasis in the Parking Lot, 6.5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, Sept. 2020
There was one more painting I did of the pink houses atop the old factory from the viewpoint of an empty lot, 5 x 7" hot press, watercolour, Sept. 2020
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