Down by the Renaissance donation center where I started my bike ride by dropping off some items for donation, there is a data center surrounded by small hills and an assortment of trees. I have painted here quite a few times in the past, not knowing what exactly this thing is, although Google maps had view points within the structure and there are racks of computer servers.
Data center hill trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
This old metal tun has a draining funnel and pipes running in and out, it may have been used once for brewing, or some chemical process who knows. It looks rusty, and it covered in spray paint so I doubt its still functional. Next to the Lachine canal path, there is also a good view of the hazy downtown skyline in the background. I stayed away from downtown today with all the construction blockage and extra traffic from Jazz fest.
Elevated rusty tun city view, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
There is also a massive cardboard and paper recycling facility nearby, here is a side view of the huge piles out back. I am standing in a grassy area next to the canal bike path, looking east. Not many artists get the chance to paint paper recycling on location, I feel lucky sometimes.
Paper recycling stacks, Rewatercolour 8 x 10" cold press, June 2026
Same location different view, this one shows the chimneys letting out steam from paper recycling. If you are downwind it smells like wet cardboard. If I go back to the gravel fields in between the highways, I can smell it there. I am waiting until it gets really hot to go out to the gravel fields, because I like the feeling of being in a sun-baked desert. You have to spend some time here in the winter to understand this. I actually like the winter, at least there are less people around when I am painting.
Recycling paper chimneys, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
Along the canal there is a long drainage ditch, once a lake. The water's surface, seen on the bottom of the painting, was a pea-soup green. The embankment was all sumacs. I'd like to get a better painting of this, to see the shape of the ditch a bit better.
Green swamp, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
In 2020 I painted down
at Jolicoeur station, it was under construction then and remained so for many years, even last year I went by and it was still surrounded by fences. Today I came upon the station, and found it to be complete! Not a single pylon in view. Large garden planters will filled with yellow flowers and decorative grass, while tall brown glass walls gleamed in the sunlight. Its actually in Cote st Paul neighborhood.
Jolicoeur station complete, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
The last two paintings were kind of neat, in Verdun near the aqueduct, they bulldozed a large square of factory warehouses, and dug an enormous foundation pit, about the size of two football fields. With all the rain and the low land here, it completely flooded the foundations leaving a nice lake. I call it lake Verdun!
Lake Verdun horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
Looking down into the lake from up on the sidewalk, here you see reflections in the murky water, with ripples. They should have built a pond here, wetlands, it would have been a huge success. The plan seems to be community housing and some shops. There was a huge fence here by the way, I left that out to create a sense of danger. I'm a dangerous guy.
I scanned the backs of several of these paintings, they have scenes from London Ontario I painted 20 years ago, will post those later. Looks like tomorrow will be nice too and maybe I can get to the Jazz Fest at night with my paints soon.
Lake Verdun vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2026
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