Gravel field flowers and Kruger factory

Across the rue Pullman bridge by bicycle brought me to another long gravel field, packed down like concrete. It used to be part of an enormous Glen train yard for a long time, so the earth is packed and probably contaminated with oil and heavy metals. But the grass and wild flowers didn't mind too much. As I painted before, there are plenty of yellow flowers in these areas, but today I saw an area covered in what appeared to be cosmos flowers. They were small and close to the ground, but the colours were unmistakable, white, pale pink and deep magenta. I painted them a lot larger to make the design pop, and because I had to paint the grey gravel around all the flowers without messing it up. In the background is the usual dystopian view of the Turcot interchange where highway 15 crosses over the train tracks, route 136, and Notre dame avenue.  

Cosmos in gravel field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025

I composed this scene in roughly two equal sections, the Kruger paper and cardboard recycling factory at the top, and the gravel field on the bottom. Running across the middle is Notre Dame avenue and a few cars zipping by. The tall wall of the factory had an opening which gave a view to the endless stacks of paper and cardboard. There was something oddly pleasing about the aroma of wet cardboard in the air. If I am not mistaken, these large gravel fields, between route 139 and Notre Dame, might be part of the re-naturalization project. Although I do enjoy these areas as they are, and I can see nature slowly re-naturalizing itself without any help. 

Kruger factory gravel field, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2025