Assiniboine river is a tributary of the Red River, they meet at a fork in the center of Winnipeg, in fact, these rivers were a main reason Winnipeg formed as a city to begin with. Assiniboine is the name of a First Nations peoples of the northern Great Plains, while Red River might have something to do with its colour, there was a silty iron-oxide look to it. This painting shows two geese taking off from the Red River, from the vantage point of The Forks, a National park that has been a meeting ground for over 6000 years. Geese were honking the whole time I painted along the rivers, and I had to watch where I was stepping!
Geese flycing over Red River, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026
Here I was standing in South Point park, it is a triangle of land where the Assiniboine and Red rivers meet... the former is on the left, the latter on the right. A giant tree with many trunks anchored itself exactly on the point, it was a stony ground with packed earth.
Forks point tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026
Standing on the same spot, looking upstream along Red River, there was a view of the Norwood bridge, part of the Trans Canada highway. The trees in Winnipeg were interesting, medium sized with very chaotic, zig zag branches. There were no leaves out yet, barely a hint of green. When I got back to Montreal, things were turning green.
Norwood Bridge Red River, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026
Still in the same location, I did a painting of the support structure of a footbridge that crosses from Point park to the Forks park across the Assiniboine river. Some colourful graffiti adorned the stones, although I changed it to be my initials and year. The bridge was closed however, I guess they open it more in tourist season. It was early morning for these paintings, so you can see the morning glow and shadows.
Graff under bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026
This is the first painting I did on the Winnipeg trip early in the morning, I caught a view of the sun coming through some light cloud cover through trees. I was standing along the embankment of the Assiniboine river, so the south Point Park is across the way. In the foreground, you see a walking path descending into water, the whole pathway along the shore was flooded out, and several staircases went down into water. The city had blocked off such paths until waters recede.
Assiniboine overflow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026
Further downstream is the Forks historic port, now a tourist 'trap', there were restaurants and souvenir shops here, I bought a few items. A small beach was at the river-side, with thick mud covering the lowest tier. Birds' footprints were all along the mud, to which I added my initials in the painting (not in real life). The base of a train bridge can be seen in the background. I did a lot of paintings of trains, I will post in a separate blog. In fact, I did 45 paintings in total in Winnipeg, so a few more blogs to go!
Mud beach bird prints, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026
The furthest point I reached downstream on the Red River, here you see the first major bend of the river to the right (south), after which it turns sharply back to the north. It was getting late here and the weather cooling off. A few geese swam near the shore. It was very peaceful.
Red River bend, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026
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