Montréal Est: Parc Honoré-Mercier

The east part of Montreal is called Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles. There are plenty of hyphenated names out there, not to mention incredible parks along the Rivers and a large nature reserve. I spent a few days on the Point-aux-Trembles side which is next to the St. Lawrence River. My final destination was the very tip of the island, a small park called Parc du Bout-de-l'Île where the Praries River merges with the St. Lawrence River. This group of paintings was done at Parc Honoré-Mercier, a long narrow park where I made a few painting last year after completing the green line metro series. The colours of the river were surprisingly tropical: turquoise green and sapphire blue with flashes of caramel tones. As the clouds passed over, the river changed colours like a chameleon. The rest of the scene was dry and arid, we are in the midst of drought-like conditions. 

Parc Honoré-Mercier 1, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2700)

 

The next scene was looking downstream at the beginnings of the shipping port, you see a gigantic ship moored on the horizon. People were fishing up and down the St. Lawrence River. This part of the park had just been renovated so the landscaping was brand new. A seemingly angry group of red winged blackbirds were making noise and flitting about. At this angle, the river had more emerald tones.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 2, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2701)

 

I found a path leading down to the river side. It was a vast expanse of rocks and pebbles. This scene was overcast so I stood right out in the middle of the rocky beach, then the sun came out. Painting the chaotic rock patterns was a challenge. The famous ship was still there on the horizon.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 3, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2702)

 

Near the end of the park was a large fishing pier with a small crowd of people angling. The clouds were layered and variable, a mix of storm clouds and clear blue sky. This was a good place to sit and have a snack, my bike saddle packs were fully loaded for the trip. You see the colour of the water changed once again, when it was overcast the river appeared to be a flat blue. I  created the glowing sky with indo blue (PB60) and caput mortum (PR101), along with techniques such as lifting, wet-in-wet, and dry brush. It took the whole 'tool box' to paint a complex sky like this.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 4, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2703)

 

Five paintings seemed like a nice round number to complete (hey I was being an artist not a mathematician). The grass in the park was dry as dust, I used yellow ochre (PY43) with a touch of indo blue and some green (PG36). In the background the pine trees were almost orange, while the foreground landscaping provided some colour accents. For most of the painting on this trip I established an outline with dilute carbon black, in this one the outline was really helpful due to the complex perspective and geometry. Maybe a little science did come into play.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 5, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2704)

To get to Parc Honoré-Mercier I rode my bike East along the familiar Maisonneuve bike path which goes through NDG and across downtown Montreal. From there I veered right onto the Notre-Dame 'bike path' which oft consists of a sidewalk marked with bike path symbols. It takes you East all the way past the shipping port and into Montreal East. Good thing I wore the earplugs there were a lot of trucks going to and fro the port. On day one of the trip I rode about 28 km and made 10 paintings.