Ice chunks, goose, rusty bridge

With the bike path fully open I could make my way down to the end of Lachine park, and found this great view of ice chunks piled up on the shore line. It reminded me of a painting I did of Iceland, as part of my World Inspired Landscapes series. In real life, the ice had a most excellent blue-green tint which seemed to glow against the otherwise gloomy brown and grey background of st lawrence river and south shore. Of course, I used phthalo green (PG7) and phthalo blue (PB15) along with perylene green (PBk31) for the ice, and tints of yellow (PY154). 

Blue-green ice chunks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Geese were flapping about and floating near the shore expectantly, looking for handouts no doubt. I will have to practice painting geese again its been awhile. We have plenty of them, they fly up here to spend the Spring, Summer, and Autumn. 

Goose icy shore, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

The sun was still high in the sky although going down fast... it was a neat effect of backlighting on piles of ice chunks, a pastel mixture of green, pink, yellow and pale blue. To create the sun-beam reflection effect, I applied clean water and dabbed with a clean rag (cut up shirt). I cut up my old white T shirts after they have had the biscuit and they graduate to being paint rags. 

Backlit ice chunks, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

I've painted this train bridge many times from various angles. Today I cropped the main support post which is made of stone, and featured the iron-oxide rust using yellow ochre (PY43) and burnt ochre (PR101). Most of the canal is still covered in ice, although big patches of it are getting thin and showing water. 

Rusty train bridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Closing out March with drizzle

Hoping the drizzle would end eventually, I rode out to the old Molson Brewery and made a few paintings. Steady drizzle created an interesting textural effect, while some paint smearing added more energy. I got most of it done on location, just had to touch up the points on the bridge and add my initials. 

Bridge Molson drizzle, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5081a)

While the other one dried I made this painting of an unusual wall and semi-circle gate with grating. Piles of snow remained. It looks like a tunnel entrance but may be some relic of a past industrial age. It is reminiscent of the Griffintown tunnel that was closed in the 90's. 

Grating stone wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  (No. 5080b)

Here is a close up, it was way too moist and I had to add all the brown at home, which unfortunately did not get the same rainy texture as the rest of the painting. Too bad I could not finish it on location but it was time to head home and good thing I did, it really started to pour by the time I got back to NDG. 

Molson clock, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  (No. 5079b)

Curio Folio: Venus Pie Trap

Last fall the condo board asked me to trim the grass and tidy up the area around the composter that I use to dispose of fruit and vegetable peelings. To my surprise, there was a group of large Venus fly traps growing behind the composter on the shady side. Venus fly traps are carnivorous plants that lure flies in using a sweet substance, then clamp down and digest them. But looking closer and I saw that these plants had slices of pie in their mouths. I smelled apple pie, my favorite! Reaching out to grab the pie, and the plant clapped down its mouth nearly taking my finger off before I retracted. It was a close call. Then I realized that it was not really apple pie, but a kind of plant-mimic of apple pie, that it must have acquired from the old apple seeds I throw in the composter. The other plants had blueberry pie, strawberry pie, and coconut cream pie... all fake, all deadly. Clearly these plants had evolved to trap humans in their poisonous maw, and I had nearly fallen victim. I actually took a photo of the plants and was about to post that on my blog, but then I recalled a pair of old shoes with the socks still in them back near the compost... and wondered what might have happened. So I erased the pictures off my phone and just posted this painting instead. That way, if needed, I can deny the very existence of these... Venus Pie Traps, as merely a figment of my imagination. So goes another entry of my Curio Folio of amazing new things taking over the world! 

Curio Folio: Venus Pie Trap, watercolour 4 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5077)

Curio Folio: Oui Non Device

 

As you may have seen in my latest blog, Montreal has a serious problem with confusing signs. If you need any more convincing check out this painting, or this painting. A start-up company has a new demo product called the Oui Non Device, its completely bilingual although the Yes No font is significantly smaller to comply with our Quebec language laws. The way it works, as you see in the painting, its a light box installed on the dashboard that flashes 'Oui' or 'Non' with a green or red light, depending on the driving circumstances. Lets say you try to turn left, and its okay to do so, then it flashes 'Oui'. Or, you try to park somewhere and its not allowed, it flashes 'Non'. It registers the time of year, bike paths, and construction zones with up-to date information. As an added bonus, if Quebec holds another referendum, you can use it to register your vote since its hyper-linked to the internet. If there is one glitch on the system, is that it will register 'Non' 51% of the time, just to be on the safe side. I saw a version of this being tested in a taxi cab on the way back from the airport, but no photos were allowed so I made this painting from accurate memory to add to my Curio Folio of things you have never seen or wanted to see. 

Curio Folio: Oui Non Device, watercolour 4 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5076)

Cacophony of signs, signs of spring

Cacophony usually refers to a mix of noises, but can also refer to a chaotic situation, like these signs. Believe it or not, this is about what it looks like at the entrance to the route 136 highway tunnel under that goes underneath Montreal towards the east. I clipped some of the writing due to space limitation, it said Tunnel Ville Maria, Entree Inderdit quand les feux clingnotte (entrance prohibited when lights flashing). Also, no pedestrians, bikes, Amazon package deliveries, or watercolour painting allowed. A few pylons were placed for good measure. Painting something like this is tricky, it felt like doing a 100 question multiple choice exam.  

Cacophony of signs, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5079a)

The connector path between Old Montreal and Peel basin is finally opened again after being Fenced off for the last year or so. I got this view of the highway overpass with the melting ice of the basin below. I liked the two signs here, although in real life they were on separate posts which makes more sense. The interesting dark colour in the melting ice is a mix of burnt umber (PBr7) and indo blue (PB60). 

Peel basin signs, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5080a)

Bridge Concorde connects the Old Port to st Helen's island, it was recently renovated to include a better bike path and resurfaced road. I stayed at the beginning of the bridge and painted a scene of the other bridge, Jacques Cartier, in the background. In the foreground are the pale turquoise railing, sidewalk, bike path, divider, and road, all bending to the right. The tall tree had small leaf buds visible. 

Bridge bridge path, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  (No. 5081a)

  

Another sign of spring, this tree had golden yellow shoots growing upwards, awaiting the sunlight. A thin strip of ice clung to the rocky shoreline. I was looking down to the river from the same vantage point as the bridge painting. Sumac trees grew thick along the shoreline. Its been awhile since I painted water ripples. Today was warm enough to use fresh water which allowed more detail, and made for a more pleasant experience than past days. 

Shore ice tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5078)

Another Saturday protest

 

Things were just too quiet, so I headed home along the Maisonneuve bike path and eventually heard loud yelling over a megaphone coming from the direction of Cabot square. Cops had blocked off car access to st Catherine, and people in cars were upset and shouting at the cops, who just shrugged. A large group of protestors had mobilized on st Catherine and were starting a slow March in an easterly direction. As usual, they had a full escort of police officers in cruisers, as you can see in the painting. The politics are not essential to understand here, you are seeing Canadian, American, and a pre-1979 version of the Iranian flag, along with police cruisers in the foreground.  

Another Saturday protest, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5074b)

Despite the close proximity of the composition in painting number one, I was actually standing a bout two blocks away, not wanting to get caught in the ruckus like last time. On the corner of Atwater, a cop was blocking traffic, and also preventing buses from turning right into the depot area around Cabot square. It gave me enough time to paint the scene, replacing the police logo with my initials. It was a messy painting because I was getting snowed on the whole time and blasted with cold wind. 

Bus and cruiser, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  (No. 5075b)

Last snow downtown Montreal

On what started out as a cool Spring day, I got a few paintings done downtown Montreal, including this one near the Peel basin. On the right is an old warehouse that is boarded up and protected by the City as a landmark. The graffiti people are enjoying it, I replaced the graffiti name with my initials, but used the same kind of font they used. 

Old warehouse graff, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5073b)

As the canal slowly melts, it gives off an array of blue-green reflections. A collection of buoys and markers were starting to move around in the soft ice, waiting for open water to emerge. In the foreground, is an old pier structure long since turned into a pedestrian and bike bridge, the bridge is unseen to my left. 

Buoys canal melt, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5072b)

Down on Robert Bourassa street they put up these gigantic glass shards, probably over a hundred stories tall, where there used to be an old brick warehouses and factories. I painted the sky first, let it dry while I did another painting, then placed the buildings. In this way, the buildings kept a sharp edge to give them an artificial look. At street level are some old brick facades, and heavy traffic. 

Glass shards, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5074a)

Waiting for the previous painting to dry I fired off another one of this pile of snow, perhaps the last pile of snow this season one would hope. On the left is the train elevation where the VIA trains arrive at the station. There is an incredible group of trees around here, just behind me on the left... I will go back and paint them when they have leaves if I get the chance. As I painted, suddenly winter turned back on, and I was getting pelted with hard snowflakes and a bitterly cold, gusting wind. 

Last pile of snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5075a)

 

Sundown on the Turcot warehouse

After the sun set on the Turcot highway interchange, the sky turned orange and blue with coral accents. As my paint brush froze and I froze, this painting was all about getting the right feel, in terms of colour, energy, and the ominous atmosphere of highways in the background.  

Turcot sundown traffic, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5071)

This old warehouse shut down last year, now it site derelict as the city decides what to do with it, or some company wants to rent the massive structure. I'd like to see it turned into a wetland, renaturalized for birds and reptiles, but it seems unlikely! Piles of snow remained on the parking area, nestled in among the cool shadows. 

Sundown warehouse, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5072a)

The first painting I did, this one shows the sun almost down, hovering over the warehouse with truck trailers parked in the depot area. Its interesting to compare the colour and value range of this painting and the other two which were done afterwards. As the sun sets, it picks up more red light from the atmosphere and tints colours strongly. I have a lot of experience painting at all phases of sundown including at night, so its been interesting to develop different colour mixtures for the occasion. I did a page on how to paint skies, and how to paint at night. 

By they way, that sun-effect in the painting, I apply a yellow circle, orange circle and thin magenta circle, then surround in dilute phthalo blue with a slight orange tint on horizon. The hard part is getting the moisture levels on the brush equal on the colour changes so it all blends together, I suppose that's where the skill comes in. Too much water and all the colours blend, too little water and they wont merge properly. The paint started to freeze when I was doing it, luckily I brought some salt water to mix in. 

Sun down truck depot, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5073a)

What a wonderful day to paint!

With the LUFA delivery arriving late I rode down to Lachine canal with a small window of no rain. By the time I got there, I could paint a bit, then it started up with a steady cold drizzle. Snow was melting all over, but the canal still had most of its ice and snow covering which made for some good contrast. Across the street is st Patrick with the rush-hour traffic, and one of the green footbridges arching across. To make the toasty mushy grass colour I combined green umber (PBr7) with phthalo green yellow shade (PG36) and dabs of yellow ochre (PY43), burnt sienna (PR101), and carbon black (PBk6).  

Frozen canal Spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5063b)

The drizzle started up in the midst of this painting, I had to retreat under the nearby highway overpass to escape the rain. I let this one dry a bit and finished it last. It shows a footbridge, the billboard, and the highway overpass. 

Canal ice footbridge, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  (No. 5069b)

These hybrid trees grow all along the canal in this location. Its some kind of alder tree although I am not sure which one, or if it really is a hybrid. They have a rough, vertical texture bark on their bottom, with a smooth, pale grey horizontal texture bark on the top branches. I made the pale grey with yellow ochre, carbon black, diluted with water. The bark, of course, is done with a mix of burnt umber (PBr7) and indo blue (PB60). Its a great mix for tree bark. 

Hybrid tree snow spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5070a)

As snow is removed from Montreal streets it gets dumped in this massive pile, more like a hill, right next to the Lachine Canal. When it melts, the runoff contaminated the canal with all sorts of chemicals and salt. You can see how the snow had a yellowish tinge, and was caked in a black sooty layer. In the foreground is st Patrick street with some traffic and a sliver of the canal on the bottom left. 

Dirty snow hill, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5068b)

Sunny day noon, tracks and Coffee park

Down where the Maisonneuve bike path turns upwards towards Coffee Park, there are good views of train tracks as seen behind a fence full of vines. I painted red highlights first, then filled in the rest of the scene, paying attention to the train track perspective. In summer, the fence and old telephone pole are covered in vines, which are hibernating at this time. Officially spring started but its still cold here. 

Tracks behind vines, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5061b)

Here is a scene of a building across the way, which is probably Snowdon Bakery, with a service man stannding on the roof working on the ventilation system. I accidentally dropped a bead of wate, which looks exactly like a sun highlight reflecting off the iron train tracks, which is neat. As usual, I changed the graffiti since I prefer not to copy exact names that were written. 

Man on roof, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5069a)

Coffee Park is surrounded by condos and a large apartment block up on Sherbrooke west. The park is in the foreground, with a mix of melting snow and last year's grass. I pushed up value contrast on the background elements to convey a sense of strong sunlight. This reminds me of scenes I would paint in London Ontario, that is going back over 30 years! In fact, the first location paintings I did were in 1995, Bolton and London Ontario. 

Coffee Park thaw, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5070b)

Empty lot snow

This snowy empty lot is on the corner of Elmhurst and Harley down in Westhaven where I go to get lunch sometimes. It used to be a condo building but the city tore it down last year leaving an empty lot. One would image new housing going up here, although I hope it is turned into a park for people to sit... at the end of Harley is the filed where I paint frequently, people set chairs up there and sit because there is no park in this neighborhood. The closest park is Coffee park across the train tracks. The brick colour was raw sienna (PBr7). After trying a whole bunch of yellow ochres and raw siennas, the one by Daniel Smith turned out to be the best for me. Since using it a lot in Brazil, I kept it on my palette and use it all the time now. 

Empty lot snow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5068a)

Digital art yellow and warm colours

Recently the wise Premier of Ontario was criticizing basket weaving, but in fact, basket weaving can be very lucrative. An indigenous artist makes artisanal baskets and sells them for up to thousands of dollars, and actively teaches courses to others on how to weave baskets from traditional knowledge. You can read the CBC article here. This digital art resembles a peanut woven out of colourful strands. 

Basket weaving peanut, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

Working from a black background, this sketch uses very bright primary colours and basic shapes to create a sort of 'flag' with creepy eyes. Texture is created with a chalk-pastel brush. All of these are done with the Sketchbook app on Android. You can also get it on i-phone. 

Primary colours and shapes, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

Another fluorescent-on-black sketch, this one only uses yellow, and the background is actually a very dark blue. Its like an angry spirit flying down from the top of a hill. In Japan they had a festival going on where they walked with giant torches to draw evil spirits from the mountains. 

Angry spirit, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

Dark yellow can look green, a kind of olive green as you see in the painting. That cream-colour is also yellow, but a low chroma variation. On the app, you can easily select hue, chroma, and value at the touch of a finger. Knowing what those words mean also helps. Hue is the 'colour' as you might think of it... red, yellow, blue etc. Chroma is the intensity... bright versus dull. Value is the light/darkness... how close to white or black the colour is. I remember hiding my initials in this one, but cant see it right now, in the top left somewhere. 

Variations of yellow patterns, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

 

Another exploration of yellow, with some maroon and green accents. I figured out how to make the equivalent of yellow-ochre, its a medium chroma, medium value, orange-yellow.  These digital sketches are kind of fun. The previous one I did while waiting in the dentist office a few weeks ago. 

Droopy flower, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

Digital art cool colours

Last month I started using an Android app called Sketchbook, by Sketchbook Inc. Its a very powerful app for making art, with a wide range of tools available in the free version. A premium version apparently has even more goodies but I am still just scratching the surface of what the free app does. The neat thing is that you can make colours not possible with real paint, for example the bright magenta (pink) dots, and the cyan lines are only possible on a computer screen. 

Large initials in cyan, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

I make each image 800 x 1000 to fit perfectly on social media (Instagram and Facebook), same with my watercolour paintings which are 8 x 10 " or 6 x 7.5" which works out to the same aspect ratio. This sketch is like a hail storm behind a window with bars. 

Ice window bars, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

I accidentally rotated this one and it looked even better this way. To start, I changed the background into cyan, then draw over the other elements using a variety of brushes. I use a lot of the chalk pastel brush, it gives a great crumbly texture. 

Leaves and eyes, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

Thee is also a synthetic acrylic and oil paint brush... each brush stroke runs out of 'paint' and blends with the other colours in a realistic way. Since you use your finger to make these digital sketches, it feels a lot like finger-painting in early elementary school which I remember well. It was back in Lachine as a young child, a friend of ours, the Toddles drove us there, and there were tables set up in long rows and I was placed at a station with paper and finger paints... I recall using pale blue, and the paper had a smooth texture and off white colour, it was probably craft paper. 

Paint over symbols, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

I did this one today, after realizing that I could scroll down and find like another three-dozen paint tools including texture-washes and splatter effects. A few finger swipes and I had this graffiti-inspired psychedelic creation. Having a good knowledge of colour theory helps a lot to navigate all the possibilities. I also have extensive practice as a doodler, and have created doodle paintings, although none this year. An example from 2024 can be found here. 

Symbol texture splashes, 800 x 1000 digital Sketchbook app

Synthetic Earth

Holbein company had a line of watercolour paint called Irodori Antique, but recently they discontinued and replaced it with a similar line of gauche-like paints. Avenue des arts put their Irodori stock in a bin and I picked up a tube of russet brown. Like most paint names, its an ill-defined concept, but you can think of russet brown like 'leather jacket' brown. Its almost exactly what you would expect when you think of brown as a colour. To understand it a bit better, I put some of the russet brown on the top left of this painting, and then completed the scene with a variety of other browns and on the bottom, synthetic red-orange, magenta, and red. Russet brown was closest to Caput Mortuum, which you see in the tree and roots structure on the right side of the painting. Caput Mortuum translates to 'dead head' because legend has it that they used to grind up Egyptian mummies into a brown powder to make brown paint! Its an unlikely tale, but makes for a good yarn none the less. In fact, virtually all paints now are synthetic, even the ones sold as earth or natural. Small companies may still use artisanal pigments, for example some of the paints from Stone Ground paints, a Canadian company, might have been authentic. You can see my example of their earth paints in the Armenia painting from the World Inspired Landscape series. 

Synthetic Earth, watercolour 9 x 6" watercolour paper, March 2026 

Canal snow ice and graffiti

The Lachine canal is still mostly frozen with fresh snow cover. The commuter train (REM) runs along with bridge at the top, while cars and pedestrians use the bridge at the bottom. There used to be a tunnel running underneath but its been blocked off for a long time. To make the shadow colour I mix variations of dark green (PBk31), blue (PB60), magenta (PV55) and blue-green (PG7). Its done wet-in-wet to create a feathering effect. 

Bridges snow shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5066a)

At one of the locks, an overflow river meanders down a short waterfall. Yellow buoys are there to stop watercraft from getting near when the ice thaws and people start using the canal again. It was the first time I could practice painting water again after a long winter. Its officially Spring now, so lets go!

Yellow buoys open water, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5067a)

Graffiti artists turned the walls of the Lachine canal into an open air gallery. This was a ZONEK piece but I changed it to PJD2026 instead. In the background, you see some of the never-ending condos that pop up along the canal. Its st Henri over there, and I am technically standing in Verdun. 

Frozen canal graffiti, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5067b)

Water was flowing down Courcelle street in st Henri. In the background, are trees that grow along the outside of the train tracks, and some community housing is shown on the right. I liked the overall brown and grey look, with pops of blue from the sky, and red from the building cladding. 

Thaw Courcelle street, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5066b)

In the foreground there was the remnants of an old wall from the factory that used to manufacture wiring. The wall was once stone, but concrete was poured on, then the graffiti artists got to it. Heavily textured, it made for an interesting effect. When the weather improves I have to go back and do a proper painting of it. Anyways, you get the idea. 

What the heck? watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  (No. 5065b)

 

 

Ghosts pigeons and dumpsters downtown

Phillips square, across from the bay, is at the center of downtown Montreal. Since the Bay closed, its iconic yellow sign was recently removed, leaving a ghostly impression which you see in this painting. I tried to get some of the details of the brickwork and plaster features on its elaborate facade. Tourists and pigeons were all over the square. 

Ghost of the Bay, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5064a)

With some snow still remaining, these pigeons were having fun looking for food. There must have been a hundred of them. In the background was a Burger King restaurant which I renamed Burger PJD26, although Burger Pete would have sounded better!

Pigeons Burger Pete, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5065a)

Riding past the alley and I could not resit painting all the dumpsters and other colourful accents including the Olympic rings on top of a building up in the background. A mural adorned the left side, and a few more pigeons mulled about for bits and bites. 

Dumpster Olympic alley, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5064b)

Sleet Provigo traffic

Sleet is a combination of rain and snow, and it was coming down today. I found a ledge to stand under on Sherbrooke on the way back from the office, and made a painting of the Provigo grocery store on the corner of Cavendish, along with traffic in the foreground. Pops of yellow, orange, red, green, blue and turquoise could be seen on the vehicles including a city bus, and car lights reflecting on the wet road. It would have been nice to make more paintings but I had to chicken out due to the steady sleet. Speaking of chicken, I kept smelling rotisserie chicken while standing here, there must be a shop nearby. Montreal is ranked the number one rotisserie chicken city in North America, along with our poutine. 

Sleet Provigo traffic, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 (No. 5063a)