Feels a bit like Spring

With temperatures as high as 17℃, it was starting to feel a bit more like Spring. I could even paint outside without wearing gloves for the first time in awhile. This scene is standing on the sharp ridge behind the Glen Hospital looking due south towards st Henri. You can tell by the pink house on top of the old Maltage factory next to the Lachine canal. In the foreground is a highway overpass and part of an off ramp. 

Turcot horizontal pink house, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

There wasn't enough space to get the whole scene down, so I did a second painting composing the foreground elements, along with a compressed mid and background. On the top left is a distant mountain, probably Mount st Hillaire. Mount Sutton is also possible, not sure. The sky was an interesting contrast of dark purple with pastel yellow and orange. I had to paint fast today since it seemed like rain was coming.  

Turcot vertical overpass, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

It never did rain luckily, and by the time I got home the sun was shining. This scene shows part of the Lachine canal where they took out the concrete wall and opened it up to grass wetland, with trees planted. Birds love it here and I could hear red-winged blackbirds chirping away. They live all up and down the shore of the canal and river. 

Melting canal pine trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026

The good old rusty water tower, now an iconic landmark in this part of Montreal. Technically, this neighborhood, south of the canal but north of the aqueduct, is called 'South West'. Its a rapidly gentrifying hipster paradise where you can still live in a converted factory loft, and walk down the street to get craft beer or craft whiskey. Unfortunately the st Armand paper maker, which was in the building you see off the right of the painting, had to move. I stocked up, and met the owners, before they left. 

Water tower melting canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

One last quick painting... where there used to be a condo complex, there is now a wide empty sand lot. It looked like the beach in Brazil that we visited, minus the palm trees, and minus the ocean! I'll try to get a better painting of the scene before they build on it, this painting did not quite turn out the way I had in mind. You never know. When I went out earlier in the week on a drizzly day, I was sure that all the paintings would be awful, and there I stood in the drizzle painting the Molson brewery... somebody stopped that day and complimented my painting... then when I saw the painting at home it was amazing, and Cilei loved it so much we put it in a frame and hung it in the place of honour, the bathroom! If you click on the link you will see the painting I am talking about. Point is, I never know when the next masterpiece will occur, its a matter of keep trying. 

Elmhurst beach, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026