Remaining Scenes of Lachine

Around this time last year I made the final version of the Dépanneur Diamond 10 down in Lachine, which was slated for demolition to make way for condo development. I returned to the location today to see what the situation was, and indeed, the store was gone and just a vacant lot was there. Presumably there will be construction in the near future. I thought about painting the vacant lot but it was just a moonscape with some plants growing here and there, so instead I rode around town looking for other things that were worth remembering. The scene above is an alleyway with a spiral staircase, and a birdhouse attached to the top of the building at the top right. At the bottom right, you see the end of an awning, that belongs to a closed down laundry mat/tailor store. I was going to paint the closed down store, but the alley next to it was so much more interesting. A lot of people walked by and looked and complimented the painting.

Birdhouse in Alley, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, October 2023 (No. 3616a)

On the same street, which must have been Notre Dame, there was a very old building that looked like an old hotel perhaps. The facade said 1903 at the top, so it was 120 years old! Painting the variety of off-whites was an interesting challenge, I used neutralized yellow ochre (PY43) throughout. To neutralize yellow ochre I start with a very yellow version of yellow ochre from Da Vinci, and mix with indo blue, or perylene green, and sometimes magenta. With the right amount of water it produces a range of cream colours and light greys. Most yellow ochres have an orange tint, the one from Da Vinci is the only one with the yellowish tint, so I bought a jumbo (37mL) size that will last forever. I used to hate yellow ochre, but now its a staple in my palette. Even in the sky, I apply a very thin wash of yellow ochre to begin, then drop in the purplish cloud shadows and sky-blue colours.

1903 House Lachine, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2023 (No. 3562b)