Grey, greyer, greyest

Painting in poor weather is definitely a technical challenge, as well as a mental challenge, because you would rather be at home with a hot beverage and dry clothes than standing next to the Lachine canal in cold dark wet conditions. To do this painting I composed the 'hybrid trees' which have vertically textured bark on the bottom but horizontally textured bark on the top, along with the bike path and industrial scene in the background (the paper recycling factory). Its important to circle the light sources in a matching colour before starting, so as to keep that area fresh. There are two main lamps, several smaller lights, and a red light on top of the smoke stack. It was completed wearing the big oven-mitt sized gauntlet mitts due to wind chill. 

Grey bike path, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025

I have seen this scene a few times, and decided to stop and paint it today, with not much light left at all. The sky was an odd colour, like patches of blue and pinkish orange interspersed with shades of grey. The commuter train went by a few times and I caught some of its detail and lighting effects. As with the other painting, all the white, yellow, orange and red areas had to be kept clear, while the greyish washes needed to stay put. This area, near Wellington, used to be a flat parking lot and bus depot, with single story buildings. Now, its teeming with soaring glass condos and busy commercial streets.   

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

In Old Port, the Ferris wheel was illuminated with tye-dyed colours which popped out of the gloomy greyish sky. I used combinations of indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange (PO73). In fact, I used the same combo for the skies in the other paintings, but with a dab of raw sienna or yellow ochre plus water to neutralize and grey it down. As I mentioned once before, completing the 68 stations of the Montreal Metro series gave me an uncanny ability to mix shades of grey, mostly for concrete. In this painting, its more of a mauve and navy mix though, which looks good against the other lighting effects. 

Ferris wheel dark sky, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025