The st Laurent metro station was one of the locations in my 68 Stations of the Montreal metro series. Today, it had a thin layer of snow covering, with a construction pylon unceremoniously placed on the roof. There are a lot of overlapping layers in this painting which creates a sense of depth and three dimensional space. I got the garbage and recycling bins in the foreground, with some apartments and squirrel nests in the tree up in the background.
Pylon metro snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025
In the Quartier des Spectacles area there is a popular coffee shop with a glass enclosure in the back facing onto rue Jeanne-Mance. Cold wind was blasting up from the south west making it difficult to stand and paint, but I have good gear and an optimized kit. The latest adjustment was to add coloured tape onto the ends of each brush to make it easier to identify and pick up the correct brush while wearing oven-mitt sized gauntlet gloves.
Coffee house cold day, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025
The water was nearly completely frozen down at the Peel basin, you see the last little pools of open water starting to close in. Orange lamps were casting a warm glow on the otherwise cold scene. In the background, a commuter train rumbled over the distant bridge. Using heavily salted water in these conditions and the paint will not dry very fast, or at all, so I had to sign my initials on the only semi-dry part of the painting off to the right middle. You also have to paint darker than you think because the delayed drying causes paint to soak into the paper more than usual which dulls the value and de-saturates hues. Winter watercolour painting is a true skill that at least one person in the world is starting to master!
Peel basin freezing night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, December 2025
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