What a wonderful day to paint!

With the LUFA delivery arriving late I rode down to Lachine canal with a small window of no rain. By the time I got there, I could paint a bit, then it started up with a steady cold drizzle. Snow was melting all over, but the canal still had most of its ice and snow covering which made for some good contrast. Across the street is st Patrick with the rush-hour traffic, and one of the green footbridges arching across. To make the toasty mushy grass colour I combined green umber (PBr7) with phthalo green yellow shade (PG36) and dabs of yellow ochre (PY43), burnt sienna (PR101), and carbon black (PBk6).  

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

The drizzle started up in the midst of this painting, I had to retreat under the nearby highway overpass to escape the rain. I let this one dry a bit and finished it last. It shows a footbridge, the billboard, and the highway overpass. 

Canal ice footbridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

These hybrid trees grow all along the canal in this location. Its some kind of alder tree although I am not sure which one, or if it really is a hybrid. They have a rough, vertical texture bark on their bottom, with a smooth, pale grey horizontal texture bark on the top branches. I made the pale grey with yellow ochre, carbon black, diluted with water. The bark, of course, is done with a mix of burnt umber (PBr7) and indo blue (PB60). Its a great mix for tree bark. 

Hybrid tree snow spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

As snow is removed from Montreal streets it gets dumped in this massive pile, more like a hill, right next to the Lachine Canal. When it melts, the runoff contaminated the canal with all sorts of chemicals and salt. You can see how the snow had a yellowish tinge, and was caked in a black sooty layer. In the foreground is st Patrick street with some traffic and a sliver of the canal on the bottom left. 

Dirty snow hill, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026