In between the Rain

Making my way down to the Lachine canal in between the rain, I managed to reel off a number of paintings. This is the classic Lachine canal scene I like to paint once or twice per year, you see the iron gantry crane on the right that used to lift cargo off of boats and drop it onto trains. Long defunct, the crane is now an iconic feature. The footbridge is a pale green hue, easily made with phthalo green (PG7) diluted with a bit extra water.

Gantry Crane and Footbridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024 (No. 3785)

With a change in wind and some ominous clouds approaching I made a hasty retreat from the Lachine canal. This scene is between highways, looking east towards downtown Montreal. The bike path runs adjacent to this wide open gravel area. Its not clear what they plan to do with it, perhaps just leave as is. Sparse grass and shrubs are growing in and around the flats. Historically this was the bottom of a lake before they drained it to make the canal, and dredged the rapids to allow boats to pass.

Between Highways, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024 (No. 3786)

Up on the NDG escarpment they built a walking and cycling trail which you see in the background of this painting. I was drawn to the violet and magenta flowers, they were very high chroma. To mix the colours, I used quinacridone magenta (PR122) with some of my new quinacridone red (PR209) and phthalo blue sapphire (PB15). Too bad I didn't have the carbazol violet (PV23) or ultramarine (PB29) with me, they are quite intense and would have been good for this scene, but they are not very useful colours overall. Having PR122 on the palette unlocks a lot of the magenta colours you see in flowers, peoples clothings, and some signs.

Violet and Magenta Flowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2024 (No. 3784b)