I'll just keep going, here are today's efforts frm a bike ride I took across the Falaise path towards st Henri direction. In this scene, I am looking up the escarpment at one of the gravel paths that leads into the dense forest. I saw a picture of this from around 1940's and the whole escarpment was sun-baked gravel, but now its fully grown back. Locals curate the forest, and the City of Montreal has an $11 million project to rehabilitate the area. As you can see, there is a danger of rockfall here.
Rockfall warning Falaise escarpment, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
That didn't stop me from going up the path! I survived ile de la Reunion in the Indian Ocean after all, and the rockfall there is serious, not to mention with an active volcano. No volcano here, at the top of the path was st Jacques street and a Tim Horton's store in the distance. The Akhavan grocer is right beside me here, to the left.
Foliage traffic Tim Horton's, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
Carefully walking my bike back down to the path, I caught a view of the Lachine canal, or rather, the Gantry crane that is beside the canal. A train actually went by, and I tried to paint it in, but it ended up looking like the Lachine canal! So I just went with the idea.
Gravel path canal view, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
Where the old highways once were, are gravel fields that have slowly gone to pasture. Last time I was around here, last summer, it was almost all gravel, and some nice
cosmos flowers. With all the rain, today it looked like a lush prairie field. There was a type of white flowering grassy plant emitting a wonderful floral smell across the area. In the background you see the st Jacques bridge and mega hospital off to the right.
Highway meadow city view, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
Standing on the same spot but looking west, you see part of a highway ramp, and landscaped yellow and red bushes. Given enough time and this whole area will become a forest, there are already trees growing including sumac, and the aspen-hybrid style trees that grow along the nearby canal. To create a sense of breezy wind, I painted waves of green and yellow followed by directional brush strokes. I had a 'boonie hat' on which provided maximum sun protection although it was a hazy overcast day.
Breeze on highway meadows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
At the end of the meadow fields, there is a massive triple overpass, part of the Turcot interchange. Highways also run underneath, you see a bus going by. On the other side of all this is the Twisty groove field where I often paint.
Triple overpass Turcot, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
At the Kruger paper recycling factory, they cut a large square out of the wood fence so that people can see in. There is even a sign indicating that this is a viewing area. I wondered how many people have dropped by to gaze into the paper recycling factory? it didn't seem to be a big tourist draw. The scene is actually more impressive that the painting indicates, I will give it another go some time.
Stacks of shredded paper, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
Looking west along the long line of the Kruger factory, here is a perspective scene. On the bottom right is the highway meadow. I was running out of yellow paint by now and had to find scenes without too much yellow. I know how Van Gogh must have felt, he was constantly running out of yellow paint according to his letters.
Kruger factory perspective, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
Taking a detour down a side street and I found this scene of a parking lot full of red double-decker tour buses. These are the ones we see driving tourists around downtown Montreal in the summer. The large building behind is a storage shed and mechanic.
Double-decker tour buses, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
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