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