Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Alley oops

There are still a few old car washes on Maisonneuve street along the bike path, this one has red bricks painted grey at the bottom where they cover up the graffiti. Since the car wash was still open for business, I could set up just next to the sidewalk in front of the adjacent alley and make a painting. It took longer than I thought so I had to stand there for some time hoping no car wanted to park where I was standing, or a car makes a sharp turn out of the car wash. I got the painting done, the chair on the bottom left was the last detail. I had raw sienna (PBr7) on my palette which really helped with the subtle shades of grey. 

In the car wash, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

 

And here is the scene looking up the alley. The building on the left used to have an elaborate mural done in pastel tones, but the graffiti artists obviously didn't like it and plastered the mural with tags. Then the owners used stock green paint to roll over the whole mess, hence the two-toned wall you see in the painting. After doing this painting I walked my bike up the alley and noticed it was a 'green alley' that is a program that Montreal has, where they install garden boxes and take out strips of asphalt to plant things. 

Coloured Alley, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

 

There is a pedestrian bridge over the train tracks at the end of Grand Boulevard. I was standing in the shade looking up at the odd angles when a train went by and I decided to make a painting of the scene. As usual, I replaced the graffiti with my initials and made it look better than the original graffiti by adding magenta (PR122) and violet with dabs of sapphire blue (PB15). 

Walkway overpass, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

 

 

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