The bike route to Verdun from NDG is a winding one. It tarts with the new autoroute overpass bike path, to the Lachine Canal, across a foot bridge and up Senkus street, through Park Angrignon, across the aqueduct onto Crawford street, then follow the waterfront path to the east. This painting was done from the river shore park, somewhere near Douglas hospital. The south shore is visible in the distance, and a little island, probably Rock island is hiding behind the foliage.
River view from Verdun vertical, watercolour 10 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3614a)
This painting was from the same vantage point but composed differently to emphasize the end of what must be goat island, which is adjacent to Heron island, not seen in the painting. My Grandfather had a summer house, or shack, there in the 50's or so, where my dad and his brothers and parents would go to fish and boat. You can see how different this painting is from the same spot, just be removing the foreground trees and composing on the horizontal.
Goat Island view from Verdun horizontal, watercolour 10 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3614b)
It took a little riding but I found 5th avenue where my Dad used to live as a child. This scene is looking directly across the street at a pink flowering shrub in full sunlight. It took awhile to complete all the intricate brush work of the shrub, along with all the background details. There were a lot of people around, many seemed curious and glanced at my painting. It's not often I paint on residential streets, sometimes people think I am a parking police writing a ticket. Which is silly because nowadays they print tickets.
Flowering Shrub on 5th Avenue, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3471b)
After visiting Cilene and Fritz, I stopped at Labelle park looking down Lasalle Boulevard. Here I made a quick painting of the famous brown buildings, green trees, and crooked utility poles of Verdun. In French they call Verdun verte et brun!
View down Lasalle Boulevard, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2023 (No. 3472b)
No comments:
Post a Comment