After painting some nature scenes along the shoreline of the St. Lawrence river I turned my attention to the small village of Lachine where I grew up as a boy. This restaurant is on the main drag Bd St-Joseph but the doors and windows were shuttered, with bad wear and tear on the exterior. On the front door, the it said 'close due to COVID-19'. For the painting I moved the inscription to the flanking door, which must have been a garage door that opened for summer dining. It doesn't look like this restaurant is set to open any time soon.
Restaurant Topaze Closed due to COVID-19, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2022 (No. 3134)
In what must have been a century plus-old building was a modern Dépanneur chain called Provisoir. I couldn't resist doing this one, the bricks had an intense brick-red with blackened lines and heavy texture. A bus went by and I managed to squeeze it in. In the background is a massive factory complex no longer in use, unfortunately I couldn't get close enough for a painting.
Dépanneur Provisoir Lachine, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2022 (No. 3133b)
A bike path runs along the north part of Lachine adjacent to the old disused train tracks and near LaSalle Park. The sun was full on here, with the entire scene backlit. Since it was a cool breezy day I was able to stand and paint, in full summer heat I would need to find shade. I painted fast and tried to capture the contrast of the old industrial with the new growth and greenery. These are the same tracks I painted recently in Ville St. Pierre. Don't worry though, there are no trains on these tracks anymore, there are even trees and shrubs growing over them.
Train switch, Lachine, watercolour 8 x 10" Fabriano Artistico, June 2022 (No. 3032b)
No comments:
Post a Comment