Views from Parc Gédéon-De Catalogne

 

On my way downtown I stopped at Parc Gédéon-De Catalogne in st Henri, right next to the canal. I recognized this style of sculpture immediately, it looks to be identical to a sculpture up in the Mile End that I painted a few weeks ago. The rest of the scene was very earthy and pale. Tall wispy grass with fuzzy white tops filled a trench that cuts across the park. To paint this I had to do the background and then put the painting down for awhile to let it dry. Then I applied the sculpture using mostly burnt ochre (PR102). The salt in the water and cool overcast sky made for difficult painting today.

Familiar Iron Sculpture, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2023 (No. 3659)

 

As I waited for the background of the other painting to dry, I turned 180° and painted this scene of the rusty turquoise water tower that defined the horizon in this hipster neighborhood. Underneath the water tower is a craft beer restaurant, which I painted earlier in the year. In the foreground is the Lachine canal, at a spot where they took down the wall of it and added some earthy slopes and planted rows of reeds. People use that point to sit in the summer, and to go down and fish or let their dog in the water, neither of which are really allowed due to the heavy metal pollution in the canal.

View of Hipster Tower, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2023 (No. 3544b)