Montreal West: Voyage Home and Gear

Early in the morning of the third day of my cycling and painting trip to the West island I made a painting near the town hall building. The scene was backlit by the rising sun, creating interesting highlights on the water, shadows from the trees, and a park bench in silhouette. The sparkling waves were created with the side-brush technique, where the brush has to have the correct level of moisture and paint. When dry, the different coloured waves are applied in squiggles. The St. Lawrence has a caramel brown colouring from below, and reflected blue on the surface.
Baie D'Urfé Town Hall Park, Peaceful Morning, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2741)

 

After painting a Monet-inspired field of flowers, I had to try painting this manicured water lily pond. The pond had chartreuse algae floating on top, a small patch of lilies in the back, and many rocks above and below the murky water. Blue light wad reflecting from the sky, and the surrounding trees also cast reflections and shadows on the water's surface. To create the realistic reflective water I built up an umber base, then dabbed in a good amount of cobalt blue which has high chroma and opacity. It looked like a putrid mess until it dried, then I was surprised with how well the effect turned out. The algae was created with my 1 inch hog's hair brush, it is mostly for cleaning the palette, but comes in handy to create finely textured surfaces.

Baie D'Urfé Town Hall Park, Water Lily Pond, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2742)

 

In keeping with the Monet theme I discovered these hay bails at the bottom of a small hill probably used for tobogganing in the winter. It was hot, humid, and the mosquitos were buzzing. This was painting number 24, and the last of my trip out West.

Allen's Hill Park, Hay Bales  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2743)

Here are a few photos with captions to explain my gear a bit, 

This is a picture of part of the gear I brought along in my bike pack, excluding the food. There are various repair items for the bike, a small first aid kit, night riding equipment, phone charger, water containers, palette, papers, brushes, rags, sun screen and other toiletries. 

Here it is all packed up. You see my hybrid bicycle by Felt with a 3 compartment saddle pack, a U-bolt lock tied to the frame, water bottle, and a helmet. I had the bike tuned up before the trip. One thing missing are foot straps to keep feet on the peddles.

 Most importantly, coffee! I brought some instant coffee which tastes like gold when you are out in the rough, just add some sun-warmed water and voila. I also have these polarized sunglasses that helped reduce eyestrain. I could do paintings with these sunglasses on, just peek at the colour from time to time. Without any sunglasses the eyes will quickly tire and be sore at the end of the day.

That wraps up the blogging for my cycling and painting trip out West. I have more time off in August, and plan to do a hiking trip. In the meantime I will definitely keep up the paintings and blogging. I hope you enjoyed my pictures and stories.