Day one of my bike ride to the West Island took me past a number of parks some of which I was quite familiar with, others were new experiences. The view of course, was gorgeous wherever you looked... the sparkling water of the St. Lawrence with emerald greens and turquoises, lined with lush foliage and green grass. One surprise was how cold it was, luckily I brought along an extra shirt to stay warm. The warm-up painting was this challenge, one of many sailboats moored at Parch St. Louis in Lachine.
Parc Saint-Louis, Sailboat, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2725)
A dedicated bike path took me farther west to Stoney point park, a popular picnic destination and nice place for a stroll. The cold wind was blasting down the St, Lawrence here, but it did not seem to bother the ducks and the squirrels. I threw some peanuts down to get the creature to pose for a few seconds, luckily I've had some practice painting squirrels at Trenholme park. To create the stoney point, I started with a flat wash of two types of grey, one warm, one cool, then as it dried I added layers of details. The more it dried, the sharper the details became. The squirrel only sat still for a second or two, I established the outline and finished from memory.
Stoney Point Park, Squirrel and Ducks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2920)
This park I have memories of since childhood, albeit brief memories. Cilei and I have also rode out here, and I have rode out here a few times on my own over the years. The shore line is completely different, they planted foliage to prevent erosion. I found my way to the rocky shore and saw a recently used fire-pit, the driftwood tree trunk was charred black too. The bridge is the Honoré Mercier bridge. For the stoney beach, you will see a few of the stones are brighter than the rest. To do that effect I leave the spot blank until the painting is almost finished, then add a light bright peach or sky blue. The tree trunk needed a lot of layers to give it the sun-bleached and wind-blown textures. Those little sparkles in the water are paper left to show, done with a careful sideways dry-brush technique.
Parc Summerlea, Fire-pit, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2726)
Next was Millenium park, which was made for walking and running but had little to inspire an artist. The main feature was a large running track that circled a sun burned field of grass. I composed a semi circle of textured gravel, and filled it with the scorched grass. For this trip I removed phthalo green blue shade (PG7) and replaced with with a giant blob of benzi yellow (PY154), knowing full well that I would use a lot of yellow paint on this trip. Good thing that I did because I used a lot of yellow by the time the trip was over.
Millenium Park, Running Track, 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2727)
Another popular picnic destination, Pine Beach Park is located in Dorval. Dorval has invested a lot into the waterfront, making it accessible and providing cafes and restaurants for a bit of tourism, I was quite impressed. I rode into this park with high expectations, then had a hard time to find either a beach or some pine trees. I never did find the beach, but I found some pine trees near a War memorial, which you see as the reflective black marble triangle shape in the bottom left. I have not painted a reflection like this before. I started by painting it in colour at the same time I painted the main scene, then took a deep breath and covered it with dilute carbon black. In retrospect I would have done it in the other order, so as to better judge the hues and values.
Pine Beach Park, Memorial and Pine Trees, 8 x 10" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2896)
I will post another blog for the second part of day one of the ride...
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