Remains of the Lake, identified?

Perusing an old map from pre-canal times in the late 18th century revealed a large lake in approximate location of highway 720 and the Lachine canal, stretching as far south into what would become Lasalle, and off to the east where downtown Montreal begins. It was very hard to find any additional information on this Lake, other than it was called by several names including Little Pierre lake. This painting was the last one I did on my trip down to the canal today after work. Normally I would not have attempted such a scene, but its more about trying to tell the story than making an amazing painting. The suggestions of brownish water at the bottom is actually a drainage ditch feeding into a pipe that goes under a gravel utility road. Water collects here because it would seem to be the lowest point in the area and therefor might represent the bottom of the old lake. I have no way to verify this story, but I suspect that the NDG escarpment is the old north shore of the lake, while the steep road up Senkus street to park Angrignon could have been the south shore. That would suggest a large swampy area to the west and east. Anyways, I will try to make a better painting of the 'drainage ditch' for posterity, and see if there is any additional information on the history of this land available on the internet or library. 

Remains of the Lake? watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3942a)

Sundown on the Lachine Canal part 2

The structure here is an off ramp near the Lachine canal, with the curving bike path that comes from the highway 720 overpass and connects with the canal path. The curved, paneled wall is a highway off ramp that connects to the bridge and billboard area I posted int he last blog. The sun was almost setting by now, and the asphalt bike path was infused with a glowing orange-yellow. Getting the colours right was tough here, its a very grey scene, but the colours had to be infused with warm light. To do this I either mixed yellow ochre (PY43) and orange (PO62) on the palette, or applied it directly to the painting when wet. The main interest in this scene were the amazing curving lines emanating from left to top right and bottom right.

Highway off ramp near canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3941)

 

This was done soon after arrival, it shows the underside of the footbridge, with water refelctions in the shadows. It is a very technical painting, capturing all the water ripples and the shimmering reflections in the shadows can be quite challenging. Ironically, painting water in watercolour can be harder then with oils or acrylics where you can paint light over dark. 

Water reflections under bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3940b)

 

Here is just a fun painting, showing the dramatic curve of the Lachine canal with a colourful sunset reflecting off the rippling water. Some birds, probably seagulls complete the atmosphere. 

Sundown on Lachine Canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3938b)

Sundown on the Lachine Canal part 1

Right around 2019 the city completed the last connection for the Lachine canal bike path near ville st Pierre. I did a painting during the fall around that time, and noticed that there would be almost unlimited scenes and locations to paint up and down the canal. It turned out to be true and I have racked up probably a hundred paintings since then in and around the area that used to be a heavy industrial conduit. Not only are the sight lines great, its also quiet, and it tells a story of the history of Montreal.

Bridge and billboard over canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3938a)

It was after a long day of work I rode down across the new highway overpass at st Jacques street that has a bike path going over the train tracks and autoroute 720. Emerging onto the path you get this view, looking west where the canal curves, and the shadows were long with a low sun. Coloured clouds were reflecting in the water. Thankfully the fence is black iron, which makes it a lot easier to paint than if it were white or some light colour.

Sundown on canal with Tree Shadows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3939)

 

The pale green arching footbridge with a bike path takes you over the canal to Senkus street which you see in the middle of the painting, it is a fairly steep ride straight up to what is probably Lasalle, eventually leading to Park Angrignon. This is how I would ride to the park. But today the weather although hot was quite pleasant down at water level and I reeled off a string of paintings mostly from the exact same spot.

Footbridge over canal panorama, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3940a)

Sunset with firetruck

As the sun descended below the shopping mall, a firetruck came around and parked right in the middle of the scene, as if posing. It was in silhouette but still illuminated from the blood red sunset. To paint sunset with firetruck I had to work fast because neither would be around for very long, and a photo would never work in these circumstances. Not that I ever work from photo, just to say that a watercolour kit on location was the only way to capture this scene for posterity. When painting a blood red sunset there are two choices. One is to do it like Monet in his famous Impressions of a Sunrise where the whole sky is a middle grey value, and the sun painted with his best red-orange in a lighter value. The other option is to amp up the chroma with pigments like pyrol orange (PO73) and orange (PO62) and show the sun darker than its surroundings. Here, I include a kind of corona around the sun which was not actually there, but it gives the illusion of staring at something that you shouldn't be staring at. In the original painting the sunset is a shimmering red-orange while the computer scan turns it into more of a tomato red but you get the idea. To paint the firetruck I established a loose outline to get the perspective right, and left as much white highlight area to work with as possible. From there I worked up the colours with perylene maroon (PR179), yellowish greys (PY43 + PBk6), and the greenish windshield (PG7). Completing the effect is the earth-toned asphalt, and a dark shadow under the truck. It was kind of exciting, as I walked home holding the painting as it dried, taking a look at it, there is a lot of drama here. Not bad for a dull looking parking lot somewhere in Montreal. 

Sunset with firetruck, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3936)

Lead up to sunset in the parking lot

 After going for a walk yesterday we saw a wonderful sunset up at Cavendish mall. Today, with similar weather conditions I headed up on foot with my paint kit and made some paintings in the lead up to the sunset. I was there about 1 hour before sunset. In the first painting, I show the peonies in the parking lot with McDonald's in the background. The foreground flowers were in shadow, the middle ground flowers were still sunlit. The foreground flowers are mostly quin purple (PV55), the middle ground are quin magenta (PR122). 

Peonies in the parking lot with McD, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3934a)

 

Looking across the parking lot, there were long shadows from the shopping mall creeping across the asphalt. To get the yellowish colours I mixed yellow ochre (PY43) with orange (PO62) on the left, and blue (PB60) on the right. The sunset was pyrol orange (PO73) dilute on the horizon, with neutral grey-green and then blue (PB15) at the top. The three light poles are essential for creating depth and rounding out the composition.

Sunset across parking lot, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3937a)

 

Situated on a right angle to the sunset, the McDonald's windows were reflecting the setting sun. In reality it was rather greyish and dark, so I embellished the colours based on what the sun set would be in ten minutes. The peonies are just visible at the bottom left. As I painted this location, I thought, you can make art anywhere really, including an otherwise bland looking parking lot and shopping area. I will make a separate blog for the actual sunset painting.

McD's sunset, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3935b)

Colours of the water in watercolour

 The Mercier bridge splits off into three or so branches on the south canal embankment, you see here two converging train bridges with the car bridge emerging in between. The water was a shimmering blue, with brown tints closer to shore. To do the sky, it was a light blue (PB15) with a smoggy orangish horizon (PO73). PO73 is pyrol orange, it has coral red tones when applied in think washes, which is the perfect colour for the reddish horizon glow.

Mercier Train and car bridges, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3933a)

 

A little farther downstream and I got this view looking back towards the bridge. The turquoise water was churning and bubbling close to the rocky shore. I painted the water and sky first, then over-painted the trees, foreground grass, and inserted the bridge between all the foliage. The water looked amazing to begin with, so it was daunting to paint over it with the trees, but I am glad I tried since it gives a good impression of peering through trees.

Turquoise waves through seen the trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3933b)

 

The expo 67 dome is still up, it houses some kind of tourist attraction inside. Outside, they completed a very intensive renovation of all the brick work and installations. This huge reflecting pool is surrounded by a precise concrete rectangle. Painting the expo dome in watercolour is impossible because the pipes are a very light grey, and the triangle formations are incredibly complex. Here I just depicted it as a light grey to give the idea, and see the reflection in the pool.

Expo dome and reflection, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3931b)

Racing to end of July

During the summer Montreal hosts an international car race, in the meantime the race track is open to cars and cyclists (although separated by lanes). I have painted this scene before, this time I composed on the vertical and added myself at the bottom left wearing my new camo boonie hat. One person was on a reclining bike you can see in the middle of the pack. 

Cyclists on track with painter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3931a)

 

Here is one of the views across the river, I am standing on the south canal embankment where there is a long bike path, looking north east. There are plenty of great views here, and the skyline is constantly changing, soon Mount Royal may not even be visible!

Montreal Vista, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3932a)

 

In front of the Champlain bridge there is an ice flow control bridge that protects the main bridge from ice damage in the winter. They installed a nice bike path, still with fresh asphalt. Its a straight line across the river, connecting Nun's Island to the south canal embankment path.

Ice control bridge path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3932b)

Old and New, Lachine Canal

With nothing but sun and blue skies in the forecast it looks like a string of good painting days lies ahead. Today it was hot and hazy, with plenty of smog on the horizon. This scene shows the old train bridge that is long defunct, and some of the brand new condo sky scrapers in the background, still with the cranes on top. To depict the contrasting shapes and colours, I did the background painting first to near completion, then painted over with thick applications of red ochre (PR101/PBr7), indo blue (PB60), and carbon black (PBk6). It was fun to apply such dark colours on top the the light and airy condo building. The red ochre paint contains the same chemical (partially hydrated iron oxide) that is found in rust, so its easy to get the colour right! Although I also applied red-orange (PO73) and orange (PO62) to give the brighter pops of colour on the rusted iron structure. 

Old Bridge New Condo, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3869b)

Two scenes by the overpass

On a quick trip to the bike store to pick up a part I made some paintings of two scenes by the highway 720 overpass. Here you see a BBQ on an artsy brick patio surrounded by tiger lilies and other greenery. It was open to the public, although the BBQ looked to be in disuse; the painting makes the BBQ look a lot better than it did in real life. In the background, instead of a sky, you see the side of the overpass with some vines and trees growing. There was also a row of park benches. All this was built up during the Turcot project, it is a small gesture and really helps the local community have a bit of space to do things.   

BBQ by overpass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3930)

 

Here is a scene of the overpass, I am standing in the parking lot of the bike shop looking west. The sky had some interesting clouds today. There is actually a large field of wildflowers all around here, but I was just on lunch hour and went back to the laboratory after this. We are doing a small project to learn more about how different kind of oils affect leukemia cell growth.

Overpass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3929b)

Walk in Bolton part 3

At the bottom of Humberlea there is a small bridge going over the river on King highway. There were these fluffy seed pods bursting but I could not quite get the effect right. The heat was really getting to me at this point, but I pressed on. This epic walk was barely four hours but I managed to crank out a dozen small paintings. The key was to not be too picky about the scenes, and get them done quick.

Bridge and wildflowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3926b)

 

At the end of mill park there is a bridge on Queen highway over the Humber river, with a commissioned mural on its flanks. The path goes under the bridge and pops on on the other side, but I was just sitting on a nice bench with shade doing this painting. The colour of the water is bang on, that caramel beige tone. I can't recall how I mixed it, but it was likely yellow ochre (PY43), red ochre (PR101), and a green mix (PY97 +  PG36). To make the cool brick colours, the lighter portion has to be on the yellow side, and the shadow more on the violet side. Quin purple (PV55) is quite useful in bringing the colour mixtures to the cool neutral point.

Under bridge with mural, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3928a)

 

Heading back, I took a look downtown behind me, and decided to make one last painting on the day. I've painted this scene many times before, this time I accentuated the walking path on the left, and created a neat shadow element on the cars going along Queen highway. Two days later I would be on a city bus heading down this road on the way back to Montreal. My parents enjoyed the visit and they have a few new paintings on their wall now including the Barns with Cornfield, the Steinberg train track, Shadows over Ramp NDG, and I left cloud over Trenholme for a friend who wanted to buy it!

Final view downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3928b)

 

Walk in Bolton part 2

At the end of the open field in Bolton, there was a good view of the purple cones. They had magenta petals that were falling off, and spiky protrusions all around. The rest of the field was filled with yellow and white wildflowers, including brown eyed Susan's. The cone shapes and colours were so delicate that I had to find a view were they were set against a simple background, such as the sky and cloud. The dragon fly had passed much earlier in the walk, but I memorized its shape and colours to include it in a later painting. Old wooden fences could be seen throughout the field, it was an old farm no doubt.

Purple cone with Dragonfly, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3925b)

Winding my way down the trail led to King highway, which has a sidewalk leading back into town. I turned off towards Humber river and found this view featuring the river banks. The water was a coffee-toffee colour and sparkling under the sun. The colour was a mix of yellow ochre (PY43), umber (PBr7) and some greenish mix (PY97 + PG36).

Humber River and banks, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3926a)

Bolton was founded around a mill, which would have been a gathering place for farmers and locals. What remains of the dam was remediated so that fish could swim across it, the hope was to have salmon spawning again. You see the remnants of it in the painting, the water gently cascading between the old stone works.

Old Mill Dam, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3927a)

Not too far downstream from the last scene there were some very small rapids, the drop here is less than a meter. Painting cascading water is one of the hardest things to do especially with watercolour. You have the reflections, the river bottom, the foam, and the sky all melding into a complex tapestry broken up by wet rocks.  The best I ever got it was in Mount Sutton where I painted a small brook. Maybe I can find a similar scene in Montreal but its rare since all the rivers and creeks tend to be in pipes.

Small rapids, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3927b)

Walk in Bolton part 1

North hill Bolton is basically a large subdivision with a high school and elementary school in the middle. This scene is the sidewalk on Kingsview drive heading to the high school, the wildflowers on the left lead down into the valley and forest.

Sidewalk Kingsview drive, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3923a)

 

For years and years I walked down this path to attend school, it curves around the edge of the valley and emerges on Kingsview drive. Some interesting flowering vines were growing on the fences, and much of the greenery was quite lush after all the rain. 

Walking path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3923b)

 

A manicured walking trail snakes through the forest roughly following the contours of the river down below. Looking down the ridge line gave a bird's-eye view of the river. To create the image of the river, it had to be kept at a high value, almost white. Then, the foliage and trees were added to create the illusion of depth. By varying the size and position of the tree trunks, the downward view came to life.

River in Forest, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3924)

 

After walking up a steep hill, the path turned out into an open field with a small pond. There were a lot of birds, insects and the path was mostly overgrown. It was getting to be very hot and humid by this time of day, so I made this painting while still standing under a shady tree.

Path into open field, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3925a)

 

Scenes from rural Caledon by bicycle

Reaching a train crossing, I stopped to drink some water and make a painting of the livestock train, probably meant for transporting cows or pigs, although it was sitting idle. Painting the train tracks was by now familiar after painting train tracks in NDG quite often. The rest of the painting was fairly straightforward, cloudy sky, green trees and some wild flowers. The flowers are done by applying the green and dark yellow leaves, leave white space, then daubing in some yellow (PY97) and pink (PR122).  

Livestock train and wild flowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3921a)

 

I felt obliged to paint these hay bails, with he rickety old fences. It was the closest I could get to them standing on the side of the road with the bike. The hay bails are done with combinations of yellow ochre (PY43) orange (PO62) red ochre (PR101) and a bit of burnt umber (PBr7), careful to retain the light highlights on top of the hay bails. Monet was famous for painting hay stacks, its something I would like to try more of if I can get access to some hay up close.

Hay bails with fence, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3921b)

 

An area called Gibson lake is more like Gibson swamp, or last time I rode out there it was Gibson desert since there was no water. Ontario got a good dumping of rain the last few weeks, so the area was quite full of water and teeming with birds like ducks, geese, and red winged black birds like the one in this tree. The swamp had an orange-rust colour perhaps due to algae growth.

Gibson swamp west, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3922a)

 

Looking to the other side of the street the swamp showed a bit more water, and had abundant lily pads. I tried to capture the colours and textures quickly; the heat and humidity was bearing down on me at this point. The darker greens are perylene green (PBk31) and orange yellow (PY110). Perylene green is sold as perylene black but it has a distinct green hue.

Gibson swamp east, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3917b)

 

 I did a scene here many years ago, around 1996, its a painting I blogged about recently. In the 2024 version I used a landscape (horizontal) format, and used magenta (PR122) with blue (PB15) to make the delicate violet colour in the foreground. In '96 I used french ultramarine (PB29) and alizarin crimson (PR83) to make violet, but I dropped both of those paints many years ago due to stability problems. Ultramarine vanishes with weak acid exposure, and alizarin vanishes with mild light exposure. The newer pigments are lightfast meaning they have good durability to light, and they resist acid.

Field with with flowers Columbia way, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3922b)

Bolton Farm Scenes

Bolton as some of you know well is a large suburban community north of Toronto that is protected more or less by a sort of green belt. As such, the outskirts of town are composed of vast expanses of farm land or low density housing. Some houses sit on acres of land. This painting shows one of the few functional farms on Mount Hope road, it looked to be in good repair and was probably related to the Kolb hill farms. It was surrounded by a vast corn field. I composed the scene in an abstract manner by compressing the structures into a vertical format.

Barns and Silo, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3891)

 

This is the same farm from a different angle and without the red house. The painting was mostly meant to feature the corn field, with the farm set off center to show off some of the distant tree elements. It looks little greenish in the photo that I took, the original has a crisper look to it. We framed that one and hung it on the wall in Bolton.

Barns silo and corn field, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3892)

A long and wide hay field led up to an equally proportioned barn. The hay had been cut and was dried out, which created a raw sienna colour that I made with yellow ochre and red ochre (PY43 + PR101). Raw sienna is a great pigment but I stopped carrying it on my location palette since its a bit redundant with the mixture I just mentioned. All of these farm and rural countryside paintings were made using my Dad's bike he leant to me, it has a similar backpack on it that I used to set up the paints like I do when in Montreal. The riding was tougher in Bolton, massive rolling hills made for a constant challenge, although there were not many stop signs or red lights to deal with!

Barn and hay field, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3919b)

Downtown Montreal panoramas

There was a nice bench with shade, and this was the view! It didn't seem like much of a scene but once I got into it, the composition started to come together. The low sun was casting long shadows and creating streaks of light across the road. The buildings were stacked and overlapped in an interesting manner. On the left is a large hotel, on the right is the old train station.

View down Peel south, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3919a)

Painting a large facade like this in not easy especially when you consider how small this paper format really is, about the size of a postcard. I moved up to the end of the building and got an angle looking to the east. There were a few benches around here and I could sit and paint. The painting starts with a dilute outline then its a matter of filling in the colour blocks and applying textures without fussing about too much. I will be blogging about the Bolton trip to visit my parents, there were a lot of paintings done and it was a great time overall.

Centre Bell study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3919b)

City scenes along the way

On an early morning in downtown Toronto I saw this pigeon on top of the signage outside of Union station. In the background you can see some of the gaudy glass buildings on Front street towards bay street. The orange glass is a dilute mix of pyrol orange (PO73) with yellow ochre (PY43) and orange (PO62). 

Morning pigeon Toronto, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 2729b)

 

Fast forward to Montreal, here is one of the new, nearly finished condo towers nearby Gare Central. To the left is a large, posh hotel with some nice looking landscaping. The orange side of the building is pale yellow ochre with orange paint. The shadow side is similar but with indo blue (PB60) and magenta (PV55). Quite a few tourists were trying to get a look over my shoulder, usually I tilt the paper so they can see it, sometimes they take pictures of make short videos.

Two tone condo, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3917a)

 

A little further west and you come to the old train station which is now connected to the Bonaventure metro station, and is also used for events like beer festival in the old days before it moved to the convention center. There was a nice blue pine in the foreground. The blue pine was pale turquoise (PB60 + PG7 + PY43). 

Old station new condos, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3918a)

 

World Inspired Landscapes: Palau

Palau is a small nation of islands in Micronesia, south Pacific ocean. Like many nations in the region, it was populated by seafaring indigenous people from Indonesia or thereabouts, many thousands of years ago. Due to its remoteness, the main colonial interests were related to military naval and air presence, as well as its use as a trading port. Some commodities like sugar cane could be grown, and there were plenty of fish in the sea. Palau become the hub for several colonial forces including Spanish, German, Japanese, United States and finally independence in the late 20th century. Most of their population are still indigenous Palauan who speak the language Palauan, with the second language English. Another common problem facing ocean nations is the steadily rising seawater which will submerge part or all of the lowest lying islands in a matter of decades. These nations are aware of the problem and actively planning for a solution, which may in some cases have to involve relocation to a mainland. 

The painting was not intended to reflect the problem of rising seawater although it could be interpreted as such. I was trying to capture the flow of water using ribbons of colours, finished with a quick layer of clean water to give it a smooth effect. Wet-in-wet technique was used to make the background seem to be shrouded in mist. 

World Inspired Landscapes: Palau, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3864b)

World Inspired Landscapes: Panama

 

Panama is best known for its canal and its hats apparently, but it has a lot more to offer. With a long history of civilizations its a country rich in heritage and different cultures. Like many of the Central and South American countries it went through various eras of ancient indigenous people, Mayans, Incans, Spanish colonial rule and various incursions by the British and French Empires and then United States of America. The canal began with the French empire, who wanted to streamline trade from its colonies in North and Central America with Europe. They made progress but lacked the technology to make the complicated system of locks work effectively. The Americans brought in new crews, manipulated the politics of the region to their favour, and eventually finished the canal which now directly connected the two Oceans. The canal was expanded several times and a new lock system was added to increase capacity, however its climate change that is proving to be the latest challenge. To make the locks work, vast amounts of fresh water from a lake are required, after which the fresh water is emitted into the sea. As the rain fall diminishes, so does the fresh water content of the lake. Eventually the canal will cease to function unless some new engineering feat is accomplished, or the rain falls again. 

The painting has nothing to do with the canal, instead it shows a death-defying footbridge passing over a deep ravine. Obviously the painting is an exaggeration, but there were in fact tree top bridges for tourism in Panama.

World Inspired Landscapes: Panama, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3895b)

Interesting shapes and colours, catalogue update

These interesting shapes and colours are part of the view that I see every time I walk or ride home from work. Just off to the left, unseen, is the chartreuse dumpster. The purplish rectangle plays off well against the grey circle and yellow shredder below, while the orange-yellow bricks complement the sky-blue recycling bins. The dark green tree and black highlights set off all the colours making them seem brighter and more intense. To maximize value contrasts, you want one part of the composition to show white, and one part to show black. That gives the visual system the boundaries it needs to adjust to the other values. On an overcast day there would be less of a difference, so the black would be a charcoal grey, and the white would be a smoky grey.

I completed a mid-year catalogue update yesterday, and so far there are an astounding 323 paintings in 2024.

Interesting shapes and colours, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3947b)

Ville st Pierre Canal Bridge

 

Here are a few paintings from June that escaped the blog, sometimes I feel like the painting is not up to snuff or doesn't fit the theme of the blog at the time. The bridge in question is a busy commuter bridge than connect Ville st Pierre, which is part of Lachine, with st Patrick street. At one point in history this bridge would lift up and down to let boats though but it is long since frozen in its down state. They recently gave it a fresh coating of the green paint which is likely viridian or maybe titanium white with phthalo green. The structure itself is very complex and I have only attempted to paint it on a few occasions. 

Canal Bridge Counter Weight, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3781a)

 

When the bus went by quickly, it was a sensational effect, it looked like the bus was suspended over the water like a magic trick. The composition could have done a better job of conveying the space, perhaps a vertical (portrait) format would have worked. Luckily its a really easy location to go back to and there are no shortages of busses crossing the bridge.

Bus on Bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2024 (No. 3781b)

Tree Blossoms with Ground Hog

As I go through the paintings from the first half of the year to update the catalogue, I found this one showing tree blossoms with a ground hog scurrying past. There was another painting of tree blossoms down in the park Jean Drapeau done on the same location, I am not sure why I didn't scan and blog about this one earlier, I actually like it better than the other one. It seems here, the tree was done entirely wet in wet with magenta (PR122) and a bit of violet (PV55) dabbed in. The branches and trunk appear to glow green, signifying the light mossy coating. The ground hog just stood there staring at me for a moment before taking off. To make the flowers really appear to glow, the rest of the scene has to be drab, which it was back in April.

Tree Blossoms with Ground Hog, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April 2024 (No. 3735b)