Downtown, Lachine canal, Peel basin

Three of my favorite places to paint in Montreal: Downtown, Lachine canal, and the Peel basin! In the scene above, there was a protest in Phillips Square across from the old Bay mall, on st Catherine street. People were waving Iranian flags with the lion and crown in the center and chanting things in Farsi and English. A flock of pigeons flew overhead, a flying group of pigeons is called a 'flight of pigeons' by the way, while a police cruiser was parked by the curb. 

Flight of pigeons downtown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, January 2026

An old factory warehouse on the Lachine canal has been 'decorated' extensively by the graffiti writers including KONG, one of the original writers from the 1990's who may still be active. As usual I placed my initials and year in place of the graffiti... that is called 'biting' by the way, when you copy a graffiti artist's style. To paint something like that, the writer has to hang from the edge of the building with some kind of harness, and probably used a roller instead of a spray paint can for most of the work. The canal was starting to melt.

Lachine canal Kong, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, January 2026

Its unusual for the ice to thaw in the middle of winter like this. With mild temperatures ahead it may start showing water again. The central element is where they hold the summer festivals like the Reggae festival, it used to be a shipping and receiving pier, while the background shows part of the Farine Five Roses building, actually the new Canada Maltage factory. To make that pale blue-green ice colour I use perylene green (PBk31) diluted and tinted with various cool paints like blue (PB15), green (PG7) and magenta (PR122, PV55). I  picked up more paper, a few tubes and brushes, at Avenue des Arts today in Westmount, Pierre was there, he runs the shop and also organizes a network of independent art companies around Canada. 

Peel Basin winter thaw, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, January 2026