PJD goes to PJD

 

Park Jean-Drapeau was created from landfill for EXPO67, it sits under the Cartier bridge and hold the amusement park, a concert venue, and winding paths through trees. Throughout the park you can see PJD stamped on the surface of concrete dividers, picnic benches, bins and other objects which of course denotes the initials of the park. It also happens to be my initials which I put on every painting, so I could have done a painting here and have PJD in it. This scene was a real challenger, usually on a painting trip I try to do something easy to start off with, but this was maximum. I started with the sky then worked on the grass, the structure inside the dome, the tree, the steel framed dome, then the details. It seemed to work our reasonably well.

Tree and Dome, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2991a)

 

The overcast sky was casting a grey shade onto the river, with various highlights. If you look at the shore, there is the famous apartment complex called Habitat 67, like a giant pile of brown lego blocks with windows. There were more colours in the river when I was painting it,but it dried near exact grey. I will have to exaggerate the blue next time, indothrene tends to loose a lot of its chroma and value when it dries. 

 City Skyline, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2992a)

 

I really just wanted to paint this rusty bridge to try the colours. The green was mostly just perylene green (PBk31) with a touch of yellow, then the rust layers in while moist, included yellow ochre (PY43), red brown (PR101/ PBr7), and raw umber (PBr7).

 Rust Bridge, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2993a)

 

In an empty overflow parking lot next to Park La Ronde, there were these massive heaps of wood chips. In the background you see the Cartier bridge with one of the pale yellow structures that holds up the off ramps. To make the texture on the wood chip piles I used the hog's hair brush normally reserved for cleaning my palette, it gives a great stippling effect. There were still a few puddles from the earlier rain. I quite like this painting.

Wood Chip Piles, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2994)

 

There is a race track on the island used for the annual car race, in the meantime it is open to cyclists, walkers and rollerbladers.  A lot of the cyclists were wearing Lycra and riding track bikes, they would whip around usually in groups of two or three. I found a strip of grass with an interesting view of the overpass bridge which is an off-ramp from Victoria bridge. I painted in the cyclists last with just a few expressive lines and colours. After I did the painting, I hopped on my bike and did a lap!

Bikes Under Bridge, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2995)

 

On my way back I noticed that a new bike path extended beyond the hospital along the auto-route and under the turcot west interchange that I painted the other day. At the very top left of the painting is the fancy white bridge, and probably near the exact spot I was standing for the previous painting. I liked the interplay of all the angles, they create a visual puzzle. The bike path and sidewalk are set back from the road, so they did a great job with it. I was worried that this painting would turn out drab and muddy, but now that I see the scan it seems to cover the abundance of grey neutrals and still remain lively.

Under the Underpass, Turcot West, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3091a)