Twilight zone on the Lachine canal

With February drawing to a close, I rode most of the way down to the Lachine canal after work, part of the path was too deep and I walked the bike. You can see the gantry crate to the back right, and the lamps that line the walking/cycling path. Other than one lonely watercolour painter there was nobody else down here. I added the tops of the trees and some of the lamp details at home when the painting had a chance to dry. The sky was nearly perfect, but a little drop hit the painting just above the crane, that's probably a tear from my eye, since the wind was blasting down the canal here.

Lamps and gantry crane near canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4190b)

Both paintings were done simultaneously from the same spot so that I could get as much as possible done on location. This scene shows the snow mountain that forms each winter from the snow-removal trucks that dump here, very close to the Lachine canal. The shades of blue look just right... the sky was dark cyan, while the snow was a medium neutral blue. The painting shifted in the frame as I painted and so it came out crooked, but I adjusted it using Image J program. Painting at twilight is tricky, there is still enough light to see things, but the colours and values are hard to judge. The key is getting the value right on the sky, without messing up the hue. There is also a psychological barrier to overcome, as an artist, it just feels weird to paint at this time. When I first started painting on location I would only paint on nice sunny days! Now I paint on most days, in fact, this winter was probably the most productive of all time despite the intense cold, wind and snow we got. 

Snow mountain canal, watercolour cold press, 5 x 7" February 2025 (No. 4280a)

Fresh snow, night on the town in NDG

After taking in a show at the cultural center, I headed back out for some night painting. It seemed like the perfect evening, not too cold and the snow had stopped. Just a few brush strokes into the painting the snow started coming down though, and I had to work fast and use the metro grocery store overhang to make this painting of the auto shop covered in fresh snow. A giant pile of snow was in the foreground, and a car had light snow covering it, along with the strong lights of the shop illuminating the scene.

Fresh snow auto shop night, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4271)

 

From under the Metro grocery store overhang I made this painting of the condo building and purplish sky. The overhang is lined with strong white pot lights, making it look like a UFO or the wing of an airplane.

Condo view under metro, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4191b)

 

This was the first one I did, it shows the snow in front of the stores being illuminated by the various neon sign colours, and a passing car. It ended up looking like someone spilled ketchup on the snow! Well, these kinds of paintings are hard to do, the tints are subtle and the whole painting is moist, you can even see snow flakes that fell onto the painting and left little pock marks that look like... snow flakes! 

Lights on snow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4270b)

Snow melting, so soon?

 

After quite some time, like pre-pandemic, they have been working on two new entrances to the st Henri metro station. Recently, the construction walls were brought down to reveal the new structures... tinted glass cubes on the north and south side of the street not too far from the old entrance. To paint the scene, I framed one wall with the background elements, including a bus, the caserne (fire station) in yellow-ochre bricks, and the distant view of downtown Montreal. A tiny bit of snow was still on the sidewalk, melting away with the plus temperatures. The reflection was done by painting the scene twice in mirror image, then quickly over-painting the tint colour (blue-green-magenta grey). When it dried I did a third over-paint of the black window dividers. Since you can see through the glass, there were actually overlapping images of the reflection, and the bus as seen through the glass.

New metro entrances st Henri, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4193b)

The Lachine canal was still mostly frozen, here is the foot bridge going from Verdun to Atwater market on the other side. It's not too often you see the blue shadow of the bridge on top of the white snow. Once it all thaws, the canal gets a dark tea-colour with dark brown and blue reflections. These two paintings took longer that usual, since the weather was nice I could use more complex techniques.

Atwater bridge shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4279a)

No Thrill Pills

You may have 'heard' about thrill pills before, but what about no-thrill pills? Its the kind of pills you take for boring reasons because you have to. As a generic drug, it could even be considered a no frills pill. At any rate, the painting was mostly a way to clean off my palette, the one I broke in the winter, and because the weather has been atrocious for location painting even by my standards. Today picking up some take-our Persian food I saw a great scene of a dark purplish sky with the store light illuminating the remaining piles of snow a bright, eerie white, but alas the steady drizzle (and my appetite) prevented a location painting today. Snow melt can be good to paint, but best on a clear sunny day. 

No Thrill Pills, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, February 2025 (No. 4290b)

Quick ride around a slushy NDG

As the temperatures start to creep up to zero (Celsius) and above, the giant mountains of snow are starting to melt along with all the sand and salt. Most of the bike path on Terrebonne street was clear today so I could get out to the east part of NDG no problem. This scene is looking west along Côte st Luc, the Domino's pizzeria is unseen, just off to the left. The sky went down real smooth here, although some parts of the tree got smeared a bit on the way home. As I painted, the sun came out briefly and illuminated the background buildings and some of the snow in the foreground. To make the snow highlights glow, I outlined the white parts with a very pale wash of orange-yellow (PY154 + PO62). Those are the pigment codes to keep track of which ones I used. 

Snowy View up Côte st Luc, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4189b)

Not too far down the street is the shopping complex that is slated for demolition. Here, I show the front door of the dépanneur that I painted before. The snow was not blowing today so I could get in some more detail, the slushy dog was actually on the window to the left but I moved it to the window on the right to fit into the format. I really wanted to get the old remnants of the sign into the top of the painting, it is an empty light box with rusty parts. The posters on the front were of various Indian-style street foods. I got the brick and grouting colours right, the teal brick was with dark blue (PB60), blue-green (PG7) and phthalo blue (PB15). When it was mostly dry I overlaid the grout with yellow ochre (PY43) and a touch of orange (PO62). If I can catch this scene when the weather improves, i.e. spring before they demo it, the scene could be done with good detail on a 8 x 10" or perhaps a 9 x 12".

Demo Dép slushy, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4276b)

 

I've always wanted to paint this portable utility shed (that ironically never moves) out at the track in Confederation park, the building in the background is the st Luc high school. The colour you see on the screen is the exact shade of tomato-red that I saw on location, but in real life the painting is more of a tangerine red-orange. From experience, I know the scan when viewed on a monitor always changes the red-orange colours a quarter hue to the red direction. Making the adjustment on location, I could get an accurate digital image. I actually learned about this from painting pylons. Not many of those out yet, but sure to be once the snow melts!  

Tomato Trailer, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4190a)

Painting up in Mount Royal on a snowy day

Able to get up to the top of Mount Royal, just south of Beaver Lake, I could make these paintings before the snow really picked up in the afternoon. In this scene, pine trees stand out against the snowy landscape. the green was a mix of perylene green (PBk31), orange-yellow (PY110) and yellow ochre (PY43) and some dabs of green (PG36) and black (PBk6). The shadows were done with wet-in-wet washes that are difficult to pull off in such conditions but I got all of these paintings done on location. To do so, I did all three paintings in succession, starting with background, let dry, then foreground to finish. I am like one of those chess players who can play multiple games at once!

Pine trees and snow, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4303b)

 

Here is a scene of the ski/walk path that was quite busy today, you see cross country skiers on the left and walkers on the right. A few bikes went by too. Like the other paintings, I did the background snow and sky, then over-painted the trees and people.

Ski and walk, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4193a)

Just before it started to snow, the sun was barely visible through the clouds. The trees seemed to be reaching up to it. In fact the sun was a lot higher in the sky but I composed it near the top. Some impressionist brush strokes complete the snow on the ground. The tree colour is mostly a greenish umber (PBr7) from the ShinHan company.

Sun through trees Mount Royal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4278a)

Dome down, sun down

Heading across the street to the location of the downed sports dome, which collapsed last week under the immense amount of snow, I made a few painting for posterity. Its not often you get to paint on location, scenes of a downed dome in the winter with a pink and orange sunset in the background. In fact, the neat thing was I could do a landscape painting of the background building on the horizon and the trees that line the train tracks, which are normally blocked by the dome. You see two doors were still standing up, even though the rest of it was flopped onto the ground. The dome kind of looked like snow, you can see in the bottom right some of the huge blocks of snow on the ground.

Dome down panorama, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4277)

As it got darker I realized that the light was still powered over the door, which created an eerie door-to-nowhere scene, like surrealism but this was the actual scene. With intense windchill, I had to detail these paintings at home, you can see the light on and its glow over the nearly black window. The door appeared to be buried in snow from this angle, but the snow was just piled up right in front of where I was standing. There was also a fence in the way, but I almost always omit the fence since its hard to paint it over top. What a weird set of paintings, just when I think that I have painted it all, something like this comes up! Or down...

Dome down light on, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4189a)

Piled higher and deeper on campus

There was so much snow piled up from all the plowing on campus that it looked like the Himalayas from this angle. Walking paths criss-crossed the area allowing students to get around but most of the benches and rocks were covered and the trees were half buried. Across the street, the sports dome has collapsed, it was in the news and I saw today it was down. Maybe tomorrow I can walk over and make a painting of it. In other news I got my bike lock unstuck using some rubbing alcohol (2-propanol) to unfreeze it, but was unable to ride much due to the bike path being inundated with snow. The city continues to dig us out. Apparently there are plus temperatures coming next week, which will make for some slushy conditions. As usual, the snow was not the only stuff piled higher and deeper on campus.

Campus buried, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4276a)

Snow stop!

Just before the sun went down I made this painting of the auto shop, seemingly buried in snow. I was standing by a huge snow pile on the opposite corner, and almost just walked by since I was heading over to the grocery store to buy more salt. It was going to hurt, this one, with strong windchill barreling down Somerled, and just the thin glove on to get better brush control. At home while the painting was still moist I detailed a few areas, but most of it was completed on location using my shoulder bag (the bike is still stuck at work). 

Auto shop sun down, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4187)

At the corner of the parking lot on campus there is an enormous 3 meter (12 feet) pile of snow that almost completely buried a stop sign. The facility building in the background was also covered in snow and icicles. Some passer-by stopped and chatted for a minute, He said, 'You're a good painter, you paint fast.' to which I replied 'I have to, its cold out!'  The joke of the painting is that it needs to stop snowing. But in fact Toronto area is getting a third snow storm soon, not sure about Montreal area, we have enough now.  

Snow Stop! watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4275a)

Snow drifter, painting in the snow

Here is a scene in Coffee park looking east at the basketball net and train tracks in the middle ground. The trees were added afterwards when the painting had a chance to dry more at home. Since I could not use my bike, more on that later, I plopped the bike bag on a snow drift which was about the right height to access the paint gear. Behind me, was the new park structure which offered a bit of protection from the elements, namely the howling wind and blowing snow.

Basketball anyone? watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4273b)

Here is the similar location but standing on the other side of the structure looking west, straight into the sun and wind. I captured the snowy atmosphere by taking advantage of the fact that the paint will dry in a pale grey tone if it is moist... you see in the background it is a perfect misty tone signifying blowing snow and creating the illusion of depth. Some impressionist style brush strokes in the sky and on the snow create more atmosphere and sparkle effects. The stars of the show are the trees, the buried park benches, and the neat shadows cascading along the deep snow, it was over 1.5 meters in places. Unfortunately, my bike has been forcibly removed from action... although I made it to work without too much trouble, the bike lock has frozen up and I could not unlock it from the rack next to my office despite trying for like ten minutes. So as I type, my bike is still there. Hopefully it warms up a bit and I get my bike back. It wouldn't have mattered much since the roads were too snowy to ride home, I could have got partly down Terrebonne but Walkley is mostly buried. The snow removal people can not keep up with the snow everywhere which is understandable, most cities would be completely paralyzed with this much snow but Montreal, and its (one?) winter watercolour painter, soldiers on.

Winter drifts, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4274)

Eye Storm

Just scrolling back on the blog and comparing this year to last year, its been a lot of location paintings without too many abstract or World Inspired Landscapes, or anything else for that matter. Each year I try to have a general goal, but nothing crossed my mind for this year other than keep on painting. For this painting, its an abstract 'palette cleanser' where I was trying to clean off the old palette that broke the other day on location, shattered actually, probably due to the temperature. But I got a good five years out of the palette, the fellow at the shop, Pierre from Avenue des Arts thought an ABS plastic palette would be better but they are too big and the wind blows them around on location. So I just bought a new palette for the summer time and will clear off the old one. Boring details aside, the painting was called 'Eye Storm' because I was going to call it 'Eye Store' like a play on the Apple I store, or the term 'Eye Sore', but with the snow storm I came up with Eye Storm. Like a storm of art in your eye. 

Eye Storm, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, February 2025 (No. 4290a)

Blizzard!

Today was just like a nice summer's day... with a meter of snow and cold, gusty wind. To paint, I found some refuge under the large covered entrance to the local Benny library/cultural center but the snow was still blowing around and accumulating on the painting surface. I had to constantly blow the snow off and tap the painting on the wall to get the snow off it. Its amazing it turned out as well as it did. Trying to depict the reflection on the glass wall would have been tough in the best of conditions. I touched up the scene at home to complete some of the areas and add my initials. Tomorrow might be more interesting with enormous piles of snow, 2 meter drifts in places, although it is another day where Montrealers are being asked to stay home. Maybe I will walk instead of riding the bike tomorrow but who knows. So for any artists out there, there is no excuse to sit at home and paint in your studio when the whole world is out there waiting for you, sunshine or blizzard. 

Blizzard! watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4185b)

Dépanneur under snow, so Montreal

In st Pierre there is a Dépanneur I ride by all the time on the way to and from the Canal but never stopped to paint. With all the piles of snow it seemed the perfect Montreal scene: a Dépanneur still open and people going in and out between the wind-swept drifts. There was so much snow I did not need to use the kick-stand on the bike, I could just jam it in a snow bank and paint. I warmed up a bit doing this painting and could take my time with it, completing most of the scene on location. I added the brick texture and darkened some of the shadows at home afterwards. People must have wondered what the guy was doing making a  painting on a day like this! To make the snow shadows I used a mixture of phthalo blue (PB15) with a touch of magenta (PR122), then blended with a watery brush. Its a delicate technique to pull off under the circumstances. When I think back to the Montreal winter, this painting will come to mind.

Dépanneur 7 Jours under snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4183b)

Piles of snow around Lachine

The part of the canal in front of Lachine is lined by trees and stone pillars that were nearly buried in snow today. And to think even more snow is on the way! Subtlety was the name of the game today, the scenery was monochrome and the sounds were of complete silence at times. To capture the canal, pale blue shadows were interleaved with some brownish-yellowish ice showing where the wind had blown the snow away at the bottom of the canal. A few sprigs in the foreground provided some colour.

Snowy trees canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4269b)

 

A bit further west, near the old fur trading post, this similar view had  more variety in the trees including pine trees and a willow tree. A few brush stroked were added at home to enhance the contrast and textures in the foreground. 

Trees around snowy canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4177b)

 

The real snow birds, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4270a)

 Snow birds are people who live in Florida all winter, but these bird houses presumably were for the real snow birds. Maybe they were empty though. In the background is the st Lawrence river which had some visible water where it was flowing. I could not get very close to that part of the water because the path was completely snow covered and it had been a slog to get my bike this far. 

 

Turning up 18th avenue, I found this scene of some old fashioned houses covered in snow. The paint froze and dried pale, so I embellished the details at home. Victoria street had just been plowed clean so it made for a decent ride to and from Lachine. Its hard to get out here in the winter, especially if we get more snow tomorrow. I probably wont go back until Spring.

Houses in snow Lachine, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4186)

Piles of snow everywhere

There were piles of snow everywhere including in front of the Dagwood's restaurant down the street. The sky was a crisp, clean cyan and blue, with bright light and luminous shadows underneath. I was so happy doing this painting that I cried, actually, that was due to the windchill on my face. Some of the details were added at home after it had a chance to dry. 

Dagwood's piles of snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4185a)

The wind had carved out a curved shadow in the deep snow on campus. A picnic bench was mostly buried. For this scene, the sun was directly ahead which created a strong glare and backlighting. With a large open field in front of me, the wind was coming at full force so I had to hold on for this one. The results from this week were not quite what I had hoped for but in the winter one can only get so  much done. I will give it another good try tomorrow, there must be a classic winter painting waiting to happen, its fun trying anyways.

Curved snow shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4272b)

Snowy day for some painting outside

There was a lot of hoopla today about staying home but the snow was not too bad after all, and Montreal was plowing and scraping all day. I got around by bike most of the time just a few spots where I had to haul the bike through snow piles. This scene shows two red cars under snow, and a bench, barely visible, also under snow at Trenholme park. The LUFA vegetables were late today so there was time for more paintings.

Two red cars under snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4183a)

Here is a scene of West Broadway near my office, the red hydrant and cars were all covered in snow. I added the trees afterwards to all the paintings today since it would not dry on location, and there was snow coming down the whole time making the paintings a bit of a mess.

Hydrant snow day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4272a)

 

On the right is the front bit of the De Chou restaurant, a Korean Asian fusion bistro with great food. Trenholme park is on the other side of Sherbrooke street. On a day like today, perhaps oil paints would have worked better, but I do like the rough finish of the winter watercolour paintings, it gives a real feel of a fresh dump of snow in Montreal.

De Chou restaurant snow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4273a)

Pastel sun set, clean snow dirty snow

Looking for something to paint after work (that should be the title of a book!) I found another scene on the Cavendish overpass looking west. If you zoom in, you can see evidence of the ice crystals that formed in the sky as I painted. The focal point was really meant to be the amazing pastel colours in the sunset, which were captured with a variety of high quality paints that are on my palette such as benzi orange (PO62), red-orange (PO73), benzi yellow (PY154), magenta (PR122), phthalo blue (PB15 sapphire) and for the clouds, dark magenta (PV55) and dark blue (PB60). The trick is getting all the colours to blend together seamlessly without any backwashes or hard edges, which I managed to pull off here. The trees had to be added afterwards at home when the thing had a chance to dry.

Pastel sunset Cavendish overpass, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4188)

 

Down in the parking lot of the Provigo on Sherbrooke and Cavendish, there was an enormous pile of dirty snow that you see in the foreground, while in the background was a few piles of clean snow. As with the last painting, the trees and some texturing, along with the window colours were added at home since the painting was very moist on location. I just wore the thin glove on the right hand to get better control, but that also limited the time I could spend on the painting. Normally I wear giant gauntlet mitts over top. Tomorrow is supposed to be some kind of sno-megeddan or snow tornado or something, it should be a good day to paint watercolours! Everyone is like wah wah stay home... hide in your condo, but I'm like, go make some paintings. Its never stopped me, for example the March 25th 2024 blizzard down by the river, The January 30th 2024 blizzard down in Dieppe park where the snow was blowing upwards, and the Febrary 27th 2021 snow storm that turned to rain ( I brought an umbrella) all come to mind. And the coldest ever location painting I did to date was -39℃ (-38.2℉), that is including the windchill, on February 3rd 2023. The paint was literally freezing solid on the palette, although my winter gear held up pretty good.

Clean snow dirty snow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4269a)

Sun and Icicles

Its quiet here on the weekend, no commuter trains or millions of people around, just the sun going down over the snowy train tracks. The colours in the sky were amped up and feeling warm, which complemented well the curved red lamp posts. We had a lot of snow last Friday and it stuck around for awhile. Its been a good winter for painting, in this one I created the concentric colours around the sun using wet-in-wet with yellow, orange, red-orange, magenta, and blue. Judging the moisture levels is key, it keeps the colours blending together seamlessly without any back washes or hard edges.

Sun over snowy tracks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4182)

Going from warm to cool, here is a painting of a massive row of icicles on the eave of the Harley community center. I had been looking for a good icicle scene to paint for awhile now, and finally got the right angle and the right moment. In watercolour, you have to paint around the shape of the icicles, then gently fill in the details. Soft blending created the fluffy snow in the foreground, and impressionist-style brush strokes fill in the sky. In the background there is a very tall apartment building which provided a good contrast element for the icicles to stand out.

Icicles over eave, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4266b)

 

Ice flows on st Lawrence river, Dieppe park

Dieppe park is a peninsula they made to connect Ile st Helen with Montreal via the Confederation bridge. At the very end, there is a picture-perfect view of the Jacques Cartier bridge, I have painted here more times than I can remember now. On the right, the water is flowing fast in the direction of the bridge, on the left, the water is slow moving and swirling because it is the beginning of a large inlet. You can see in the painting I showed the ice and water flowing diagonally on the right, but more circular on the left. The bridge was painted with an economy of brush strokes, with umber for the bricks, green for the structure, and a few dark highlights for contrast. The big brick thing in the background of course is the Molson's Brewery which might be gone one day as they plan to move to south shore. On this day everything smelled of malted barley, the nearby Canadian Maltage factory must have been preparing a new batch.

Ice flow under Jacques Cartier bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4181)

 

This painting was like a 'love letter' to Montreal. Sun in the sky, ice in the water, a boat in port, and a collage of buildings bunched together. The buildings in the painting are fairly accurate, in that I slowed down and tried to get each shape, colour and height about right. The windows are just decorative, don't forget I am wearing giant gauntlet mitts, like oven mitts, when I paint these in the winter! 

Sun over city with ice flow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4268b)

You see the big Ferris wheel that operates all year around, and the dome of the Bonsecours  market across the river. I did this one really quick while the sky in the first painting of Cartier bridge dried out enough to paint the bridge over top. The ice flow was painted in a way that coveys motion, because these giant chunks were bumping and floating off into the river. When the ice chunk dips under the water it gets a yellowish-green appearance. It was quite a sight to behold. Well worth the slog to get down here by bike.

Ferris wheel ice flow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4268a)

 

 

Chickadee and ice flow

After a tough slog getting my bike down to Dieppe park, at least it was sunny, I set up and began painting the ice flows of the st Lawrence river. To my surprise, a chickadee landed on the handle of my bike! It kept coming back, and even landed on the wood frame of my painting surface, I could feel its 3 ounces when it landed! It kind of looked at me. I tried to paint a decent image of it on my bike handle (wrapped in a blue fabric) but it was flitting about and wouldn't sit still. I had no bird seed to feed it. Reminds me of a painting I did with May flies on my bike, done out in Lachine park towards the end of the Pandemic. It was really neat today, being the only one here painting the ice flows and having these little birds all around. I made more paintings and will post them some time later, for now we have 'somebodies' 50-something birthday party to attend!

Chickadee and ice flow, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4303a)

Peach and lilac sunset

Here is a view up West Broadway, there was a stunning peach and lilac sunset as seen from the spot where I lock my bike up outside of my office. It seemed like magenta, but on the horizon there was plenty of orange, which I made with PR122 and PO62 pigments. Those are two fine pigments if you ever get the chance to use them. Bright like crayons but smooth like butter. A little frosty with the wind chill. There was so much wind a piece of loose paper blew out of my saddle pack, luckily I could track it down in the snow before it blew away for good. The trees, cars and building details were added after the fact since there was no way I was going to stand out there for longer than necessary. Hopefully the weather is agreeable tomorrow, maybe I can get down to the river where the ice flows are seen. 

Peach and lilac sunset, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4267b)

Bus on Sherbrooke street winter night

Undaunted, I began this painting in a blizzard, standing under the eave of the sports building at the center of Trenholme park looking north towards Sherbrooke street. There was a surprising amount of colour for a dreary winter's night in Montreal, which I captured in the snow reflections, sky, bricks, and windows. I know this location so well I can really get it, like Cloud over Trenholme from last year. In this case, I could get the entire snow, sky, and windows completed in the bus and background apartments. To warm up and let the painting dry I popped into a local Korean-Japanese fusion restaurant and had the General Tao Bento Box, which is a tray full of delectable Asian foods with a chefs salad, followed by hot tea. Reinvigorated, I headed back out and completed the painting on location, although the snow had subsided some by now. So the entirety of the scene was done on location which was much more satisfying than completing the scene at home from memory. And if I ever sell this painting I will have to add $20 to cover the food bill!

Bus on Sherbrooke winter night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4180)

Painting in blizzard around town

One has to be really dedicated to their craft, or have a screw loose, or ideally both, in order to paint watercolours in a cold Canadian blizzard. This painting looked fantastic, a serene, colourful and visually stunning depiction of the campus quad (central area). Encrusted with snow, it turned into a watery mess upon drying, and voila, campus blizzard with lamp! I thought about touching it up at home, but in fact, its totally perfect as is, no doubt about there being a blizzard! I like how the light from the lamp almost seems to be blowing away in the wind.

Campus blizzard lamp, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4266a)

I knew the first painting would dry pale and grey, so for this one I picked a scene with maximum contrast, in the background there were powerful lamps over the skating rink in Trenholme park with a prominent tree in the foreground. With heavy dark mixes and lots of white spaces, I kept the paint together and even though it was encrusted with snow, it dried more effectively. I pre-loaded certain areas knowing the snow would melt and dilute it to create the glowing effects. Its next-level winter painting when one can predict how a frozen painting will look when it thaws out. And a good dose of luck helps too. 

Rink lights winter night, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4267a)

Commuter train last light

Looking for something to paint really fast after work, I found this scene along the train tracks of the commuter train travelling east in the last light. The setting sun made a neat amber glow on the snow and back of the train, along with the tree tops. In the foreground a fence was covered in hibernating vines. On location I managed to get the under-painting completed, then finished with the trees and detailing on the train at home when the painting had a chance to dry. I used this two-phase technique a few times lately due to the extreme cold. If it was a bit more pleasant I could do a second painting, let this dry, then come back to it, but there is the small matter of standing around at -25 Celsius for too long! I am really enjoying the cold though, its part of living in Canada and I prefer it over the steaming hot summers actually.  Mind you, spring time will be a welcome change.

Commuter train last light, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4265a)

Snow pile with shadows

The campus parking lot has an enormous pile of snow that was catching the last rays of sun, along with a half buried stop sign. On location I painted the snow pile by starting with a orange-yellow glow created with benzi orange (PO62) and benzi yellow (PY154). Benzi is short for benzimidozalone, the chemical name for this family of synthetic pigments. Then I applied the blue-violet shadows using blue and magenta (PB15, PR122), with a few dabs of the yellowish mixtures, and some dark brown for grit. At home, once the paint had dried, I finished with the details including trees, texturing on the snow, and the stop sign, along with my initials. It was far too cold and windy to wait for it to dry on location, it may have taken 30 minutes or more, and the sun was already down by the time I finished. 

Snow pile with shadows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4253b)

Somerled mush

With all the snow, sand, and salt Somerled Avenue was a mushy mess today as depicted in the painting. These street panoramas are always tough to get right, the buildings have perspective and the distance between is more than it seems. By holding the paper up, and using the brush to gauge the angles, once can approximate things without too much trouble. The top line on the Metro grocer could have been angled a bit more now that I look at it. If the weather conditions improve I can get more detail in there. A scene like this, you just paint what you see. The grocery store used to be a Steinberg's.

Somerled mush, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4265a)

Blue sky frigid day for a bike ride

It was a frigid day for a bike ride with fierce wind but the sky was blue and the low winter sun was shining. On the way back I stopped at Peel Basin to make this painting of the frozen snow-covered water and multitude of condos in the background. I remembered the last time I was here I saw a fox and included it in the painting. Just as the thought crossed my mind, so did a fox cross through the scene and I captured its image in this painting. I had longer to study its shape and colour which allowed for a more realistic depiction. Maybe it just waits for someone to make a painting or take a photo before trotting by for posterity?

Peel basin fox return, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4302a)

Up near the train tracks in the Mile End they sectioned off some empty lots and earmarked them for preservation. The forest is starting to grow back here, and just a walking trail cuts through. In the background is one of the many clothing manufacturing buildings that was transformed into condos. This used to be an industrial manufacturing area back in the hey day, now its a house farm. At least the city preserves what they can where they can.

Forest regeneration, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4176b)

A little further up the street there was a tent in the middle of the snowy forest. The whole scene was back-lit creating some interesting angled shadows and an intense glare. I managed to do the entirety of this painting on location which yielded a smooth consistent finish. In the previous painting, I had to let it dry and apply the trees at home so it looked a little more choppy. I prefer to finish painting on location but sometimes in the winter I have to pack it up and keep moving. It was definitely tough riding today, a good workout for sure.  

Tent in forest, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2025 (No. 4258b)