Summer in Old Montreal

The east end of old Montreal is bordered by Berri street, with the iconic stone bridge under Notre Dame avenue. The steep road to the right is also Berri, it connects up with Notre dame. I was standing in a shady, pleasant little park called Parc Ville-de-la-Flèche, in fact the park was so pleasant I must have sat there for an hour cooling off and having an instant coffee. Instant coffee is one of my must have items on a bike trip, there is nothing like having a coffee out in the middle of the city. As I painted this scene many cars, buses, and tourists passed by, but the one thing that caught my eye was the pigeons. Maybe it was the same one as I saw last time? 

Berri Street, with Pigeon, Old Montreal, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore Series 400, August 2022 (No. 3324a)

 

I found a small nook by a outdoor patio where I could standing by my bike on Laurent Street. You can add the 'saints' if you please to these names, most streets have it but I feel like omitting it for now. The buildings down town are very ornate, built over a hundred years ago or even more when the stone work facades were important and had to look impressive. To paint this scene I made a fairly detailed outline with paint and a number 2 brush, then I filled in the colours and shadows. It was a do-it-yourself paint-by-numbers strategy. I employ this strategy when there is overwhelming detail to capture and not a lot of room for mistakes to happen.

View of Paul Street, Old Montreal, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore Gemini, August 2022 (No. 3325)

Farine Five Roses is an iconic sign atop a large factory with grain silos. I have attempted to paint it many times, the most accomplished perhaps was a night painting. Today there was a neat view of one of the massive grain silos from under Highway 10 that leads to the Victoria bridge. The sky was an interesting semi circle surrounded by the structures. This is a very interesting area to paint and I would like to do more here, but the scenes really need larger sizes of paper, perhaps I will pack the 9 x 12 block next time.

Farine Five Roses Silo, seen from Under a Bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2022 (No. 3214a)