Ice flows on s 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

 

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

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