Old Montreal dusk colours

With cool, overcast weather I sought out artificial lighting and colours to paint in Old Montreal. This corner shop was decorated pink and orange inside, with some decorations outside too, including a smiley face. The smiley face is actually a form of graffiti, someone puts a large sticker up, in this case, it was left up by the shop keepers. 

Pink shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

What gives, a painter in Old Montreal and he paints a scene of an alley full of dumpsters. A big chunky fire escape also added ambiance to the scene.  

Dumpster alley fire escape, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This restaurant had bright yellow signs and lighting, which I abstracted into a series of squares and rectangles. The rest of the scene was cool and gloomy. 

Yellow restaurant abstraction, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Peel basin, tents overpass towers commuter train

Nearby the highway overpass at Peel basin, this group of tents were set up and people living in them. I captured that in the painting along with traffic, and part of a new condo in the background. That red thing is an umbrella not a pylon, I wasn't wearing my glasses for painting today!

Tents overpass traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

In the background are a few of the condo towers built recently, like the last ten years or so, with the elevated train (el) and canal in the foreground. The central wash blurred out, it was difficult conditions to paint in with cool dark and humid air. 

Towers el canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

The commuter trains were transporting people out of the city, so I composed this scene to give an impression of the train being lonely. Like, heading off into the sky almost. To do so, I moved the bridge supports and omitted one, and put the train off to the left as far as possible. On the right, you have a condo, with solid terrain across the bottom. Intentional back-wash, using a yellow wash, created the eerie glow in the sky. It was unpredictable painting today. There are more of Old Montreal I will post soon. 

Headin home, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Lave auto signs and lights

One of the few businesses remaining along Maisonneuve street, its Lave Auto, French for car wash. They proudly advertise that the washing is done by hand, as opposed to automated buffing machines. Several people get work here, so it creates jobs to have small businesses like this in town. 

Lave auto signs, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

A neon tube light created an eerie glow inside the car wash. Once car was going through, and a truck was parked out front. The outer facade was once red brick but has been painted over several times to cover graffiti. 

Lave auto neon light, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Yellow and orange trees provided a backdrop for the Lave Auto, with many sings and the garage doors visible. Unfortunately there was a for sale sign out front in among the signs, so this business is set to change ownership with an uncertain future. 

Lave auto horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Overcast autumn canal near bridge

The leaves are starting to go red orange and yellow, with some falling onto the ground and water. It was overcast today, soft violet-grey and cyan tinted the canal. I used plenty of quin violet (PV55) a modern pigment that most brands carry. For the tree it was an interesting mix of perylene maroon (PR179) and pyrol orange (PO73). 

Autumn overcast canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Working up a scene like this in light mist-rain condition is tough, the paint constantly soaks into the paper making dark areas grey out. With a lot of experience in these conditions, I adapt my technique to avoid excessive over-washes, and apply darks first when the paper is still relatively dry. 

Bridge canal graffiti, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Here the rain-mist picked up a bit, but I managed to get through it and produce this painting. An orange buoy in the canal contrasted against the red-orange vines in the background. 

Orange buoy vines Autumn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Parc Paul-Dozois, insistent tree over sign

Parc Paul-Dozois is a narrow, urban space between Maisonneuve and st Catherine, surrounded by tall apartment complexes. Its laid out as a classic grid, with tall trees and sitting benches. Squirrels and pigeons were searching around for food. I sketched out a few animals, not to scale, and popped in a background scene of the shady park. 

Pigeon squirrel shady park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

It was a shady park, like, locals were hanging out relaxing, picnicking, walking and talking, but so were the Montreal park patrol. I see them in certain parks, in groups of two wearing a City of Montreal uniform, not police officially, but park supervisors. They are apparently there to enforce health guidelines and prevent illegal gatherings, and can probably call emergency service if someone is in trouble, or making trouble. They usually take a look at what I am doing, so luckily painting is not a public disturbance, at least most of the time. 

Shady park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This type of tree, it has small oval pointed leaves with jagged edging, will grow just about anywhere. It has long tap-roots, incredibly strong like steel, and will eventually turn into a massive, towering tree. They grow in areas that can not be mowed, like next to fences, cracks in sidewalks, and near traffic signs like this one. Its near the Ville Marie underground tunnel, where a construction project has been ongoing for many years now. Its amusing that this project is taking so long the trees are literally growing here!

Insistent tree over sign, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

 

Downtown east Montreal, graffiti corner, awning, China town

This scene is looking due west along Rue de Boisbriand, towards the graffiti corner. large trucks tend to park here all the time, and groups of tourists came by with a guide. Its a sort of rough and tumble part of the city, but has plenty of character. This is the first painting I have done with my new reading glasses which I brought out on location yesterday. It was neat to see what I was doing clearly again. 

Truck graffiti corner, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

On this corner, st Catherine east and Av. de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, there is an old hat maker building that still has its original signage, although now it seems to be a hotel, or maybe its closed for business not sure. With the glasses, I decided to tackle this scene which has more detail than I would usually try to tackle. I am starting to realize why my London Ontario paintings were so detailed... my eyesight was 20/20 back then!

Henri hat maker awning, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

And a scene down in China town, looking due west, featuring the olive-green trees and orange-red flags. Plenty of people were here, tourists, locals, local-tourists, and one fellow walked through the crowd completely naked causing much ado, although he seemed to be in distress. There is a very large shelter nearby for un-housed people. 

China town flags street, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

A few more paintings by the old train yard

Name a worse place to ride your bicycle, near a glass factory! In the back area, I am standing near Marguerite Bourgeoys Park looking due west, you see a great pile of glass through a fence. It tinkles every now and then as the glass tumbles down. And so do I... I mean, there are only a few places with enough cover to go the bathroom on these rides. Too much information. But seriously, its about the third or fourth time at this location and so I've had practice painting the glass effect, studying the colours and textures. 

Glass factory vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Grandé Studios is part of the old train yard in point st. Charles, the buildings converted into entertainment buildings. Here, I am standing up on the berm that runs along the train tracks, looking east. The hill sides are covered in grass and wild flowers. 

Grassy hills studio, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Similar location but looking at the prominent water tower that has the name of the studio, not my initials! 

Water tower studio, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This interesting scene was done in Verdun, they built a skateboard/bike riding trail which undulates around in twisted oval patterns. I actually rode my clunky hybrid bike around the trail a bit and almost regretted it... the wheelbase is little long for the sharp rises, but there were no other people here so I finally gave it a shot. Wheee! Stopped and made a painting at the top. 

Riding trail, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Scenes down at old train yard

Down at the Point st Charles train yard location, which is now being developed into a residential area, there were some interesting flowers growing in a rusted wheelbarrow. Some of the old buildings are seen in the background, they used to be for servicing trains. 

Wheelbarrow flower planter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

And a scene of the new train yard, you can not access the area obviously, but the city bade a long berm with a walking path and benches, which gives good views. I paint here frequently, although its very cold at times due to cross winds. It was fine weather, warm and blue sky. 

Train yard vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

A perspective scene of the long train building now a row of commercial shops. About half the building is renovated, the other half is still derelict. Getting the blue sky right was key to the paining, I used the usual blends of phthalo blue sapphire (PB15) with phthalo green blue shade (PG7). 

Old train house shops, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Atwater Market Autumn

The Atwater Market had season offerings including this table full of various pumpkins and squash. Their colours varied from orange, yellow, pale green, olive green and whitish. Crates of tomatoes and other vendors could be seen in the background. 

Table of pumpkins, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

From the same vantage point looking due north, you see a delivery truck in an access lane, with some more outdoor vendors to the right, and Montreal skyline in the back .

Delivery truck lane, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Staying in the same spot with still some good sun coming down, I caught this scene of a palette of onions with a stop sign, and one of the nursery-flower shops in the background with its greenhouse awnings.  

Palette of onions, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Sunset canal shadows

One last painting from yesterday, done as the sun went down behind two bins near the Lachine canal. A surprising variety of colours came together including orange, blue, violet and pastel tones. The mushroom-shaped things off to the left are mooring posts for boats to tie up to when the lock goes up and down. 

Sunset canal shadows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Autumn arrives, sunset on canal

With Autumn upon us, I made it down to the Lachine canal after work and rode out to where the modern st Ambroise brewery and beer gardens can be found. I smelled a pungent aroma of barley and malt cooking over at the brewery. In the painting, you see the old maltage building reflecting in canal water, with an interesting curve and bike path. 

Old maltage glow on canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Same location, looking up and framing it on a vertical format, you see the structure and path. I painted the curve differently here to suit the composition. Of course I put my initials instead of SLUK, and also put part of SAKE on top, its one of the last remaining works by that writer who retired a decade ago. 

Old maltage graffiti sundown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Looking down below the foot bridge at the canal lock, I did a painting featuring flowing water and black railings. A setting sun created orange glows and reflections. With my new brush I was able to tackle the tricky fence detailing which requires you to paint around the shape. In oil or acrylic this effect would be a lot easier. 

Flowing water sundown railings, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This contrast between orange and green caught my eye. In the background you see part of the old maltage structure, illuminated with amber light from the sunset off to the left. In the foreground, there are numerous green umbrellas of the st Ambroise beer gardens, with people drinking yellow-orange pints of beer. Music played, and the air smelled of roasting beer malt. I did one last painting but will post separately, its pretty outrageous. 

Sunset over beer gardens, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Autumn approaching

With Autumn fast approaching, just one official day of summer left, I saw the first real scene of a tree with falling leaves. For awhile now I've noticed the subtle shift in hue of tree leaves, from yellow-green towards olive and light orange. Here you see three variations, with yellowish-green, yellow-orange and green-yellow tint. To make autumn leaf colours, I mix low chroma with high chroma. For example yellow ochre (PY43) with benzi yellow (PY154), or burnt yellow ochre (PR102) with pyrol orange (PO73). Those mixes combine an earth paint with a bright synthetic paint, resulting in an interesting middle-chroma mix. If you go pure bright chroma, it looks fake, and pure earth, too dull. 

Autumn trees circle, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

A chaotic scene, even the seagulls were agitated, maybe waiting for French Fries at the nearby burger joint. This is the bizarre  7-way st Jacques interchange where you have major streets and parking lot exits going every-which way. An auto dealership is nestled into the background around the Falaise escarpment. 

 

Noisy gulls traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This scene had a desolate, almost apocalyptic feel to it. I've painted back-lit scenes for a long time now, it can be rewarding, but also frustrating if the first set of washes dries too light or dark. Starting with a reliable mix of burnt yellow ochre (PR102) and indo blue (PB60) with the correct amount of water generally works best, then over-painting with the details. I left some white space for an illuminated sign. The cars are simple blobs with just enough detail and colour to indicate their identity as cars. Since I got new reading glasses, I saw my paintings clearly for the first time in years and noticed some of them were getting sloppy... so I will try to sharpen them up a bit. I also noticed all the dirt and grime on my office desk and was appalled! Some things are better without the glasses I guess.  

Apocalyptic burgers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Decarie Mall scenes

There has been an announcement that the Decarie mall will be re-developed, i.e. demolished and replaced with Condo towers. I've painted up there quite a few times, first discovering it during the pandemic year. This scene shows a view of the parking lot grassy area, with a hydrant, and small yellow flowers. Its surrounded by a gloomy image of highway and condos. Yes, trees are turning orange already. 

Hydrant yellow flowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Using a curve-linear perspective, I depicted the Decarie mall in a panorama scee. It was quite busy, the parking lot full and lots of shoppers here. 

Decarie mall panorama, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

From the same spot as the previous two paintings, this one looks due north along the Decarie, where it goes under the train tracks. Its a tricky painting with lots of angles and detail, but I have a new brush with a very sharp and firm point on it, which helped immensely. 

Decarie underpass train., watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Finally, up on the overpass sidewalk, and I got a view of these railroad ties piled up beside the tracks. It was done with a base wash (PB60 + PR102), then over-painted with an umber (PBr7) and pyrol orange (PO73) mix, then a dark mix of indo blue (PB60) and black (PBk6) created the shadow elements and texturing.  

Railroad ties, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Little Italy south, Réseau-Vert Linear Park and nearby scenes

This narrow strip of a park is squeezed in between the train tracks and a large factory/warehouse complex in the south part of Little Italy neighborhood. I go out there from time to time to buy bulk spices, tea and food from Anatol spices, a store I have been shopping at for over 20 years now. Actually I rode out to Mile End with Cilei where she met up with her sister and Fritz to do the Tour-of-Island bike ride, its when the city shuts off large swaths of Montreal for a 30km bike ride. I passed on attending since I wanted to paint and besides, I do Tour of Island practically every weekend! There is not much I haven't seen. One thing I haven't seen is a tree surrounded by stolen 'No Parking' signs. It was worth a painting. 

No parking no more, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

I would normally have painted more on a sunny, blue sky day like this, which is a rarity, but the medication gets the better of me sometimes so I hung on my bike and brushes for four paintings. The second one shows a stop sign, a parked bike, and some colourful graffiti, n the back-ground upper left, is part of the new elevated bus terminal. 

Signs graffiti bike, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Standing on a narrow sidewalk, here is a view looking due east at the Van Horne-Rosemont overpass on the left, its slated to be demolished, and a long factory wall on the right. I liked the sliver of bright blue sky and the triangle shape it made against the structures. 

Rosemont overpass factory wall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Actually in Mile-end across the tracks, this is a water-tower on top of a derelict warehouse. Its slated for redevelopment when the city decides what to do with it. demolition is off the table because its a prominent landmark. In the painting, I cleaned off all the graffiti, its almost completely covered now. So much for landmark, its a graffiti canvas. 

Water-tower Mile-end warehouse, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Sunset (colours) on Elmhurst

Weary from teaching pharmacology for two and half hours, I could image how the students felt, I got out as far as coffee park and set up on the corner with Elmhurst. The sun was setting and I caught it on the horizon, hiding behind the tops of some trees up on Sherbrooke street. Adding cars like this was a challenge, they were reflecting the sunset colours, shimmering in the day's last light.

Sunset (colours) on Elmhurst, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2026

Looking the other way, due south, the commuter train stopped and the barrier made loud clanging noises with bright red flashing lights. the train was only there a few moments so I had to paint it mostly by memory. Its one of the new exo trains that goes out to Vaudreuil-Dorion. although this one was heading to downtown Montreal.  

Red lights commuter train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2026

Downtown around Cabot square, pigeons, bins, empty lot

Down in Cabot square there is always some action and not always the kind you want to be around. But the people are generally just there to hang out and enjoy the blue sky in the midst of downtown Montreal. I got half way through this painting when a person came by yelling at something and the pigeons flew away. Oh well, the birds ended up looking like chickens!

Pigeons Cabot square, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Looking due north up Atwater avenue, that is Alexis Nihon mall on the left, and in the upper right is part of the old Forum arena which is clad in black now. The red hydrant anchored the whole scene, pyrol red (PR254) made it pop. That's the same red pigment used to paint Ferraris.

Blue green brown bins hydrant. watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

I am by now familiar with the stages by which asphalt and gravel can gradually turn back into a forest given enough time. Once the hardy plants get through the rock-hard earth, they loosen things and then a field of grass and flowers will emerge, to be overtaken by tall trees eventually. This plot will be developed at some point, the city is just wrangling about what will be there. Its on Sherbrooke near the mall. The plot is a lot wider than depicted in the painting, I compressed its size to fit on this narrow aspect ratio. Today I dropped by Avenue des Arts after work and picked up some more watercolour paint and a few brushes. 

Empty lot growth, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Pick a corner and paint

After work I rode down to the Maisonneuve and Girouard underpass area and found a good corner to paint on. This scene had an impressive tree growing out of the concrete-base of a sign pole. I managed to get perspective on the stop sign and still keep the white lettering and border clean (white = paper showing).

Insistent tree sign pole, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Similar spot, looking due south towards the underpass, you see traffic going to and from the Decarie highway. Cutting across is Maisonneuve in the background, and the used bike shop is in the upper right corner. 

Girouard underpass pylons, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Closer to the corner with Maisonneuve, looking due east, here is a view of the Legion building, which has caramel-brown bricks and red and green facade elements. The windows have iron gratings over top. 

Legion building side, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This painting called for a close-up of a red tow truck but it did not turn out quite right. It didn't help that the mechanic came out and drove the vehicle off while I was painting. 

Red tow truck study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

To trouble-shoot I did another one of a black tow truck which looked cool, but in the painting it looks like a toy truck! I will practice these car profiles some more, it rarely goes well for me due to shoddy drawing skills. You may wonder how a painter can be such a lousy illustrator, and I often wonder the same thing!

Black tow truck study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026