Sundown moon up Peel basin views

Getting down to Peel basin by bike and I caught some views of the sunset near the Canadian maltage company. Pastel blue, orange and purple made a nice combination next to the concrete super-towers. My initials adorned the top of the structure. 

Sunset grain silos, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

A crescent moon hung over the highway. Blues, greens, and shadows made for a cool colour scheme. 

Moon up over highway, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Warm amber light emanated from the setting sun. Lights under the bridge illuminated an outdoor gym. I made good use of orange paint (PO62), with plenty of indo blue (PB60) and burnt yellow ochre (PR102). Dark magenta (PV55) and blue-green (PG7) also add to the pastel-shadowy effects. 

Sunset city under bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

Looking back: London Ontario, seasons, campus, grad club

Looking back through my collection of paintings from 20+ years ago, here is a scene of a fancy building in London Ontario with a slate roof. The snow was melting that day I recall, and the painting conditions were excellent. Its a subtle range of neutral beige, yellow and violet, with stark contrast of sun-lit snow. I had a nice touch back then when things came together. 

Slate roof snow melt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

A neat composition, with poppies in the foreground and the art building, new at the time, in the background. I did a series of paintings from this location from different angles, probably towards 2003 or 2004 the year I left London for Montreal. 

Poppies art building, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

From a similar location, but back in the tree line, I caught this view looking at the rear of the art building and Middlesex college in the background. The University of Western campus was really well maintained. It looks like Spring time.  

Forest art building Middlesex college,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

A more detailed view of the iconic clock tower, seen behind green trees, probably a summer painting. 

Middlesex college overcast, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

And one of my favorite places to go, its the grad club... graduate club, not much of a club, rather a pub where students and professors hung out and drank beer on tap. A large tent with many long picnic tables on a large stone patio off the back off the Middlesex college building. Its here that I once bragged to my friends about painting at least 5,000 paintings, to which they reacted with disbelief. And rightly so, by my recent count I was probably only at around 500 paintings by then! Now its getting over 8000, but like 25 years later lol. I'll have to arrange a reunion just to give them a more accurate update, and maybe have a pint. 

Grad club, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

Falaise pathway and Lachine canal scene

Here are a few more paintings from the weekend. The first ones were done from the Falaise escarpment bike and pedestrian path. Its a wide gravel path running parallel with the train tracks and the escarpment which has st Jacques street at the top. Where I am standing, about in the middle of the 2km path, it has a fork that goes up into the forest and opens up onto the sidewalk near the Akhavan grocery store. You can see the winding path up the hill in this blog. 

Falaise path wildflowers trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Same location looking due south, you see tracks and highway in the middle ground, and a gantry crane in the background which set along side the Lachine canal (unseen). I reduced foliage in the foreground to show the landscape, its actually pretty heavily grown now. They restored this area about four or five years ago now.  

Tracks highway gantry crane, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

You can see part of Notre Dame street and the Kruger cardboard recycling plant off to the left, with a gravel field full of wildflowers on the right center and bottom. This gravel field becomes more grown each year, now small trees are taking root. The city plans to turn all of it into some kind of managed forest with access points for visitors. Its a shame, I'd like to see how it retores itself naturally after being a highway for 75+ years. I made several paintings around here, including my favorite one of cosmos flowers.  

Wild flowers Kruger warehouse, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

I did more paintings than I thought yesterday... here is one of the view into Kruger cardboard recycling. Their are great stacks of shredded paper and cardboard, with heavy industrial cylinder-silos in the background. They installed an official 'viewing port' in the fence, so I thought somebody like me should use it to make a painting!

Kruger plant overcast, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026   

 

And a scene of the good old Lachine canal, with a busy bike path on the lower left. The red deck-chairs in the background are quite popular, and people picnic around here in the summer. 

Lachine canal bikes pedestrians, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026  

A few scenes painted down in Verdun

Here is a typical scene from Verdun, lots of green and brown, its Lasage street which runs parallel with the aqueduct. Streets are wide and many of the buildings are two or three-story condos around here, with some aluminum siding. In the background, there are massive power lines that I downplayed in the paintings. 

Lasage street wide view, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Looking in the other direction, standing near the pizza shop, I made a painting of this spiralling stair case with white iron railings. Like a DNA double helix, it swooped around with rows of steps. Its a hard thing to paint so I just went with the shape and theme of it without too much concern. Today's sky was a murky blue-green with wispy clouds. 

Lasage street vertical view, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This wall is red, no doubt for covering graffiti. Someone (PJD26) had painted their name over top. The old factory is now an art studio, and some other small business sharing the ample space. These artisan-factory converts are always under threat of development. Its on the corner with Hickson street. 

Old factory red wall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Its a rare painting of the aqueduct. Most of the views are blocked by tall plants all along, and the bridge views are rather noisy and unpleasant locations. Today the Sunday traffic was light. To make the water colour I blend dilute phthalo blue (PB15) with raw umber (PBr7). I got a new tube of raw umber by Daniel Smith from the Kama pigment company by mail order awhile ago. Its a chocolatey brown colour like fresh earth or dark ground coffee.  

Aqueduct curve, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Turcot interchange: painting with grass

Its not what you might think, although, it looks like it. Actually, I got out to location in a bit of a rush and forgot to bring my paint brushes. The last time this happened I used a fork to paint a scene of the PERFORM Centre on campus in winter, and it turned out okay. This time, I saw some grass nearby, it was the kind of grass with bushy seed pods on top, so it kind of worked to smear paint on the paper. The other end of the grass provided sharper details. After some time I started to get the hang of it. At least the 'paint brushes' were bio-degradable. You can see some of the grass seeds up in the sky of the painting.  

Turcot interchange with grass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Bike ride around the islands, full circle

Riding my bike along Maissoneuve bike path and down Peel, I found my way out to st Helen's island where they have the amusement park. It was built, the island that is, for Expo 67 using the excavated earth from Decarie highway. Since the connector-path along the south seaway was finally open, I could keep riding to where the Champlain bridge is at, and over the ice control bridge back to Montreal. In this scene, my favorite on the day, you see a remnant structure of the old Champlain bridge, with the new Champlain bridge sweeping across the background. 

Old Champlain bridge remnant, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

On the center left is the Island Bridge, connecting st Helen to Notre dame islands, with a view of Montreal condos in the background. So I am standing over in Notre dame island near the race track, which is used for bikes this time of year. 

Island Bridge city-scape, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

The Villeneuve race track is used for car racing once a year, but people on fast, expensive bikes wearing spandex use it for the rest of the summer. I made this painting looking west, with part of the Island bridge visible at the top. I used just a few brush strokes for the cyclists, leaving some white spots open when I put the wash down for the track. 

Fast bikes track, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

The river that runs between ile Notre Dame and the south shore is called the Monks channel... it has chunks of rock all along its banks, with fast flowing water. When the sun shines, the water takes on a pleasant turquoise colour that I always enjoy. 

Turquoise river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This was a challenging scene to paint, it shows part of the Victoria bridge, and that's the Montreal shore on the other side of the st Lawrence river. I was standing under the bridge next to the bike path looking up, and cars were visible through the steel grating. It made quite a noise too, so I painted fast and moved on to the next spot.

Cars overhead, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

Curio Folio: Potateor

You may have heard about today's partial eclipse, star alignment, and meteor shower, but what about the falling potateor? It was only visible from a narrow part of the sky directly above my apartment, and I could see it clearly with my telescope. Since the telescope does not have a camera, I made a painting of the scene from direct observation. It was an odd shape for a meteor, very potato like as it crashed through the upper atmosphere down towards earth. It took on a charred appearance then broke into pieces and landed in our back yard. Slices of the meteor were a crispy golden-brown with the aroma of french fries. Piles of debris were rather like mashed potato. I dared to taste a bit and sure enough... potato! How a giant potato-meteor (potateor) ever came to be in space we may never know, perhaps a tech-billionaire launched it into space for reasons unknown, or there are aliens that fly via potato ships. At any rate, it makes a wonderful addition to my curio folio of things you have never heard about, but absolutely really exist in real life. 

Curio Folio Potateor, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2026

Westhaven field and flowers

At the end of Harley street int he Westhaven neighborhood, there is a field belonging to Loyola College, and it contains a community garden called Collectif - Le Dépot Garden. I've painted there many times before, too many to count,  because its a very relaxing and beautiful place to paint the trees, grass and flowers, and its nearby my office over at the Concordia University campus. Here are links you can click to a brown chair in the field, another scene of flowers, and a painting of the community garden. 

Field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Today I talked to one of the community members who maintains gardens, and is active in preserving the use of the land for community, her name is Cynthia, I first talked to her last year. Today she gave me some dried brown eyed Susan-type flowers which contains seeds I plan to add into our local 'garden street corner' they installed up on Somerled. She also is writing a land use report and wanted to include a painting or two in the report. I gladly offered her to right-click a few images and use in a report. I really appreciate this space and wish the continued success of all the locals who volunteer to keep it going. 

Hydrant field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

Scenes along bike path near Trenholme park

Riding along the Maisonneuve bike path behind Trenholme park, and there were a few good scenes to paint after work. This one shows the train tracks and pea stone embankment in partial shadows, with creeper vines growing along the front fence. The shadow was done with dilute indo blue (PB60) dark magenta (PV55) and burnt red ochre (PR102). 

Train track embankment shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Looking towards the park, and you see an embankment grown over with wildflowers, a kind of yellow Queen Anne Lace variety. I worked up successive layers of green, yellow-green, yellow and dabs of dark green and brown. It was a real 'flex' on the yellow-green range of my palette. In the background, is one of the large condos buildings on Sherbrooke street. 

Yellow flower embankment horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

As I painted the previous scene, I noticed a few bright white flowers growing in among the yellow wildflowers, but it was too late to include them in that painting. In this version, I composed the scene on the vertical axis, then made sure to keep the paper showing where you see the white flowers. Bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) provided the intensity here, although it is a very opaque paint, it can shine when put next to more neutral colours. 

Yellow flower embankment vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

 

Purple Ferrari hazy day

I've been making paintings of this Ferrari sitting at the auto shop next to Decarie highway, its front left wheel was busted up and removed. Finding a spot on the sidewalk I made a portrait of it, then super-imposed the Decarie view to give an impression that the car is zooming up the off-ramp. Working the purple colours in successive layers, I also created an eerie glow all around with raw sienna (PBr7) and yellow ochre (PY43) in the sky and on the roads. So there you have it, the famous purple Ferrari brought back to life, on the road again, at least in my painting!

Purple Ferrari hazy day, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2026

Yellowish sky, hazy day

I stopped first at 'triangle park', near the Vendome 5-way intersection, and made a painting of the neat tree that grows there. Its a birch tree, and its bark is always peeling off. Maybe it needs some extra birch tree nutrients. With a hazy, yellowish sky mid-afternoon, it was a sign of wild fire smoke once again. The yellows look really bright, the blues turn greyish, and everything has an eerie glow. 

Birch tree bark peeling, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

The yellow-orange sun was penetrating through a hazy pale-blue grey sky today. Hanging over a glass vaulted arch, it made for some interesting scenery to paint on location. A faint smell of 'camp-fire' confirmed this was from a far-off forest fire. I was standing in Dorchester square downtown, looking northwest. 

Glass vaulted arch yellow sun, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Taking on this scene, while the sky dried on the previous painting, I captured the intersection of Rene-Levesque and Peel street. Avoiding blue, I tinted the cars yellow with dilute raw sienna (PBr7) and yellow ochre (PY43), then used black (PBk6) for shadowing and details. This painting seems significant to me, in that its perhaps the best painting yet of such a scene. When downtown the amount of stuff can be overwhelming. Using a sharper brush and larger sheet might get even better results. 

Traffic near Dorchester square hazy day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This painting was a bit of a fail, the paper was absorbing too fast creating flat washes and difficult to control details. I will try the scene again sometime, although its always back-lit. Perhaps a night scene would be good here, its a famous pub with a lively crowd. Soon I will get back to using new paper, for now I am working on the backs of old paintings as I consolidate the collection a tad. There is one more to post from today, I will make a separate blog for it, its a neat one!  

Peel PJD Pub, watercolour 6 x 9" cold press, August 2026 

Looking back: London Ontario, street scenes

As you might know, I tend to paint a lot of garbage cans, bins, dumpsters, you name it. This was one of my favorites, almost photo-realistic, it was done on campus (University of Western). They had immaculate waste containers, a tasteful pea-stone and concrete cylinder equipped with one shiny black garbage bag. 

Benches and bin, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~2002

It was the colour contrast between the purple shadow and yellow parking lot devices that drew my attention. You can see the same type of attention to local shadows as the first painting of the bin, and it may well have been painted on the same day. I would walk around campus and surrounding areas making paintings bu carrying a backpack and a camping chair. 

Yellow parking boxes, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press ~2002

Finally, a scene of the new (at the time) art building which was built down on a flood plain. So a drawbridge-style entrance was build to get into the front door (the building was surrounded by a kind of moat). I liked the framing of all the traffic posts, with some tulips in the foreground. 

Art building facade, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, ~2002

 

Looking back: London Ontario, different seasons

These painting were all done on location around 2000 give or take a few years. I was more into abstract surrealism at the time, but made a few location paintings now and then. I remember sitting at home during winter nighttime, really wanting to go out and paint, so I headed to the parking lot under a strong overhead flood light. The snow-covered car with its red tail lights really stood out against the surrounding snow and murky dark-cyan sky. 

Car in parking lot winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

These apartments were out in the farmer fields of north London, I wonder if any of those fields are still there? I guess that developments were made, like around Bolton. It was lightly raining, some time late autumn or early spring I'm not sure exactly. It seemed like the painting was a disaster but when I got it home and it dried, it looked fantastic. 

Apartments light rain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

I thought, if the lamp post is crooked, then I will paint it crooked! Its the same parking lot as the winter painting, but you see an autumn-orange tree in the background. 

Parking lot autumn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Looking back: London Ontario, lamp, road, poolside

Looking back on my old paintings from London Ontario, here is one from around the year 2000 done with a photo-realistic technique. The amount of detail is remarkable, considering its a very small painting done on location. It was done in a neighborhood near the Masonville mall area in the north part of London, I was obviously sitting within the gated area, you see the fence in the background. 

Ornate lamp, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2000

At this point, the paved road became a dirt road, its called Dingman road because I wrote it on the back of this painting, along with the date, 1996. I recall this day, I was fed up with the city and wanted to ride my bike as far as I could until I found farms and dirt roads! So, including the sign was part of the theme. 

Dingman road, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1996

A shallow wading pool, sometime early spring when it was empty. Painting the chair was a tough task, this was another painting from 1996 when my skills were still developing. I started painting in 1989, then began painting on location towards the end of 1995 and never really stopped. This park is near Paperbirch crescent along the train tracks. 

Pool side chair, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1996

Stormy sky in Verdun, construction pit

It was a stormy sky over Verdun today, as you see in this painting of an auto-shop back lot I painted a thin layer of yellow ochre, then applied mixes of indo blue (PB60), dark magenta (PV55), and burnt yellow ochre (PR101) to create the cloud shapes, with a dab of phthalo blue or green here and there (PB15, PG7). 

Stormy sky Verdun auto shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

The giant construction pit that filled with water, I called it Lake Verdun, has been mostly drained, pumps are working over time to get the water onto the sidewalk and into drainage openings. You see some of the water on the right, and mounds of earth on the left, with a long factory-turned condo in the background. 

Lake Verdun horizontal warehouse condos, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Same location, a yellow-ochre (PY43) construction crane hovering over the site. By the looks of it, this is a massive construction project, like 5 x 5 city blocks! Its supposed to become a mix of housing and shops, so a little village. 

Verdun crane, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

Bike ride through a few cool neighborhoods

More like ride through a few hot neighborhoods today, it was muggy and humid in Montreal. This scene is down in st Henri, looking at one of the many red-brick triplex condos. On the left side was signage for an old laundry mat called King, but I changed the sign to be my initials and the year. It took a while to build up the structure, washes and texturing for this painting, and it came together with the final details on the balcony, roof tiles and bricks. 

Corner triplex old laundry mat, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2026

Another scene from st Henri,  I was drawn tot he tree and found a good angle on it standing near the big grocery store corner. To do the tree, I made a wash of green plus yellow (PBk31 + PY184), then filled in yellow on the bottom with black on the top (PBk6). When dried, I applied a greenish black over top, and mixed umber (PBr7) with magenta (PV55) to make the trunk colour. It reminded me of the trees Van Gogh painted in southern France. That is Mount Royal visible in the background. 

Van Gogh tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

I needed the previous painting to dry a bit before applying the texturing, so I did this one looking east towards the big IGA grocery store, changed to PJD, and the main street which is Notre Dame street. 

PJD grocery, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Curio Folio: Side toaster

 I tested out my first product the other day, as a member of the Association of Retail Sales Evaluation club. I just received a new test product.... since they wont allow photos of the products, which are not on the market yet, I made a painting instead. The latest test-product was the side toaster. Its just like a regular toaster with two slots and a switch, but the openings are engineered on the side of the device. In this manner, the toast will jump out directly on your plate without the need for you to touch hot toast. Because of gravity, its less likely to get stuck too. I found the product to work well, and after some practice and fine-tuning, I managed to get the toast to land on the plate and not slide off onto the floor. Another neat feature they added, is a 'paper shredder' mode, where you can feed documents into it for destruction, which are then turned to ash. Brilliant. 

Curio Folio: Side toaster, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2026