Taking advantage of the good weather and favorable west wind I got up to the north shore on my bike ending on O'Brien blvd and turning onto Gouin blvd. which runs along the shore. The scene above is a small picnic island connected to Parc de la Merci. Stately oak trees populate the island, and Prairie river can be seen in the middle ground. Across the river is Laval. To paint the new leaves, I made a fairly wet sky first, then dropped in the yellow dots to make them really glow. That technique was possible on this fantastic new Fabriano block paper I got, in fact I ordered more of it!
Ile Perry Parc de la Merci, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, May 2021 (No. 2640)
This was the first park I stopped at, the ground was coming alive with a variety of plants and grasses. The shoreline across the river is wall-to-wall houses.
Parc des Bateliers, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, May 2021 (No. 2639a)
Near the O'Brien and Gouin intersection is a good sized park called Raimbault. I walked my bike right down to the shore line where there is a pebbly beach and ducks. These were a pair of mallards, Canada geese and some other interesting fowl. There was a strong smell of barbeque food and other aromas coming from the picnic areas above. The bridge in the background is highway 15. Note, I updated the scan, since the second Brazil painting there had been a small green smudge on the scanner glass.
Raimbault Park Ducks, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, May 2021
At the farthest point of my bike ride, was a small park in Montreal North, a little over 20km from home. It seemed a worthy scene to use the 9 x 12" Fabriano block, it is the same brand and make as the smaller 5 x 7". I used a big brush called a filbert for most of the painting, and finished with a small rigger. A filbert is a wide short hair brush with an arc shape, a rigger is a narrow long hair brush. There were many houses across the river but I just showed one, it probably looks like it did 100 years ago when it was all farm land! There were people playing Bob Marley in the park, so I had some good music to paint by.
Parc Aimé-Léonard, 9 x 12" cold press, watercolour, May 2021 (No. 2659)
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