Montreal, Memory Lane

This painting is notable as the first location painting I remember doing in the spring thaw of 2005, after I moved 'back' to Montreal. Of course, I was born there but our family transplanted to Ontario in the 1980's. The building was some sort of military facility or museum, and as I was painting a person in a pink coat walked past, creating an interesting contrast with the salmon-coloured bricks. The canon was fun to paint, I have painted many canons in the past such as California, Stratford Ontario, and Gibralter.  There were a bunch of cool paintings from Gibraltar that are worth doing a blog one day.

Montreal, Des Pins x Henri Julien, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2005 (No. 1065)

 

This painting was done a bit later, it would have been around the time that I moved our of the Mile End to NDG. It was raining hard this day but I was compelled to make a painting. Finding a store overhang for shelter, I could get a decent painting out, with a subtle reflection on the pavement. There is a lot of textural details in this painting, and I can even make out a parking meter, a famous garbage can, and a street sign.

Montreal, Fairmont Avenue, School, Rainy Day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2013 (No. 1079)

 

Here is a scene of a Greek Church on Hutchinson street, about half way between where I lived in Mile End, and the Mount Royal park. The colours were very interesting, the bricks were an eggshell white while the facade was an array of blues. I don't paint religious building anymore, so these kinds of paintings are a rarity in the collection. Structures in general are pretty hard to get right, you end up trying to do an architectural drawing and then filling in the colours! Anyways, these paintings bring back some memories.

Montreal, Hutchinson Street, Greek Church, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2013 (No. 1080)