Montréal Est: The Biggest Day Part 1

Last Thursday I woke up to fantastic weather out in Montreal East and gathered together my bicycle and gear. The previous day I had made painting in parks along the St. Lawrence River. To start the biggest day of painting, I made this little watercolour of an old fashioned house now used for tourism. Cobalt blue (PB28) was key in achieving the high chroma blue roof. If you compare closely to when I first blogged about this one, you will see small adjustments to the shadows.

Parc Marcel Leger with Maison Antoine Beaudry, watercolour cold press 5 x 7", June 2021 (No. 2710)

Next up was the sprawling Parc-Nature Pointe-aux-Prairies, a nature reserve that spans most of the width of the island. You are looking at the St. Lawrence river, here the shore line was a little less rocky and more sandy. Tall reeds were abundant, they mirrored the tall condo building being built in the distance. This painting features the interesting contrast between pastel orange and blue at the water's edge.

Parc-Nature Pointe-aux-Prairies Shore Line, watercolour cold press 6 x 7.5", June 2021 (No. 2711)

The central part of the park was mostly sectioned off, with just a few pedestrian and bike paths criss-crossing the forest. I found the most incredible place to stand, on a small trail rising around an old tree, offering a superb view of the seemingly never-ending field of flowers growing under the forest canopy. They looked like Queen Anne lace, and smelled as strong as the perfume you might smell at a department store perfume section, but more pleasant. I wasn't sure how to go about painting this, so I worked up textures from light to dark and kept the trees lively. You can see a photo I took in this area on the blog I linked above.

Parc-Nature Pointe-aux-Prairies Flower Field in Forest, watercolour cold press 5 x 7", June 2021 (No. 2712)

 

I could have spent all day in the nature park, but my ultimate destination awaited me, the park at the end of the island. On the way I stopped at Pierre-Payet park for lunch and made a few paintings. Usually I avoid painting private property but this house had some incredible colours on the red side of the spectrum. The bright ferrari red down by the fence, the neutral iron red of the tree trunck, the maroon of the tree leaves, and the magenta of the trellis flowers. It felt good to make use of the full palette.

Pierre-Payet Park Colourful Garden, watercolour cold press 5 x 7", June 2021 (No. 2713)

This was the view I had as I ate lunch, seated on the grass towards the end of the park. The grass was awfully dry, and the wind was gusting. The shore line made an interesting shape, it is part of Saint Thérèse Island, which actually is part of Varennes Quebec. There were little shanties and locals boating and kayaking around here. .

Pierre-Payet Park View of Verrenes #1, watercolour cold press 5 x 7", June 2021 (No. 2714a)

 

And this one from the same spot looking Eastward towards the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Prairie rivers. The big tree in the middle must be a real survivor, a colossus of sorts to stand strong in what must be some difficult winter conditions. Today the tree was just enjoying the sunshine.

Pierre-Payet Park View of Verrenes #2, watercolour cold press 5 x 7", June 2021 (No. 2714b)

 

And then there were no more parks left on the way, I made it to Parc du Bout-de-l'Île the Eastern most point of the island of Montreal. I tried to translate this but it had something to do with combat, perhaps that is the case, but I thought it meant 'boot' like toe of the boot. If you look closely among the rocks you will find the toe of my left shoe, just to show I was there, at the end of the boot. Half of the painting shows the rampart of large stones there as a breakwater. The water on the left, which is the Prairie river, had an odd purple-brown colour, while the St. Lawrence (top right) had a brilliant turquoise where the two rivers met. I downplayed the condos and other urbanity on the far shore to maximize the great colour contrast with the chartreuse grasses. This was the only 9 x 12" painting I did on the trip, I brought one piece just for this type of scene. I noticed on the map this park was also called  Parc du Fort-De-Pointe-Aux-Trembles, so perhaps it was two parks in one, the central area was filled with interesting statues.

Parc du Bout-de-l'Île The End of the Boot, watercolour cold press 9 x 12", June 2021 (No. 2894)

 

I walked carefully with my bike along the rocky shore, some of it was a dense sand beach, and arrived at a small triangle of land, literally the tip of the island. A large stately tree that had seen better days was leaning badly due to erosion. I captured the tangle of roots and different textures of bark. In the background you see Notre Dame Hwy 138 bridge going off island, afterwards I rode about halfway across but was not equipped to go much further. As I painted this one, a couple of people drifted by in a motor boat that was not running, the were fishing, and I could tell they were watching me... some guy in a bucket hat with his bike beside him, doing a painting of a dead old tree.

Parc du Bout-de-l'Île Leaning Tree, watercolour cold press 5 x 7", June 2021 (#2714)

 Around the bend I found a dense grassy area with a view of Prairie river in the background, you see that odd purple-brown colour (done with perylene maroon PR179, indo blue PB60, and touches of cobalt blue PB28). I almost walked past this scene, I was tired and knew it would be a tough one. But Van Gogh did a painting like this once so I gave it a go. I also wanted to use every brush and every colour. I started with my 1 inch round hog's hair brush because I only ever use it clean the palette in between paintings, so thought this brush deserved a chance to shine. Then I worked through all the brushes, a No. 8, No. 6, No. 4, No 2, filbert, and small rigger. I also employed each of the 20 paints from my palette. Even the magenta saw some action in the little pink flowers. As I walked about this area, I noticed the remains of campfires and evidence of parties, so this seemed like the kind of place the kids would go to hang out and party at night.

Parc du Bout-de-l'Île Everyone is Invited, watercolour cold press 5 x 7", June 2021 (No. 2715)

So I made it, all the way out to the tip of Montreal island. But my day was only half over, there was plenty of sun and plenty of watercolour paper left!