Saturday, April 23, 2022

Saturday painting, Ville St. Henri and Downtown

 

St. Ambroise street is most famous for its namesake, St. Ambroise brewery that makes a variety of classic Quebec beers. It used to be a purely industrial area but with the Atwater market and constant condo developments along the canal, it has quickly gentrified. You are more likely to see people walking little dogs and drinking coffee than you will see a factory worker. The scene shows some of the old buildings and a few parked cars. The thing that looks like a van was an Amazon prime delivery vehicle.

St. Ambroise Street, Ville St. Henri, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3106a)

 

I've no idea what these giant green silos were used for, maybe plastic polymers since the building in the background used to make Calico toys. Now the building is office space and condos and the silos are a palette for graffiti artists. Wanting to get in on the action, I replaced the foreground graffiti with my initials. No vandalism here. 

Green Silos and Condos, Ville St. Henri, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3008a)

 

I continued down Notre Dame avenue for awhile until the traffic got too heavy and then turned back. This scene was neat, a veritable fortress of windows. I was thinking to myself, what would have Monet or Van Gogh made of this scene? I managed to squeeze in a lot of detail, and captured some of the light and shadow patterns on the road. The tallest building is the Habs Condo, the Montreal Canadiens awhile back developed some of their land into a condo project, complete with logo on top.

Habs Condos Downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3092b)

 

On the way back I got stopped at the train crossing. From experience I knew it could last ten or even twenty minutes so I busted out the paint kit and got to work. The fellow in the blue jacket arrived and looked at the painting, he was amazed that I could paint so fast, and I told him that I'm a human camera. Its funny how some of the best paintings can capture a moment.

Train Crossing, Ville Henri, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3107)

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