Just in before the rain

They say April showers bring may flowers, but this year May showers brought May flowers, and more showers! Actually it only rained a few times recently, today throughout the morning and later afternoon. I got downtown by bike and made a few paintings including this one of the flowering lilac and white shrubs near Place Cartier in Old Montreal. 

Lilac and white shrubs, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5200)

 

Setting up in the Garden Ramezay I got a view of the condos and ominous sky in the background. I had to paint fast because rain was imminent, and it was time to turn around. I went home after this painting, just getting a little damp along the way. 

Condos Garden Ramezay storm, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5201)

Viger street around the Convention center is being renovated, they are working on the connection from the metro station to Old Montreal. In the future tourists will have an easier time getting around, and by future I mean like far in the future, they will have hoverboards by then and sidewalks will be obsolete by the time they are finished. As usual I enjoyed painting the signs, they even had a sign covering another sign! It could be a Cindi Lauper song... "Sign after Sign".  

Construction signs Chinatown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5202)

This construction vehicle parked on Viger street was idle, I just like painting these things from time to time (time after time?). The blue-green tint on the vehicle's glass contrasted with the yellow-green of the convention center in the background. 

Construction clashing greens, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5203)

This was the first painting I did, stopping just in front of Dawson College where they turned part of Maisonneuve street into to a pedestrian lounge area with benches and picnic tables. With a sky like this I should have turned around, but kept going instead and got some decent painting done. From here on out it is going to be sunny and hot. 

Ominous sky Maisonneuve, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5204)

Downtown scenes cool breezy day

Finding a corner to stand on I got this view of the Lucien L'Allier metro entrance with the Bell Center Habs arena in the background. A one way sign completed a trifecta of signs. It was a 'paint by numbers' approach, starting with an outline then filling on the colours. 

Habs other signs, watercolour 5.5 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 4195)

On Rue Argyle looking at Rue Guy, there was a teal fire hydrant which anchored the composition of this painting of a train bridge and billboard, interspersed with lush yellow-green foliage. I lost a paint brush around here, went back later but could not find it. I have others. 

Teal hydrant train bridge billboard, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 4196)

Somewhere along st Jacques bike path there is an old factory called Paper Box Company, 1906. Now its a condo complex. A few old windows are plastered up, and a wing is undergoing more renovations. 

Paper Box Company one way, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5197)

 

Another view of the Paper Box company. I wonder what the made back in the old days? Must have been shirts and ties. Or maybe shoes and boots. Nobody will ever know. 

Paper Box Company roof lines, watercolour 6 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5198)

I felt kind of bad painting this scene, on the other side of the EMT ambulance they were helping someone on the ground in Chinatown. Eventually they loaded them up and turned the corner. To make the bright yellow I used bismuth yellow (PY184) with a slight touch of green (PG36). In the background you see the buildings of old Montreal along st Urbain.  

EMT Chinatown, watercolour 5.25 x 7.5" hot press, May 2026

 

Visceral Glow

I was going to call this painting 'RIP Habs' since our hockey team was eliminated from the conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight. At least they had a surprisingly good run and we got moments of excitement. I made a painting on location down at the arena during one of the matches. Instead the painting is called Visceral Glow because it kind of looks like internal organs, and uses a glow-effect technique that I explored with some recent digital artwork. You can click on the digital tag to see all those blogs. By studying the digital images up close, I am starting to figure out how to paint neon-glow effects with watercolour, which is exceedingly difficult to do with real paint. Digitally it is quite easy though... in fact making digital art is like Charles the Gorilla... he was a gorilla at the Toronto zoo who liked to finger paint, and the zoo sold his work to raise money. What I do is much the same. I think using a paintbrush to do watercolours is old fashioned and somewhat obsolete, but I still enjoy it immensely. The fact you can make art with just paint, paper, brushes, and attitude will never grow old. 

Visceral Glow, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, May 2026

Another Digital Dump

Here is the last batch of digital art images I made while travelling recently, they are done with Sketchbook App on Amdroid. In this example I started with 'finger painting' various shapes, then overlaying with a textural mesh, followed by boxes. Contrast is important in abstract art, ideally there are both white and black elements with various middle shades. 

This piece features starburst shape stencils with various sizes... I set the tool to randomize the size, so I just click around the screen with colour variations. A full range of colours are represented, along with textural spots placed over top. 

There is a neon brush tool that works best on a dark background. Overlapping the shapes leads to increasing illusion of brightness. Some textural meshes were added to create a tactile sense of fabric. It looks like a night-time fire show, I though about my Samoa painting while doing this one. 

Primary colour scribbles were surrounded by an earthy, textural frame and grid. To create juicy brush strokes I used a soft pastel tool, it gives a crumbly appearance reminiscent of crayons. To do the signature I zoom in and use an appropriate style that matches the overall composition and colour scheme.  

 

Organic forms were created with pattern brushes. I like this one because it looks almost alien, as if looking into the bottom of an ocean of a moon of Saturn. wiggly larvae wait to hatch into something creepy. 

 

At the end of a previous blog, I did a painting of an old red post stenciled with a number, it was heavily rusted with silver spray paint graffiti. I was trying to figure out how to simulate a metallic glow, which was done here with variations of grey on an earthy background. 

 

Who needs the Habs when you have Romeo?

I rode down to the Bell Centre hoping to do a painting of the sun setting, get it? Sun setting on the Habs. The Habs is a nickname for our local hockey team, and they are close to being out of the playoffs now, although made a good run so far and it aint over. What I found were police blockades and lots of people walking around as if in a dance club. Closer inspection of the Bell Centre and I saw an ad for Romeo Santos, who turns out to be a popular Latin American singer doing a concert at the Bell Centre arena. 

Romeo concert blockade, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5189)

 

Changing McD to McP, this painting shows a fast food restaurant next to the Bell Centre, along with a lamp and adjacent construction fence. A massive condo looms in the background.

McP dusk, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026  (No. 5190)

 

Looking east and I caught this view of the CN building in the background still illuminated blue white and red, the Habs colours. I changed CN to PJD just to be a smartass. On the right is the facade of the arena with its illuminated player images. No sign for Romeo Santos however. 

CN Habs colours, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5191)

 

Slightly to the northeast, is this view of Place Villa Maria lit up in Habs colours, with a rotating beam of light emanating from the top of the rooftop restaurant. There was a convenient spotlight to stand under, and the police barricades meant no cars on this road, so I could stand and paint. 

Place Villa Maria Habs colours,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5192)

 

Looking for a good view of the nearly-full moon, I found an interesting scene of the commuter train rolling by, with lamps and grass in the foreground, and the elevated REM track in the background. The canal was visible on the bottom of the scene but I'm back to using 5 x 7" and its too small for certain compositions. 

Lamp glow commuter train, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5193)

Finally getting a good view of the moon, here it is hanging over the REM train that goes off island. In the background are some of the new developments along the shore. 

Moon over REM train, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5194)

Starry night under bridge

Looking at this scene of the Decarie expressway got me thinking of the Suriname painting I did in the World Inspired Landscapes series which featured glowing eyes in a dark jungle. Here, the car head and tail lights gave a similar impression but from underneath an overpass bridge. That bizarre feature in the foreground is from another painting I started but never finished decades ago, as usual it got cut up and used for more paintings. Thus, its a realistic painting with surrealism elements added in. Last year as I was using a lot of backs of paintings, I used this method for some weird results. Since I am getting towards the end of the paintings I can cut up, it occurred to me to paint something abstract on a large piece of paper with the intention of cutting it up and using it for landscape painting later on. 

Starry night under bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5188)

Shadowed graffiti old port

This iron bridge crosses the Peel Basin where the Lachine canal ends. Its a busy bridge that carries local commuter trains, REM off island train, and VIA domestic Canada trains. Represented in the painting is a local commuter train, although I painted it mostly from memory since trains go by too fast to paint them. On the iron bridge someone wrote PSYCHO, a graffiti writer, but I replaced it with my initials. Underneath you see some water reflections. One of these days I will do a water-reflection themed trip. 

Commuter train bridge Peel Basin, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5185)

This is the gear factory wall in Old Port... the factory is long gone, just four walls barely standing with the help of steel supports. Obviously a heritage structure under protection, it has a number of graffiti names on its stony wall. To paint the silver-paint, I started with a wet-in-wet circle of pale purple grey, then surrounded it in a dark brown made with indo blue (PB60) and burnt yellow ochre (PR102). That combo is very useful, it makes dark brown, and purplish greys depending on the ratio of pigments. Finally, I outlined in red, then used a hog's hair brush for some stippling texture. Its a realistic looking silver paint effect. In the background you see part of the Canal and some city-scape. 

Shiny graff gear wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5187)

Looking through one of the windows on the Gear wall I caught this view of old silos, a warehouse, and off the the left in the background, the Canadian Maltage factory with its famous Farine Five Roses sign on an angle. I used a pale mix of indo blue x burnt yellow ochre to start off with, varying the tints with purple (PV55) and raw sienna (PBr7). Then I over-painted the silo with yellow ochre (PY43) to give a peeling paint effect, and finished with my graffiti initials outlines in black, yellow and red at the top of the silos. And I didn't even have to climb up there to do it! 

Graff silos Old Port, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5186)

 

Ernest Cormier Esplanade, structures flowering trees

Across from the Canadian Centre for Architecture, in between the Fort street ramps, there is a wide expanse of landscaping and concrete structures called the Ernest Cormier Esplanade. I discovered the spot awhile ago this year, and have returned to see if the trees were making flowers yet. Its a good spot to paint, although the constant traffic on all sides can be a little noisy at times. This scene it looking at some of the odd art-installation structures made up of abstract architectural elements. I used my 2 inch hog's hair brush to do the stippling effect on the gravel. I started bringing it on my bike trips to do such effects on location. 

Ernest Cormier Esplanade, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5184b)

Some trees were indeed still flowering, perhaps crab apple, they had white and pink blossoms. The wind was strong today and I could smell the flower aroma. I tried to keep everything light and bright here like Van Gogh used to paint. 

Flowering trees Ernest Cormier Esplanade, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, May 2026 (NO. 5397b)

By close-cropping the composition, I created an abstract scene from surrounding elements on location. Above you see part of the off ramp signage that leads down to the highway, with a bus and car in the foreground. In the background is part of the Esplanade, with one of the bizarre art-installations looming. 

Off ramp architecture elements, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5183b)

Digital pop art, patterns, stamps

Another batch of digital artwork made on Sketchbook app on my smartphone. This one is like the Rolling Stones go to the dentist. Say cheese.  

 

A pattern tool allows for textured wallpaper-like effects. It reminds me of an early drawing tool that I used on the original Macintosh computer back in the 80's, a friend of ours had one and I played around with it, first time using a mouse too. 

 

Purple haze on a tablet... in the central area I overlapped smooth and textured features, and figured out how to make small speckles. The frame and other elements are free-hand... or free-finger rather since these are all made with my index finger. 

 

Initially made in colour, I changed it to black and white to emphasize the amazing textural variations. A stamping tool allows for the feathery-effects and paint splatters. Each feature tool can be customized to control size, density, randomization and even adjust how it looks with heavy or light press on the screen. 

 

More neon-effects done on a near-black background, its like an underwater deep-sea creature. I even signed on the bottom right with a violet neon pen tool. A dark-red thorny pattern was added in a single press using stamp tool. I kept redoing the thorn effect until it looked right. There is a handy undo feature which is obviously a big advantage to digital art. 

 

After establishing bright primary patterns in the background, I tried quite a few things until landing on dark blue pattern overlay. So there were no 'pen strokes' here, just multi-layered patterns, Bohemian-style. 

 

Digital art surrealism, abstract neon

Here are some more digital artworks made while travelling, using my smartphone with the Sketchbook app. This one was meant to evoke Maud Lewis, the late Canadian folk painter, and inspired by the tree-lined walkway in Winnipeg.  

 

In the background, I experimented with perspective... these features lock the drawing on a specified point perspective that can be set in various ways. It was tricky and needs more practice. Overlay created a music-feel to the artwork. 

 

Sitting on the airplane I made digital sketches including this pop-art inspired view in front of me. Keeping the top of the design cloudy gives a surrealistic feel. 

 

A party pinata exploding with confetti, candy and ribbons. By setting the background to cyan, it gave the scene a bright pop of colour. When painting (for real), this cyan colour is not possible, nor is the magenta. The closest paints are cyan green shade (PB16) and quin magenta (PR122). 

 

A hybrid of styles, its Piet Mondrian meets graffiti art. Piet Mondrian was a dutch artist known for grid-like compositions and primary colours. 

 

Discovering the neon-brush tools, this version of my initials is electric! It works best to set the background to near-black, then the neon lines pop off the screen. I also figured out how to add text, along with warping features. Sketchbook app is a lot more powerful than I originally thought, with many dozens of tools that can be customized, and that's just on the free version of the app! 

Flowers, path pylon, live band

Down next to the back patio at my Parent's house there are plenty of flowers growing including tulips, purple flowers, light blue flowers, and a few dandelions. Using lots of yellow (PY184) brightened up the scene. 

Flowers back patio, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5182a)

More wild flowers growing on the other side of the creek in the valley, but what caught my interest was a school of minnows darting under the clear water. Its good to see some nature returning to the creek like this, it was once a sterile rain ditch, over the years it eroded and meandered along until nature returned.  

Minnows in creek, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026  (No. 5182b)

An unlikely place to spot a pylon, on a path in the middle of a valley-forest. I was ready for it, having painted a lot of pylons in Montreal. This part of the path gets flooded regularly, so the city dropped it off to warn people. 

Pylon path forest, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5181b)

Some musician 'roadies' were unloading equipment for a live show up at the community center. They didn't seem to mind that I was painting a picture of them hard at work. We never did see the show, it seemed rather elaborate. 

Live band setup, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5184a)

Looking up towards the radio relay tower and Bolton water tower behind the community center, reminded me of 1996 when Mom took me to an art show up here, and we tried to sell paintings. Although none were sold that day, I made a bunch of paintings on the day... a few can be seen in this blog. Since that was almost exactly 20 years ago, it was interesting to compare the experience. I recall the challenge of painting outdoors back then, compared to now with all the experience I amassed especially in the last six years. 

Bolton towers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5183a)

Sunset Turcot Interchange: C'est vraiment Montréal!

It was a colourful sunset on the Turcot highway interchange, as seen from ville st Pierre. Starting with yellow, orange, magenta, and pale blue, I worked up dark browns and greys with variations on burnt yellow ochre (PR102) and indo blue (PB60). Accents of pylon-orange, green, pops of red, and dark sketch elements done in carbon black (PBk6) completed the scene. As I flicked the brush, little droplets accidentally hit the painting, reminiscent of Jackson Pollock, a late American painter who threw paint on the canvas quite intentionally. When painting something like this on location, you just have to be along for the ride, so to speak, and let your brush do all the work. Its a great spot to catch the sunset, albeit a little noisy and smelly, along with the massive construction project that is ongoing. I really liked painting a juxtaposition of bright pylon-orange against a pastel sunset. C'est vraiment Montréal!

Sunset Turcot Interchange, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5386b)

Sun down moon up, sky colours

Riding down to ville st Pierre with the sun going down and I found myself at one of the many elevated highway ramps, this one in the west direction. The elevated ramps often catch the sunset, and concrete happens to look pretty neat when its illuminated in orange or red-orange. I did a fantastic one last year of the sun setting on Turcot interchange in st Henri area. In this scene, I emphasized the convergening shapes of the ramp and the access road, and contrasted coral orange, purples, chartreuse, and the emerald green pops of car windshields and traffic signs. Cutting through the pastels are bright-red tail lights on passing cars, done with the excellent pyrol red paint (PR254). 

Sundown off ramp, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5179b)

Here is a scene of one of the many factores-turned-condos along st Ambrose street. I am standing on the Lachine canal bike path looking across. Composing the moon low in the scene was an artistic license thing, in fact, the moon was hanging high today. With near-complete darkness and no artificial lights with me tonight, it was tricky to get all the colours right. Deep purple clouds were rolling in on the horizon. 

Crescent moon condo living, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5180a)

In among the soaring new condo towers downtown, there is a new dépanneur on Peel called dépanneur Peel, pretty original name eh? Again, I composed the moon low so as to include it in the scene, near a bright LED street lamp. I painted the yellows and oranges first, then over-painted with darker colours made mostly of burnt yellow ochre (PR102) mixed with carbon black (PBk6) or dark blue (PB60). When painting at night you have to hang in there because its hard to see the effect until the colour blocks are filled in, and only the white and yellow light sources remain. One of my favorite night paintings of the year is Night Goose. It has a lot of views already. I did another good painting of the Sunset over Turcot from st Pierre, I will post it separately. 

Dépanneur Peel crescent moon,  watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2026 (No. 5181a)