Perry Island

Perry island is a tiny picnic island located in the Prairie River north shore of Montreal. I rode up the O'Brien route which intersects with Gouin Boulevard to Mercy Park. The water current is very strong here and I tried to convey the movement of the water and the sparkling light reflections. Prairie river is generally quite shallow and it takes on a muted blue colour with accents of reddish brown and yellows near the shore. The tree reflections also came out a khaki olive brown.

Perry Island vertical, watercolour 6 x 9" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3021)

 

The island has walking paths winding throughout leading to some water access where people fish, and picnic tables. Here you see the north part of the Praire River, so the opposite shore is mainland Laval. The shore is filled with estate houses and private boat docks. I used impressionist brush strokes to convey the light and colour permeating the scene.

Perry Island Oak Tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3118a)

 

This time I can confirm that the bridge was functional, a Montreal commuter train rumbled by towards the end of doing this painting. Too bad it hadn't showed up earlier maybe I could have included it in the design. There was a lot to pack in to a small scene, the fresh spring shrubberies, the sparkling fast moving water with reflection, and a complex multi span iron bridge. I quite like the way the water looks, I used un-mixed diluted indo blue (PB60), with streaks of a paint called transparent umber from Schmincke company that looks just like burnt umber. Of course the rusted iron bridge was done with red brown (PR101/PBr7), which is made of iron oxide the same chemical found in rust.

Train Bridge Perry Island, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2022 (No. 3119a)