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