Making my way out to Little Italy, I made this painting of a back alley looking out onto st Laurent street in the background. The building on the right is the rear of Anatol spices where I buy bulk food all the time. The store emits a very interesting spice smell into the alley. Its the best-smelling alleyway in Montreal!
Anatol alley, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026
Le Plateau is known for its alleys, they are lush green spaces with landscaped gardens, terraces and fancy balconies. Many of the buildings are renovated in this neighborhood, its probably not cheap to live here.
Le Plateau alley, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026
On Bellechasse near st Laurent, they built an enormous bus depot, I did a painting of it
under construction back in 2019. Like everything in Le Plateau, the citizens are extremely active and opinionated regarding development projects, so this one received a terraced roof planted with wild flowers, decorative grass and pine trees. I was standing near the top of it, a gravel path connects down to the sidewalk. Glad the citizens fought for this, I can return and do more paintings here.
Bus depot hilltop horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026
Trying a vertical composition this time, the painting shows an old warehouse with water tower in the background (without the graffiti), and the hilltop wildflowers with gravel path in the foreground. It started to rain here so I left the location. Its neat up here, lots of yellow and violet flowers, and there were probably even more flowers earlier in the summer. There are great views from up here and its relatively quiet. That's Mount Royal in the background.
Bus depot hilltop vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026
