On the way back I took Victoria avenue from Lachine to ville st Pierre, it has a wide bike path on it with some sombre views of the Hydro Quebec electrical station. A plane flew over and I memorized its shape to add later once the sky had dried. The entire background was done wet-in-wet and then I laid the painting on the ground as it dried. After doing another painting, I could apply the dry-brush effects of the power station, making sure to vary the colours and shapes while maintaining a kind of repetitive pattern. It turned out better than I hoped, and the plane added a nice compositional touch.

Plane over power station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

As the background dried in the first painting I did this quick painting standing in the same spot but looking west. I did the whole background making sure it wasn't too wet, then was able to apply the barbed wire fence over top using dry-brush. I had not initially noticed the vine on the fence until nearly complete, so I threw it in to provide some visual interest, and to give the painting a bit of character. The idea that the vine was using a security fence to grow up was kind of neat.

Barbed wire with vine, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024

A long line of greyish-violet train cars with graffiti sat in front of bright yellow fall trees. I should have done this on the horizontal, or used an 8 x 10" but I hadn't any with me. The weather was colder than anticipated and with just thin gloves and a light jacket on I decided to pack it in for the day. Tomorrow is thanksgiving day and it calls for rain but hopefully there is some opportunity to paint.

Yellow trees graffiti train car, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, October 2024