Montreal West: To the Nature Park

Heading north on Anse a L'Orme Road I noticed these incredible wild flowers lining the shoulder of the bike path. There were pale blue star shapes, white daisies, little yellow ones, and the pinkish flower of milkweed plants. I used cobalt blue (PB28) with a touch of magenta (PR122) to capture the wild flower blue colour. It was early morning but very hot and exposed here, one of the cyclists graciously asked if my bike was okay... cyclists generally help others in need, but I was fine in that respect.  You can see the bike path posts, in fact I was standing on the southbound side to get this view of the flowers.
 

Highway Wild Flowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2732)

 

The Nature park is a popular destination for tourists, families and apparently, heavy machinery. But more on that later. I built up the dense green foliage from the brown path, and towards the distant tree line. Luckily I brought along extra yellow paint, this one required a lot. Paths like this a collection of contradictions, they are straight and crooked, brown and green, rough and smooth, up and down, left and right. I stopped here to have a nice coffee, instant mixed with lukewarm water.

Cap Saint-Jacques Nature Park, Path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2733)

 

On the north shore of the park you can find great views of the Lake of Two mountains and beginnings of the Prairie River which you see here in the painting. A small sailboat was exploring in the distance. The rocky shore line jutted in and out of the cool blue water. The composition brings your eye into the painting and up to the left, then down the shore line to the rocks and grass. The distant blues are something I worked on recently. It is done with indo blue (PB60) neutralized with a touch of carbon black (PBk6) and working in yellow (PY175 or PY154) with a hint of phthalo green (PG36). The trick is to make it darker than you think because it will dry a lot lighter than it looks when wet.

Cap Saint-Jacques Nature Park, north shore, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2734)

Nearing the end of the hiking/cycling path, there were these great fields of grass and flowers. This scene had wild tiger lilies in the foreground and a variety of other plants and flowers in the mid ground. I had Monet in mind for this one, he painted poppy fields in France to great effect, in fact I copied his painting using acrylics several decades ago. Breaking the idyllic silence were a parade of heavy machinery, apparently there are a lot of noisy maintenance vehicles for the park. Shuffling my bike to the edge of the road as much as possible, a backhoe stopped and the driver leaned out and looked at my painting and said 'nice!'. I will take that as a compliment, at least he didn't say 'move'.

Cap Saint-Jacques Nature Park, Field of Flowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2735)

 

Reaching the end of the loop, I wanted to make one more painting but the scenery was a little dense. I found inspiration in the poison ivy growing at the roadside, as indicated by the warning sign you see in the painting. Sumac trees, also known to be poisonous, also lined the embankment. Sitting at a safe distance on a park bench I made this final scene of the park, you see the bike path at bottom right which veers off to the park exit. To make the black part of the warning sign, I mixed all the darks including indo blue (PB60), perylene maroon (PR179), perylene green (PBk31), and a touch of carbon black (PBk6).

Cap Saint-Jacques Nature Park, Pick your Poison, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2736)