The Hungry Painter, old paint shop

As the sun went down near the Domino's pizza up on Cote st Luc road, I caught this view of sunflowers growing out on the sidewalk through the glass door and windows. It was a fascinating scene, the background is similar to a scene I did last year of the sundown in NDG, but with an image of sunflowers in the middle-ground and the Domino's facade in the foreground. As a hungry painter at this hour, the smell of the pizza was fantastic even if it is strictly off of my blood pressure-friendly diet. All in all, this painting has a lot of character... kind of eerie like you expect the sunflowers to be walking down the sidewalk with poisonous barbs or something (referencing the Day of the Triffids). 

Sunflowers through Domino's windows, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

Further down Cote st Luc road is Mazzeh, the relatively new hole-in-the wall Persian restaurant that has become a personal favorite. After ordering some kebabs, I went outside and waited... the lady said ten minutes before the take-out was ready, so I had to paint even faster than usual. The painting shows the billboard on the wall, illuminated by a small flood light, you see tomatoes, veggies, chicken and beef kebabs on a charcoal grill. Yes I was a hungry painter, and the kebabs smelled great and once I got home, tasted incredible as usual. They even threw in some free Persian style yogurt. 

Mazzeh Kebabs sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

In between the pizza place and the kebab place, there was an abandoned store that looked like it used to be a restaurant, but in fact, it used to be a paint store... like house paint. Ironically, they painted the sign all black, with just fragments of the original font visible. I changed the wording to my initials and the year, with the word 'paint', then painted it over with black. The interior of the store is not visible, it had an empty abandoned look to it. The yellow sign post was all rusted, clearly it needed a fresh coat of paint. 

Painted black, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025

Before getting to the kebab place I made one last painting at the abandoned paint shop, a challenging scene of a weed, and my bike tire with some trees, reflecting in the glass window. You also see the interior of the shop, and the street, cars and apartments in the background. Since painting reflections, and more reflections, I was thinking about trying a more complex reflection like you see here. It is essentially four paintings superimposed... the foreground, the reflection, the interior middle ground, and the background seen through the glass. Since watercolour layers can be semi-transparent, there is a certain advantage here, but judging the outcome, and gauging the moisture levels is going to take more practice. Now when I ride around I have an eye out for a good reflection. I might go back to this old paint store before they tear it down and do another painting or two. I like to paint things that might not last too long such as an old farm house in Bolton that is now completely gone, and a nearby barn that burnt down, I did a painting before and after the fire (and I had nothing to do with the fire!). More recently I painted the charming Dépanneur Diamond 10 in Lachine which is now just a gravel pit awaiting condo development. 

Reflection of a weed, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025