Montreal West: Around the Bend

After reaching the Eastern most point on the island of Montreal, it was cool to make a painting on the Western most point that was accessible. This was done from a small unmarked park with a single picnic bench, looking to the West. The rest of the west island shore is blocked by private dwellings, but this scene is pretty close, it was near the Senneville Sailing Club. The wind was blasting up from Lake of Two Mountains almost gale force, which made the painting rather difficult. Regular blotting of my eyes was required! Interesting mud flats were highlighted by the backlit waves, sparkling in the sun.
 

West Island View, Windy Day, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2897)

 

Rounding the big bend in Senneville road, I finally arrived in Saint-Anne de Bellevue, a popular destination for tourists and visitor with restaurant and patio bars. I found this scene underneath the many bridges that exit the West island here, including two train bridges, and the two parts of highway 20. Trains and cars regularly rumbled by, shaking the ground at times. This was another painting that required correct proportions and angles, which I judged by holding up the paint brush. Artists have to do that right? Maybe I need a beret too.

St. Anne-de-Bellevue, Iron Bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2737)

 

After painting a lot of green and brown, I was craving a bit of colour. In the previous painting I made good use of iron oxide red to get the rusty train bridge. Here, I used cobalt blue (PB28) with indo blue (PB60 for shadows for the fountain, and the trusty ferrari red vermilion (PR255) with perylene maroon (PR179) for the shadows for the red wall. The yellow pots were benzi yellow (PY154) and umber (PBr7) for the shadows.

St. Anne-de-Bellevue, Red Yellow Blue, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2738)

 

This was another restaurant in St. Anne's, called Peter's Cape Cod, which I had a meal in afterwards. To capture the variety of blues I used cobalt blue, indo blue, and touches of phthalo blue and green. I felt it important to flex the turquoise/aqua/teal part of the palette to get some experience. There is a neat aqua paint (PG50) but I don't have it yet, its another cobalt paint.

St. Anne-de-Bellevue, Peter's Cape Cod!, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2739)

 

Finally, the last painting of the day, a shadow of me standing with my bike, painting the scene of old rusted railroad ties and yellow flowers. Highway 20 is in the background.

My Shadow, B'aie D'Urfe watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2922)