Canal snow ice and graffiti

The Lachine canal is still mostly frozen with fresh snow cover. The commuter train (REM) runs along with bridge at the top, while cars and pedestrians use the bridge at the bottom. There used to be a tunnel running underneath but its been blocked off for a long time. To make the shadow colour I mix variations of dark green (PBk31), blue (PB60), magenta (PV55) and blue-green (PG7). Its done wet-in-wet to create a feathering effect. 

Bridges snow shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

At one of the locks, an overflow river meanders down a short waterfall. Yellow buoys are there to stop watercraft from getting near when the ice thaws and people start using the canal again. It was the first time I could practice painting water again after a long winter. Its officially Spring now, so lets go!

Yellow buoys open water, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

Graffiti artists turned the walls of the Lachine canal into an open air gallery. This was a ZONEK piece but I changed it to PJD2026 instead. In the background, you see some of the never-ending condos that pop up along the canal. Its st Henri over there, and I am technically standing in Verdun. 

Frozen canal graffiti, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Water was flowing down Courcelle street in st Henri. In the background, are trees that grow along the outside of the train tracks, and some community housing is shown on the right. I liked the overall brown and grey look, with pops of blue from the sky, and red from the building cladding. 

Thaw Courcelle street, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

In the foreground there was the remnants of an old wall from the factory that used to manufacture wiring. The wall was once stone, but concrete was poured on, then the graffiti artists got to it. Heavily textured, it made for an interesting effect. When the weather improves I have to go back and do a proper painting of it. Anyways, you get the idea. 

What the heck? watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  

 

 

Ghosts pigeons and dumpsters downtown

Phillips square, across from the bay, is at the center of downtown Montreal. Since the Bay closed, its iconic yellow sign was recently removed, leaving a ghostly impression which you see in this painting. I tried to get some of the details of the brickwork and plaster features on its elaborate facade. Tourists and pigeons were all over the square. 

Ghost of the Bay, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

With some snow still remaining, these pigeons were having fun looking for food. There must have been a hundred of them. In the background was a Burger King restaurant which I renamed Burger PJD26, although Burger Pete would have sounded better!

Pigeons Burger Pete, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

Riding past the alley and I could not resit painting all the dumpsters and other colourful accents including the Olympic rings on top of a building up in the background. A mural adorned the left side, and a few more pigeons mulled about for bits and bites. 

Dumpster alley, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Sleet Provigo traffic

Sleet is a combination of rain and snow, and it was coming down today. I found a ledge to stand under on Sherbrooke on the way back from the office, and made a painting of the Provigo grocery store on the corner of Cavendish, along with traffic in the foreground. Pops of yellow, orange, red, green, blue and turquoise could be seen on the vehicles including a city bus, and car lights reflecting on the wet road. It would have been nice to make more paintings but I had to chicken out due to the steady sleet. Speaking of chicken, I kept smelling rotisserie chicken while standing here, there must be a shop nearby. Montreal is ranked the number one rotisserie chicken city in North America, along with our poutine. 

Sleet Provigo traffic, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

Bins train snow

As the after-work commute started to ramp up, I found this scene of my favorite yellow dumpsters, now covered in graffiti, and a passing commuter train. With steady snowfall, usually its a no-go for painting but the snowflakes were large and dry so the painting came out pretty good. In fact, falling snow flakes created a snow-effect on the painting, which was due to melted water of the snowflake creating a small backwash. It was just a fun painting to do, after grinding through the last few days of painting, today windchill was lower and generally more pleasant than before. To paint a scene like this, its important to start the bright colours, so I laid down the yellow, red, and blue, then filled in the brown, grey and black tones. 

Bins train snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

Melt freeze melt freeze ....

Today was another freezing day, although much of the snow had melted a few days ago. In this scene, you see a school in the background, with pine trees and skateboard ramps in the middle ground. I used a little bit of salt in the water, I have two waters with me, one fresh one salt, and mix them as needed. Still looking forward to spring. 

Melt freeze trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

Sitting on the same bench, looking towards the Sports Complex, I did this painting of an interesting pair of pine trees with beds of pine needles on the ground. Its the closest thing to a forest that we have in NDG. The city planted some more trees and a small wetlands area on the corner of the park, which is a cool idea and I will make some painting when it fills in a bit. Overall, it was a good winter with lots of paintings, including some from Brazil! 

Pine trees Sports complex, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Colour Compost

We are big fans of composting, in fact I have a composter on the tiny bit of grass that we call a backyard and use it regularly. By now, its heaped with frozen vegetable and fruit peelings, no meat because that attracts rats and mice. We put the meat and egg shells into a separate bag for the City compost service to pick up. Recently I composted one of my old paintings to see what would happen and sure enough, the 100% rag fiber disintegrated and got absorbed into the soil. So one day when I need to decide what to do with my collection, I know what to do! This painting was a palette cleanser with a compost-inspired colour scheme hence the name. Its on a watercolour paper stock (not cotton fiber) but it would probably still compost just fine. I was keen on painting outside the last few days but with howling winds and frigid chill I decided to wait it out. 

Colour Compost, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, March 2026 

Gas Price

The gas price was well over $1.80 which is a lot in Montreal, its going to cost more to fill up my bicycle. But seriously, its all due somehow to the events in the middle east. In the painting, I show a gas station sign, over on Cavendish and Somerled, with my initials and the year instead of a price. In the background is an eerie glow from the gas station lights, and a green light on the left to provide contrast. The darn paint would just not dry fast enough, so there was some smudging here and there but it makes for quite a striking effect. 

Gas Price, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Sparkle flowers

 

This painting was at my Parents' place for a long time, now its been up on our fridge for awhile. Cilei really likes it, so I thought to put a scan up on the blog. The sparkle was done by tossing salt crystals in while the paint was semi-moist, which sucks up the water leaving a starburst effect. I made a series of such paintings but with dark black outlines, this one was a bit softer. It was done around 1999 to my recollection, my idea was to bring these to an art show in a park and sell some, but I never did make any sales that way. I sold several abstract paintings through the art gallery, and the art commune shop in London Ontario. 

Sparkle flowers, watercolour 4 x 6" cold press, 1999

Fresh layer of snow, under the weather

I bought a cheap DVD player to take advantage of the DVD collection they have at the local Cultural Center and Library. Lots of Zombies so far! Today I was feeling a little under the weather on the tail end of a cold, but got out there, and also made a few paintings while it snowed. I found a sheltered spot to stand across the street under the front overhang of the Sports Complex. With snow overhead you could say I was under the weather. Get it? I was sick, and standing under the snow, under the weather times two. To make this painting, I had to paint around all the snow highlights. It was tricky brushwork but at least I can wear my wool mitts instead of deerskin gauntlets which offered a bit more dexterity. 

Snow covered trees Cultural Center, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

You also get a sense of the incredible facilities we are lucky to have on this former location which was Benny Farm. This scene shows a medical center, they call them CLSC, with snow-covered pine trees in the foreground. Up in the background are the two massive apartment buildings on Sherbrooke, quite a few of my graduate students have rented apartments there as they live in Montreal. Unfortunately it will be difficult to bring in more international graduate students this year, although a Canadian graduate student applied and might get an admission offer soon. In other news, I am close to making a website for my immunology research laboratory, but no promises on when it will happen! 

Medical Center snow covered pine trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

 

Warm axons map

Its probably not the oddest title I've given a painting but probably close. After a lot of winter painting I cleaned the palette with a small brush, using the excess paint to make a few abstracts. I call these palette cleansers. Using different colours and making shapes is also a different experience compared to painting on location. On location, I try to represent the scene, while the abstracts are pure imagination. The idea was to create a maze-like tapestry, like a map of brain cells or axons. I liked the sound of 'warm axons', the way the two words blurr together. 

Warm axons map, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, March 2026 

Le Pois Penché and Paix Park

Along Maisonneuve there is a restaurant called Le Pois Penché, or the 'Leaning Pea' whatever that means, it has a ritzy looking France-style facade and red awning. The main reason to do this painting were the orange construction pylons. Our Mayor wants to rid downtown Montreal of orange cones so they are an endangered species now. I checked on google and this restaurant averages $100 per person, although it has 4.5 stars so it must be good. That's $22.22 per star, plus tax and tip. 

Le Pois Penché, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Paix park is down on Clark street near China Town, its not somewhere I would hang out but over the years I have done a few paintings of it, like in this blog which shows the interlocking brick lined with grass. I never  knew there was a massive dome structure in the background because the trees always block the view in summer, and you can't see the dome from other angles. I happen to be walking with my bike north on Clark and saw it. No idea what it is, tried google but no luck. The shops around it are various retail and ... other types of establishments I wont mention here. Guess it used to be a planetarium or disco club maybe. 

Paix park with dome, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  

Tough conditions, freeze arse off

Down in Trenholme park after picking up the LUFA Farms vegetables I tried to make paintings but encountered some difficult conditions. Cold wet wind and mixed precipitation hovering around zero ℃ was more challenging than painting on a nice clear day at -20 ℃. At -20 ℃ or so, the moisture is gone from the air, and assuming no wind and proper clothes, its not that bad really. Today though, awful! I found a scene looking up an embankment at an old no bike parking sing, where the red circle had faded to a pale green which I found very interesting. The sun was struggling to get through the clouds. 

Faded bike sign v2, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

This was the first attempt but everything went badly. The positioning of the sign was off from the get go, then the paint was freezing so I went to put salt water in the cup, dropped a palette, spilled some water, froze my arse off. Being stubborn I was thinking, no way I want to go home empty handed so I tried to finish version 1, then went and did a version 2 which worked out a bit better. Our weather is going to continue yo-yo-ing up and down for awhile. 

Faded bike sign v1, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Freezing rain and night-cicles

After picking up my newly repaired bike from Davelo, their mechanics do a wonderful job of it and were able to provide some new used parts for replacement, I made a quick painting of the freezing rain. This view is looking up Courcelle street towards Westmount, with a stone train bridge overpass. On the right, the small building is part of a water facility or electrical station. It takes some skill to paint a mushy mess like this, I get a lot of practice at this time of year.  

Tunnel freezing rain, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Having to take care of some experiment for a student who could not drive in to campus today, I was there a little late and did a quick painting on the way out. Standing in a concave corner where the basketball court meets up with the athletic center, I had enough roof overhang to block most of the freezing rain. These icicles were actually over on a hand railing, so I transported them up to the eave in order to create effect. A strong flood light illuminated the icicles against a gloomy background containing the admin building. As usual, all the admin lights were on, not only do they work late, but they come to work when the University is officially closed for ice storms. Our admin is to be commended for the extra effort, or rather, their normal diligent effort. Night-cicles is a compound word I made up, like icicles at night. 

Night-cicles campus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Heavy traffic vehicles

Traffic was heavy, literally, like really big vehicles were rumbling by. Some kind of tanker, maybe propane or liquid nitrogen, a city bus, cars, vans and trucks filled the road next to Decarie expressway. In the background is the old Snowdon theater, now a condo complex with the entire Snowdon theater facade restored and still intact. When buildings have historical value and define the local scenery, Montreal puts a label on it and forces developers to save the facade. Today was a rare bit of nice weather, but we are headed for snow and freezing rain later in the week. Yay.

Heavy traffic vehicles, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Ice river trees and tomb stones

After yesterday's commotion downtown I felt more like some peace and quiet and a few nice trees to paint. Taking the bus, then walking, I arrived atop Mount Royal. In 2021 I wrote a funny blog about my Climb up mount Royal. No drama today... the first painting shows an idyllic scene of trees on a rolling landscape, with just slight hints of melting snow. 
 

Pleasant tree line, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

 

Truth is, the heaps of snow were melting fast, which created an ice river down the walking path, with the refurbished chalet in the background. Tall metal poles marked the path, a lot of people were trying to tip toe around slush and water. 

Ice river, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Had I brought galoshes it may have been possible to venture further into the park. With just my leather winter boots I had to stay on relatively dry ground, like the path around Beaver Lake. You can see how the ice is thawing, which created a variety of colours, textures and reflections. 

Melting Beaver Lake, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

On the way down the hill I saw a brilliant blue horizon with tomb stones in the middle ground, and trees overlapping. It was kind of a fun painting to do, a fierce wind was blasting me, but with higher temperatures it was no more than an annoyance. Cars zipped down Chemine Remembrance, that is the name of the road on the west side, on the east side its called Voie Camillien-Houde which will stay open for the foreseeable future. There were plans to turn that road into a bike/pedestrian pathway, but cars are more important. 

Blue horizon tomb stones, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Flag waving downtown Montreal

Doing a bit of shopping downtown and then I got a bit caught out in front of Alexis Nihon mall on st Catherine street. A large protest was walking west, shouting 'Hands off Iran' with a large police escort all around. These protestors were waving Palestinian, Lebanese, and both kinds of Iranian flags including the official one, and the alternative one with a lion at its center. Politically, these people were against the war and were pro-Iranian regime for various reasons. In the painting, they are on the right of the scene. Following them, were a group of pro-war people who are against the Iranian regime, waving American, Israeli, Canadian, and Iranian flags with the Lion in the middle. They are on the left of the scene. Each group were carrying placards showing different political figures dead and alive, I wont get into the details. A large group of bicycle police wearing neon vests stood and separated the two groups until the latter group dissipated. I just wanted to get the heck out of there since I understood the dynamic, but was kind of stuck on the sidewalk, also it was starting to rain. About 10 minutes later, everyone was gone and things went back to normal, so I made this painting on the spot, from memory.  

Protest counter protest, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Earlier I heard a celebration going on, music was playing and people were waving flags. These people were celebrating the war in Iran because they don't like their government. I don't know how I feel about it, generally I prefer peace and peaceful solutions, violence rarely results in anything but more violence. You should have seen all the tourists and weekend shoppers... st Catherine was mostly blocked by the protest, and people were shouting in various languages and waving all sorts of flags. So visitors were trying to walk down streets and alleys so as to avoid the to-do. 

Celbration glass skyscrapers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Finally, just a painting of a tree with Christmas lights still on it, looking up. I embellished the angles and colours of the background buildings for effect. The sounds of sirens and people chanting could be heard in the distance. 

Tree looking up, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Tent encampment, highway overpass

With our reading week drawing to a close, that's when the University gets to read for a week, I made a couple of paintings on my way back from the bike shop. Unfortunately the bike needs work and I might be on foot for the next few days or longer depending on the availability of parts. In st Henri, there was a large tent encampment near the train tracks, now just a few tents remain due to the cold, and other problems they had here like a fire, and an unfortunate death last year. A train of crude oil cars rumbled by as I painted. Its a wonder that the city still permits housing construction near train tracks, let alone a tent encampment. But whenever they shut an encampment down, the people have to move somewhere else. 

Encampment train tracks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

This highway overpass was built as part of the Turcot interchange project, it is highway 136 going downtown (to the right in the painting). In the 1950's before there were any highways, this land used to be a small village of maybe a hundred people with a church, a park, some shops and houses. The village was completely wiped to make way for the highways, although now the area is quite built up with large condos and box stores. Go back far enough and this was indigenous land, although likely part of Otter Lake (little lake Pierre) which was drained by the Lachine canal. Quite a bit of history for a boring looking highway overpass!

Overpass snow banks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Sundown, sumac trees

Over in Mile End st Urbain street was renovated a few years ago with this fancy seating area and landscaping which is under the snow right now. Behind the benches, is the beginning of the Rosemont overpass that is slated for demolition in the near future. I captured the setting sun with concentric rings of yellow, orange, magenta, and a purplish blue green. It was overcast with a warm glow, despite the bitter cold and severe wind chill.  

Sundown over benches, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

To accomplish these paintings on location, I had to paint the background and fill in the colour blocks, then let it dry enough to finish with details. So I started the first painting, then worked on this one, went back to the first painting, then went back to this one. Luckily it all dried just enough to over-paint the dark details like tree branches, window frames, the legs on the benches etc. With powerful, cold wind it was a good thing my bike didn't blow over. Unfortunately, shortly after getting home, my bike broke in several places and will need major repairs hopefully on Saturday... these bikes are obviously not made for the Canadian winter, but at least I am.  

Sumac middle ground, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

 

Above zero ride downtown

While the sun was shining and the temperature was above 0℃ I found this scene on Maisonneuve showing the cars, bike path, pedestrians and a neat reflection on the glass building in the background. I depicted myself on the bike, complete with fluorescent neon bib and mountain bike. Since I wear a neon bib and helmet, a lot of people think I am either a cop, or I work 'there'. For example at the skating rink downtown I had three people ask when the rink would open, and down at old port the other day two people asked if I worked there because they have a question. Sometimes if I know the answer I answer their question, in French even.  

Maisonneuve reflections, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

A bit further and one reaches the Place des Arts complex where they hold Jazz Festival each summer. This prominent tree, in the middle of one of the fields of grass where they set up music stages, had a greenish tint that I made with yellow (PY154), green umber (PBr7), and a dab of green (PG36). The darker parts contained raw umber (also PBr7). There are like 50 shades of PBr7, all variations on brown ranging from greenish brown, to dark brown, and reddish browns. 

Greenish tree Place des Arts, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

I did a painting of Wing's noodles last year, not really appreciating its significance until after the fact. It was a famous Chinese Noodle shop for a long time before falling into debt and disrepair. Slated for redevelopment, there is an effort to preserve the structure as a tourist spot, but the future of this building is uncertain. 

Wing's sign backlit, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  

Full moon and other night lights

Riding down Boulevard Decarie, there was a clear view of the full moon hanging high in the sky. On the sidewalk in front of a car dealership, a number of bright lights made for an interesting composition. At first glance you see a bunch of light sources each with a different shape and colour, then realize one of them is hanging in the sky! In the background is a view of Montreal, probably parts of Verdun on the horizon. As usual the paint froze on the paper leaving a distinct granular effect. 

Where's the moon? watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

Speaking of bright lights, this scene, looking due south east, reminded me of that children's play-set called light bright. It is a black surface with peg holes, in which you insert coloured plastic pegs that light up when you turn on the light bulb. With all the traffic lights, car lights, house and street lights, it made for quite an effect. The rainbow looking thing is the Champlain bridge, the incoming traffic had white/yellow lights, and the outgoing traffic had red tail lights, while the bridge itself was illuminated in blue-green. I did a close up of the bridge at night last year, Night Sky Autoroute 15.  This is the kind of painting where you get into it, then wonder what you got into, there were tons of little details to fill in, all while standing next to my bike in frigid weather with cars and occasional people passing by. I hung in there, then had time to add the tree to the first painting, which took a long time to dry. Hopefully the winter painting is over soon, I am looking forward to some warm weather painting again.

Light bright, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  

Heaps of snow parking lot

Down at the Provigo parking lot, also the Pharmaprix parking lot, there are enormous heaps of snow, several meters high. Filled with grit and sand, the snow is white, blue and dark brown with flecks of black and yellow. In the background you see part of the tall condo on the corner of Sherbrooke and Cavendish, and some of the housing along Sherbrooke. I cleaned the wooden racks and elastics with soap and water to prevent unsightly runoff into the edges of my paintings, which helped things stay cleaner here. It was frigid weather despite a nice blue sky. 

Heaps of snow parking lot, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026