South Central, Molson, sunny day

Viger park is located on top of the underground autoroute 136, they covered the highway to create the park, some seating, and a dog area. I am standing in the park looking east towards the Cartier bridge, in the middle ground you can see a sliver of the underground highway, and the foreground has a little berm of snowy grass. There was a lot of detail here for a small paper, I used to number 2 brush to work up the outlines and fill. Its a such a good spot to stand, with good sun, I could go back one day and do a bigger version of this scene. 

Viger park bridge view, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

There was full sun today, with just a few clouds here and there. I had to remember how to paint sun lit surfaces and shadows, its been a long time painting night scenes and gloomy overcast scenes. The main structure here, which still has the iconic clock and MOLSON sign, looks like it might be saved from demolition, but its hard to tell what they could do with it, now that the brewery has moved. The plan was to build community housing, and to extend the old port tourist area. 

Molson full sun, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025

Viger park has seen better days, it looks like it was built in the 60's or 70's judging by the quality of the concrete. A large circular mosaic of blue and green slabs has crumbled and eroded to the point of being a work of art in its own right. A photo would have done it justice, but I took a crack at making a painting. The textured, gnarly trees completed this somewhat creepy scene. 

Broken tiles, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Google maps says this is called Ancien hôpital de la Miséricorde, its on Rene Leveque and st Hubert streets. The whole thing is abandoned now and the graffiti people have started painting parts of the facade. After some reading, it turns out the whole structure is owned by the city and might be turned into affordable housing, and a clinic may open again. 

Abandonded hospital, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

On the way downtown I stopped at Place des Arts to take in the sun. A parade was going along st Catherine which blocked the whole north south transit. So I continued along Maisonneuve path until I got to South Central neighborhood to make the bridge and park paintings. 

Snow pile Place des Arts, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Night skating downtown, pink and green lights

The other day I painted a scene of the city workers preparing the downtown ice rink, because I was wearing a neon green bib people thought I worked for them and asked me when the rink would be open! It got me thinking to try this scene again, at the end of the Montreal night colours blog you see an attempt from last year during a cold snap. This year, they doubled the size of the rink due to popular demand, it is located just south east of the spectacles park, along st Catherine. The lights were rotating between magenta and cyan, with shades of violet in between. Getting into the painting and the water started to freeze, but I was prepared with salt water and switched over to finish the painting. Another cool (freezing!) painting of a skating rink was skating rink in cyan. 

Night skating downtown in magenta, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025

Up and to the right, I saw a green glow from the Complexe Desjardins, it was like, who needs the Northern Lights when you have this to look at? It was a technical painting, done with salt water, the trick was in the timing of the sections so as to avoid wet-in-wet effects. It was quite fun painting a green sky like this, it reminds me of the Finland painting from my World Inspired Landscapes series. 

Green aura skyline, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Sundown in South Central neighborhood

Apparently there is a neighborhood called South Central, its located east of the Gay Village and west of Hochelaga, roughly centered on the Papineau metro station which you can see in the foreground of this painting. In the background of course, is the other defining feature of this neighborhood, the Jacques Cartier bridge with the very last of the sun catching its top. With the wind chill, I did the entirety of this painting wearing the deer-skin gauntlet mitts which resemble oven-mitts. I've gotten a lot better at painting with these gloves on, I even used the small number 2 brush to do most of this painting. 

Last light Jacques Cartier bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

A gas station on the corner made good contrasts with the bridge in the background. Green and red will always produce some drama, and the angled bridge against the perpendicular gas station made for decent composition. In this case, I had to complete the fine details at home from memory because it was extremely moist on location and it was the last painting of the day. 

Bridge over gas station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

This was the first painting on location... sometimes there is an adjustment period, in other words, the first painting sucks. But I kind of saw where the limits were considering the conditions, it was hovering around 0 ℃ with much colder windchill, and I could use fresh water today, no need for salt. Big wet washes simply wont work very well in cold humid conditions, its better to fill in areas with small brush strokes. Over the years, I actually developed a different technique for winter/cold weather painting as compared to summer. Quite a few people today took a look and congratulated/encouraged me to paint on a day like today. 

Bridge over Maisonneuve, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Cool cat night in the city

With a cold and blustery late afternoon, I rode my bike along the Maisonneuve bike path heading downtown. This scene caught my eye, and when the cat walked along the train tracks, it all came together. Of course, the cat didn't pose for me, so I tried to memorize its shape and apply it first, then added the train tracks and rest of the scene, including the graffiti on the wall. In the background is the busy corner where Cavendish intersects with st Jacques. The treeline in the background is the upper portion of the Falaise escarpment forest. 

Cat along tracks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

In st Henri the train goes by frequently at this time of day. A subtle pastel sky played well against the dark green pine trees and subtle blue-grey foreground. Some textures in the foreground completed the illusion of depth. I thought about touching this one up at home, but preferred to leave it as is, with a soft dreamy quality. 

Train crossing pastel sky, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

This scene shows one of the footbridges that goes over the canal, along with a pastel reflection in the water. The classic black fence in the foreground provides necessary contrast. It was almost dark upon completion of this painting, but I forged ahead anyways. 

Canal pastel reflections, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Standing on the corner of Wellington and Robert Bourassa looking north west... there was this view of Place Ville Marie building in the background with its characteristic pink lights on the top. Traffic was pouring out of the city along the street which created a variety of light and dark contrasts. Hundreds of other lights could be seen in building windows, and artificial lamps in yellow, orange and white. It was a grueling painting to make on location, with a strong, cold west wind pelting me, and some damp conditions. After doing this one, I had another piece of paper ready to go, but passed on a few scenes in order to go home and get a hot cup of tea and see my favorite person in Montreal. 

Robert Bourassa Place Ville Marie, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Winter and everything Montreal

Downtown near the Park du Quartier des spectacles, there is a large skating rink they were preparing today. It seemed wishful thinking that the rink would stay frozen for any amount of time, it will continue to get warmer next week, although tonight it will be below freezing. A small Zamboni was zooming around the rink making the surface ready for skaters. 

Ready the skating rink, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Painting orange and purple pylons, a protest went by... something to do with PEQ. After some internet research, it turns out that PEQ stands for Programme de l'expérience québécoise, it was a program meant to fast track permanent residency for foreign workers or students. It has been cancelled now, and presumably, these protestors were people who would have been otherwise eligible for the program. Several of my graduate students used this program to gain residency after they graduated. Those students I supervised at the University all have jobs now in the high tech sectors, biomedical and pharmaceutical research, and a few in medical school. 

Pylons and protestors, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Even though the temperature was slightly above zero ℃, the windchill felt significantly colder, and it was wet wind. Along st Urbain there is a police station, and many cop cars and SUV's park on the street. Last time, the vehicles were under yellow trees, which created neat reflections. There was also a scene of cop cars parked up and down Berri for the Palestine protests, as seen in the last painting of this blog from September. Painting vehicles is tricky due to their odd shapes and perspective. The perspective makes it so the front of the car is about half the size as the back of the car, but it depends how far away the car is. Sometimes you just gotta paint and not think about it. 

 Cop SUV snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Snowfall on Chinatown

Chinatown in Montreal is located along Rue De la Gauchetière between Rue Côté and Saint Dominique. The streets are lined with small restaurants and shops, with plenty of pedestrians including locals and tourists milling about. With snow in the forecast, I headed out there by bike and got a few good paintings in before the wind and cold finally got to me. This scene shows one of the trees with red lanterns, and the facades of a popular row of Chinese-style restaurants.

Snowfall on Chinatown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

The sky today was painted with a dilute mix of pyrol orange (PO73) and indo blue (PB60), this combo can be used for night sky, or for a pale periwinkle (powder blue). Searing through the gloom were a row of bright red lantern spheres with yellow tassels. I did this painting while the background of the first painting was drying. Then I could overlay the tree on the first painting, and come back to this one for details. In this way, I can do several painting on location in cold wet weather. 

Red spherical lantern, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

The graffiti morons got to this mural... in the old days it had a large graffiti by SCAN, so when the city painted over it with a mural, I think the graffiti people must have felt obliged to paint over the mural. At any rate, the effect is pretty neat, with a porcelain-like background of a writhing dragon, the local cityscape painting in the middle, and a shiny graffiti name outlined in yellow and black. That PJD25 guy need to be busted. On the roof, there is some kind of patio bar. 

Graff on mural, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Unfortunately, Chinatown is suffering from neglect and decay, with a large number of buildings boarded up and shut down. Developers are licking their chops to knock down structures and build shiny glass condos, but the heritage status and importance to local history, and the boon to tourism has kept things in place. By the looks of it, hundreds of million of dollars would be needed to update and revitalize the existing structures. 

Sundown on Chinatown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

CBC ran an article about Wings Noodles, a popular restaurant of 75 years in Chinatown that has closed down its business. By coincidence, I painted these signs today, including the Wings sign, which you see on the right side of the painting. Hopefully something can be done to reinvigorate the neighborhood. We talk about Quebec culture, and Chinatown is part of it. In the 19^th century this was a Jewish neighborhood, which gradually gave way to a Chinese community throughout the 20^th century.  

Wings Noodles sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Sun struggling through the clouds

Parts of autoroute 136 are covered, I painted one of the entrance tunnels the other day on a cold afternoon. Further east, the Viger square park stretches over the autoroute, providing some much needed open space and places to sit for the locals, complete with a dog park. Apparently, its also a good spot to make watercolour paintings, and to roll funny smelling cigarettes. You can guess which activity I was doing. Small patches of snow were still hanging on, but with above zero ℃ temperatures it will melt soon. Having said that, snow is on the forecast for tomorrow. 

Viger square park, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

An arched bridge crosses over the Lachine canal on Mill street, connecting the Bonadventure expressway 10 with Old Montreal. A bike path also goes underneath. Our new Mayor of Montreal said they will not remove any bike paths, but might slow down the development of new ones. In this painting, you can also see a new condo building they completed last year, it is clad in blue, with a pale grey circle in the middle. The sun was struggling to get through the clouds today. 

Arc bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Every so often I take a crack at this scene, it gets slightly better each time. I was rather hoping the tourists would be absent this time of year, but it was still full, and several people had to talk to me, or give a running commentary to their friend or child as to what I was doing. Its okay being an entertainment product, there is not much to do around here after labor day. The pigeons didn't seem to mind. 

Bonsecours Market pigeons, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Silo #5 scenes

In Old Port Montreal where all the tourists tend to hang out, there is a prominent factory in the background which has been shut down for a number of years. Its called silo #5 and it used to be some sort of grain storage and elevator system, involved in the malted barley (beer) industry. A dirt road provides access to the nearby Bota Bota Spa... its a spa on a boat with attached restaurant, and the road loops around silo #5 to a small outcrop of land. On location there were big, sweeping views of the st. Lawrence river and distant Jacques Cartier bridge. Looking west gave this neat view of the rear grain elevator system, and a giant chunk of twisted metal and gears in the foreground, covered in graffiti. 

Silo #5 grain elevators, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025

Looking from the front angle, there was a small bridge connecting two of the massive structures. To malt barley, the seeds have to germinate, then get dried out when the sugar content is maximum. Part of this factory was probably for germination, while the silos were for storage of the finished grain. Then, it would go off to the brewery to become beer. Historically, this malting industry in Montreal supplied most of North America. Cheers!

Silo #5 cross bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

 

 

Snow pile commuter train

At the end of the Rona+ parking lot there are some good views of the local scenery, and in the winter they pile snow up here. One day in 2023 there was a big pile of snow that blocked all the view, it was a small mountain of snow! Today, the snow was piled up but melting fast, and the nearby tree had dropped yellow leaves on top, which is an odd thing to happen. Usually all the leaves fall off, then it snows, but this year the leaves took a long time to change colour and fall off, many trees still have leaves. As I painted, the commuter train rolled by. There is a new style of train, it has a large blue or teal circle on the side... its easier to paint than the other one that has a wave pattern. 

Snow pile commuter train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Snowy night intense purple sky

An old bridge next to the autoroute 15 overpass is now reserved for bikes and pedestrians, it can be seen toward the right side of the painting complete with customized graffiti. In the background, is a large factory on st Patrick close to av de L'Eglise, now its a mix of different kinds of businesses like gyms and studios.  A yellowish lamp was illuminating the fresh snow and concrete embankments of the bridge head and canal. It was a tricky painting to pull off on location especially considering the wet snow constantly falling. Both paintings today were completed on location... I have some really warm and waterproof clothing to make it possible. 

Passerelle Côte-st-Paul night snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

The first layer of this painting was done at the location, but it quickly turned into a mushy mess because wet snow was coming down strongly onto the painting. Since I had the second wood drying rack, I could put it back into my bike bag and move to the next location (seen in the first painting of the blog). When I finished the bridge painting, I then finished this one... just standing next to my bike. I really thought it was a disaster, like a waste of paper after the first layer got soaked, but the main shapes and colours held up, and the sky got an incredible wet and windy texture. The graffiti was all done by my crew, FITZ, CILS, DYER, PJD25 and DDAWG. 

Silo dumpsters snow storm, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Purple sky snow covered night

Thick blankets of snow covered everything in Montreal including these pine trees near Decarie expressway. Nearby lamps were casting an amber tint over the snow, intermixing with purple from the sky. Getting the subtle tints right was the challenges, for example the pine trees go from orange to grey, and the snow had variations of orange and caramel tones. 

Pine trees near Decarie tint, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Strong white flood-lights illuminated the local skateboard park which was blanket in snow. In the background is the local school with a few orange lamps. It was very quiet here, almost silent due to the time of day and the snow, which absorbs sound effectively. To do the glow-effect of the lamp, a series of rings are made wet-in-wet starting with greenish pale yellow, then merging with the soft purple sky. 

Snow covered skateboard park, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

First snow, heaps of it!

The snow finally arrived in large amounts, covering Montreal with a thick blanket. With temperatures slightly below 0 ℃ the snow accumulated all day leaving most things completely covered. In this scene, a fire hydrant, shrub, car and trees were barely visible under the piles of snow. Since the leaves had not completely fallen off yet, it made many tree branches bend and droop downwards. 

First piles of snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

A large tree on Somerled accumulated snow on all its branches, with some yellowish leaves poking through. A traffic sign was plastered in snow making it impossible to read, while cars went by also covered in snow. Painting watercolour, or any colour, in these conditions is difficult to say the least but I have been doing it for years, or decades rather. I built a drying rack, its a balsa-wood frame, sized to the paper (6 x 7.5") that I place on top of the paper and use elastics to fasten it to a stiff piece of cardboard. This device will protect the surface of the painting from smudging when it goes back into the bag, and makes it easier to handle in rough conditions. I made a second drying rack this season so I can paint two at once. Its possible to reload it on  location with fresh paper, but keep in mind, I am wearing oven-mitt style gloves for the entire process. I think today's paintings have the most amount of detail possible to do while wearing oven-mitts in the middle of a snow storm! They are not really oven mitts, they are dear-skin insulated gauntlets from Canada Outfitters, where I also got my wool base layer. 

Snow covered tree Somerled, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Train bridges thinking big

Down at the Peel basin the ice fog created an eerie glow penetrated by the orange-yellow light from a lamp. The bike path runs under these bridges, and in the background is the new graffiti by SLUK, a massive piece up on the new Maltage silos. A train rumbled by overhead. 

Train bridges ice fog, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Light rail overhead and commuter trains on the lower rails were crisscrossing with a rattle and rumble. New construction had a greyish chartreuse, while the old bridge was painted in a bluish charcoal. In the bottom right corner is a small piece of the obsolete train bridge, it is a rusted iron structure covered in graffiti now. 

Two trains bridges, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Somehow, this writer (graffiti person) got on top of an enormous 20 story silo and rappelled down the side, making a large piece with paint rollers. The writing looked to be about 7 stories tall, located on the upper portion of the structure. It wasn't there last week, so it must have been done very recently. The actual name was mentioned in the first painting, here I changed it to my initials. Although graffiti is illegal and there are enormous amounts of it now, one has to admire the audacity to do something like this. It made me think about my paintings... I need to go bigger and more impressive... but on paper and not with spray paint! 

Thinking big, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

 

Ice fog Dorchester square

With ice fog in the forecast, it made for some interesting scenes where the tops of skyscrapers were obscured by cloud. In the foreground, is a war memorial, in the background is the mighty Place Ville Marie building shrouded in clouds. Things worked better with a small brush, but the paint was pretty soggy and unpredictable today. 

Ice fog downtown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

At the tops of these yellow trees at Dorchester square there was a large squirrel nest and squirrels hopping around the branches. Thick ice fog enveloped the buildings in the background, and a thin layer of mist was everywhere. 

Living high life, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

This old artillery piece, likely from world war II sits next to the war memorial. One day before remembrance day, we remember those who lost their lives in the war. Once again the paint was being stubborn today making details elusive. At the illusion of fog is quite authentic. 

Artillery ice fog, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 

Brief snow storm downtown

Across from Cabot square sits the old Forum where the Canadiens used to play. Nowadays its a mall with several street-level shops and restaurants including a dollar store. The dollar store is barely visible in the painting, just a streak of yellow off to the bottom right. I was mostly standing on this location because there is a wide ledge overhead which provided some shelter from the brief snow storm that hit Montreal this afternoon. People even had umbrellas, and I was wearing a combination of winter wear and rain wear. For a more pleasant view of this area check out the sunflowers that were growing in Cabot square this summer. 

Old Forum corner,  watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

To complete this painting, I stood next to a bus stop shelter which blocked the direct wind and snow which was coming down close to vertically. The old Forum building is in the background, with the Cabot square paths and landscaping in the foreground. There were a lot more trees than this, but the conditions precluded any overlay detailing. Its always an adjustment period going into the winter. The truth is, that I enjoy painting in the winter, in fact I did a few on a trip out to Montreal in the 1990's, I will paste one below...

Cabot square snow storm, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2025 

  

Here is one of the old paintings I did on a trip to Montreal in 1997, it was the first one I remember doing on the trip, which probably makes it the first location painting I ever did in Montreal. Prior to that, I had been painting on location in Ontario for a few years. 

Big Bottle, Winter,  watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, 1997 (No. 1056) 

First snow of the season, wet

Going out into the uncertain weather today, I found a ledge along st Catherine street with some shelter from the cold wet snow. You have to be really committed to your art, in more ways than one, in order to paint on a day like today! The roads were slick with an icy snow layer and light rain. Together with the construction pylons it was so Montreal. 

Wet snow construction, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Looking west, and there was a view of an old building that the city plans to renovate, or perhaps demolish, I believe its the old Packard building, based on some google searching and a fuzzy image of the logo over the front door. Its all shuttered now, but it used to have shops on the ground level and studios on the top levels. Despite the shelter, snow still pelted down onto the painting. 

Packard building profile, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

The entire upper two floors of the building are encased in a re-enforced black mesh to prevent debris from falling onto the sidewalk. It was once a glorious building it would seem, hopefully they can clean off all the graffiti and bring it back to life. For the first painting I had salt water, but the temperature was slightly above zero so I switched to fresh water for the remaining paintings. Salt water wont freeze easily, but it makes the paint dry a lot slower. 

Packard building front, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2025

 

136 east tunnel under Montreal

The 136 highway goes underneath Montreal, here is one of the entrance ways off of Rue Notre Dame. In the background, you see one of the enormous glass towers they completed last year over on Robert Bourassa. The building angles outwards from street level, that way more square footage can be created from the same plot of land, several newer building use this design. Because of the perspective, it looks like this massive skyscraper is sitting right on top of the tunnel, with a few delicate trees in the middle. I liked the dramatic contrast between vertical and perpendicular... with cars driving into the tunnel. A few yellow signs provided more depth, and importantly, they connect the various layers of the composition by overlapping the horizontal elements. I learned that trick from studying Hiroshige the great Japanese print designer. This would also be a cool scene to do at night, although we are expecting 10cm of snow tomorrow, which will hamper my bike ride/painting trips. Will go on foot if needed. 

136 east tunnel under Montreal, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025

Scenes at the heart of Montreal

If you have been downtown Montreal anytime lately, this kind of scene is all too familiar. I call it Montreal orange, that particular shade of the construction sign that I mix with pyrol orange (PO73) and benzi orange (PO62). The numbers in parenthesis are the pigment code of the paint colourant that I use. To establish this painting I applied a faint outline with grey paint and a number 2 round brush, then started to fill in the colour blocks, with layers of texture and detail. Planning out where the paper would show through was essential to get the signs to pop. My initials are hidden in one of the signs. 

Peel street Montreal orange, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

Concordia University has been in the news again for all the wrong reasons...they want to postpone the sabbatical for professors, which is a professional development year, and eliminate all the limited term appointment teachers. Even the pigeons were disgusted, they flew away from under the yellow trees at the downtown Campus. 

Pigeons under yellow trees, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025  

 

In my authoritative Curio Folio series, this museum has come up a few times, its called MARMALADE. Since you may not believe everything I write in the Curio Folio blogs, I decided to make a painting of it just for evidence that it exists, really.   

MARMALADE, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025