Bellechase bike path, dépanneur, construction

The Bellechase bike path runs north of the train tracks, it goes along Bellechase street all the way past Maisonneuve park. Today I got about halfway along the path, but without my tube repair kit (I wasn't expecting to go so far) I turned around for fear of a flat tire. My tires are actually fantastic, I got the teflon ones that cost a lot but nearly never get flat. Even so its nice to have a tire change along with me just in case. There wasn't much to paint along Bellechase, so I stopped in some shade and painted one of the many corners where they installed flowers, in this case, tiger lilies. Completing the composition is a red stop sign, and a school crossing sign in neon (PY184, dab of PG36). 

Tiger lillies signs, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2025

You know I like to paint convenience stores (Dépanneur in Quebec french) but it has to have some kind of unique story or feature. This one had an outrageous (tacky) green facade with red paint and signage, and a sloping roof. It was fun to paint although the traffic here on D'Iberville street was pretty heavy. 

Dépanneur Laura, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2025

Even the construction is stylish and colourful in the Plateau. They are tearing up parts of the bike path, you see the crumpled asphalt and yellow paint, but the interesting part were all the construction markers. Pink fencing, blue and white barriers, and orange pylon poles with magenta bases. A couple of people went by and probably wondered what I was painting. So was I. 

Colourful construction, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2025 

 

Finally, on the way back I stopped in the Mile End neighborhood, my old haunt. There is a lady there who owns a whole block of Bernard avenue, she uses the storefronts and sidewalk to sell flowers in the summer. Paintings like this have a lot of detail, its a little bit like doing a puzzle, I have to paint it piece by piece and hope it all fits together. I was actually looking for flowers today and found quite a bit of subject matter to paint in this scene. If I feel up to it, I may go paint the moon tonight. Yesterday it was half moon, today it is waxing gibbous (sounds like a rock band).

Wall of Flowers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2025