Taking the opportunity to do some painting in Coffee Park after work, here is a scene of a park bench with a lilac bush and commuter train in the background. Pops of red come from clanging train barricade lights up in the trees. I paid attention to make sure the perspective on the bench matched the perspective on the train and tracks.
Bench lilac bush commuter train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2026
Trains don't stop here so I had to memorize details and recreate it best I could. I noticed a strong sun-highlight on the train, bluish shadowing, and tinted green windows. Trees on the other hand don't move, so I had lots of time to paint its bark. I've painted a lot of trees over the years.
Tree train highlight, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2026
Looking up and towards the West I could see the sun descending behind a tall apartment building up on Sherbrooke street. I painted the sky and sun effect first, let it dry while I painted the previous one, then finished with the building, tree and leaves. I twist the brush in my fingers while dabbing in order to randomize the shapes of the leaves.
Looking up sun branches, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2026
The train barricade had a creepy monster look to it which I depicted here in a bug-like creature. It does bug you when this thing clangs and flashes light and prevents you from crossing.
Train barricade bug-like, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
Finally a quick painting of some graffiti on a storage shed next to the train tracks. It had other letters there, not PJD, but I usually swap out the graffiti for my own name and the year, 26. Many graffiti artists put the year on their work, which tells you how long its been since Montreal and its municipalities cleaned up graffiti.
Graff two tracks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2026
