First snow, views around the Old Port

Once again it was time for me to be a tourist in my own town. Every time I go down to the Old Port and Old Montreal I feel that way. And the other tourists really get a kick out of seeing me paint pictures around here. For this scene, I was standing on the large platform where the circus sets up their tents in the summer, looking across the river. In the middle ground at right is Dieppe park which was made around the time of expo 67 when they put in the confederation bridge to ile st Helen. I know the water here, it moves fast on the south side and creates whirls and eddys as it carries on to the east. On the north side it is very calm, so I painted the water smooth in the front, and more turbulent in the back.

View across river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, December 2024

Standing in full shadow the paint was not drying fast enough to capture all the details, but I managed to hold onto this painting. A lot of tourists looked, talked to me and one made a video. Next time I will make sure to have my Instagram logo visible.

Bonsecours dome, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, December 2024

These tracks are not very active, I think in the summer there is a tourist trolley that goes by. In the old days, this track would have brought malt to the brewery, but now I think they do it by boat or more likely truck. The sun was setting, which created a pinkish sky and interesting colour reflections on the snow. I added the tree branch details after I got home because the painting was very moist on location.

Tracks and snow old port, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, December 2024

The old buildings along the main drag near the water are made of large stone bricks, or the old fashioned stone-and-mortar. The lights were just turning on, which created an amber glow on the wall. It was a tricky effect to reproduce considering how moist everything was on the paper. A couple of construction signs made for a good place to put my initials and year. When the sun finally went down on Saturday, I completed the trip with crescent moon over downtown, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite paintings of the year.

Lamps at dusk, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, December 2024