Like many dépanneurs

Like many dépanneurs its name was not clear, so I looked it up on Google maps and saw that the proper name is Dépanneur Metropolis. A fitting name for a convenience store at the heart of Montreal. Most of st Catherines street east is permanently shut off from traffic, its now a pedestrian only zone which is good for business and gives the locals more space to hang out. It also gives me more places to set up my bike/studio and paint pictures. There were a bunch of a signs jumbled up here, the top one said Rooms and Studios, just underneath it said Madona Tabagerie (tobacco store), then the dépanneur sign, with the bière et vin reminder (beer and wine). I liked the combination of maroon, yellow, orange and dark brown. It would be worth doing a bigger painting of this, but the weather was not looking good today and I just made it home in time before the rain hit. 

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

This hole in the wall was the entrance to an art school called Syn Studio, although I see on google maps that it moved to a bigger new location out on Ontario street (not the province!). As I painted the scene, I noticed that there was an image of a mouse, like the kind attached to a computer by a wire, along side of paint brushes, pencil, pen and paint splashing. Kind of neat, that even a decade ago or so, digital art was accepted as mainstream. No technology used for this painting, it was done on location with watercolour as usual. 

Syn Studio art school, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2025

Down near China Town there is large vacant lot that the developers want to build on but the city has prevented it for now because the Chinese community likes to use it for festivals and celebrations. One can only hope the city can preserve the space. A large wall here serves as a canvas for local artists. It appears that there was an official mural done, in the center is a landscape painting of the main street in China Town, surrounded by a cobalt-blue dragon. Then some graffiti artists added to it with their initials, which in this case is PJD25. The graffiti was done in silver spray paint which can be difficult to depict, I think it almost worked here, the background wall colour just had to be half a shade darker to make the silver pop a bit more. I copied the graffiti style, silver lettering with black outline with yellow outline. 

Art wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2025