Freezing day on the Lachine Canal

At the bottom of what used to be Lake st Pierre several centuries ago, sits the Lachine canal. As you can see from the painting, it used to be an active industrial conduit bringing goods to a busy industrial area, and allowing safe passage around the st Lawrence river rapids. The structure is a gantry crane, which would have lifted crates and freight from boats to trains. The train tracks are still there, on the south side of the canal but they are not used anymore, nor is the crane. With 20 below Celsius windchill today, I used maximum salt and tried to paint facing away from the wind. Since the paint dries slow under these conditions I used an impressionist technique on the sky, capturing the various pastel colours. 

Gantry crane frozen canal, watercolour 5 x 7.5" cold press, January 2025

 

If you ever wondered where the snow goes after they remove it from the roads and sidewalks, the answer is, right next to the Lachine canal. Unfortunately the snow pile is chock full of garbage and pollution which is hard on the aquatic ecosystem when it melts in the spring. After painting the railing in front, I worked through the details using small brush strokes so that the forms could be created. Applying washes in winter is tricky since they dry so slow, making things blend together. A wash is a wet layer of coloured paint applied to the paper.

Snow pile across canal, watercolour 5 x 7.5" cold press, January 2025

Using a wash here in the sky, I created the effect of the sun trying to come out on this cold day. The wash did not quite dry, as I was saying, and you see where the billboard and highway and other details blurred. It can still lead to interesting effects. In this case, I was hoping the blurred effect would look like sunshine coming down. Facing the wind, this one was tough, and I wrapped it up and rode home. The bike paths just have light snow for now and are ride-able. Eventually these paths will be impassable by bike due to snow and ice.

Billboard canal overpass, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, January 2025