Algae and other scenes along the Lachine canal

Painting in my favorite place to paint, with sunny weather, I did a few neat scenes including this one of a ditch full of bright chartreuse-colored algae. In the background, you see part of the Kruger paper recycling factory working away. The ditch is full of water, which filled up with some healthy looking algae, I used plenty of bismuth yellow (PY184) and a touch of green (PG36) to get the right hue. Sumacs and other plants grow up and down the steep embankments. The sun was going down at the time, which created a rich colour saturation.  

Algae ditch, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

In ville st Henri, a large unused parking lot is adorned with graffiti, and a tall communication tower. That PJD person is a notorious graffiti writer, just kidding, I replaced ZONEK with my own initials and the year. Concrete dividers also display my initials in stylized font, originally it said WYZE who is an old school writer still active. 

Comm tower graffiti, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

An old field gone to pasture, its across the street from the comm tower. I've painted here many time before, today milkweed was abundant across the field, which seems to have been mowed recently. Hopefully there will be butterflies again this summer to make paintings of. 

Twisty groove tree bench, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Near the old Maltage factory, along the Lachine canal is this utility building they have been working on for many years now. By the looks of it, this is water pumping station, since pipes and tubes are visible through the semi-transparent glass walls. On the lower half it is clad in small square tiles in ultramarine blue. Ancient graffiti was barely visible along this part of the canal. 

New pump station, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026