What's the blue stuff in the sky?

Today, after I got out of the office finally, I wondered: What's the blue stuff in the sky? Normally the sky is grey and rainy... oh yeah, its a blue sky! And that yellow circle up there... its the sun! Finally a bit of sun, and tomorrow will even be a balmy 21℃ in Montreal. In this scene I am looking up at the old Maltage factory tower adorned with a red and pink house. The sky is done by blending phthalo green (PG7) with phthalo blue sapphire (PB15), the one from Holbein. Using most any other phthalo blue wont work because the formulas tend to be staining and obnoxious. The Holbein one is easier to control in blended washes, its one of the few paints I would recommend by brand, phthalo blue sapphire from Holbein. 

Old Maltage looking up, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Here is the adjacent view, although I omitted all the graffiti this time, just PJD 26 if you look closely enough. I cut up another painting and am using the back of it for some paintings. The brick is a blend of red ochre (PR102), pyrol orange (PO73) and orange (PO62). 

Old Maltage side, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

The boulevard Monk bridge it hard to paint, its a light grey against a dark blue and orange background. In watercolour you have to paint the background in between the foreground elements since there is no way to paint light over dark. 

Monk bridge canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

This secretive building is some sort of data center, it has imposing green tinted windows and a confusing array of lego-brick-like architecture. The olive greens of the pine tree and grass set well against the greens and turquoises, along with a sapphire blue sky. 

Secret building entrance, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Here is the so called 'Twisty Groove', its a small vacant lot that was once mowed, now they just let it grow wild. At the moment, the grass is coming up and it almost looks like a normal lawn, but soon it will overgrow with wild plants, flowers, and attract butterflies. That is, if the city can leave it alone! 

Twisty groove spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Night angles

Along the Maisonneuve bike path there are a few car washes and auto mechanics, including this one called Lave Auto. It was closed of course, being late at night, but there was still an eerie greenish glow coming from the interior. In the background there was a residential building with lights on. The sky had an interesting gradation of mauve, which was mixed with indo blue (PB60) pyrol orange (PO73) and some purple magenta (PV55) along the top. 

Lave Auto night angle,  watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Further towards downtown and there are good views of the Farine Five Roses sign at night, illuminated in bright red lights against a dark blue-cyan sky. In the foreground is a long warehouse with lights reflecting on the Lachine Canal, ice melted finally, and a commuter train went by, you can see it in the middle of the scene. 

Farine Five Roses train canal night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Dépanneur Elephant, colourful signs

In downtown Montreal there is an area called Shaughnessy Village, its roughly between Dawson College and Concordia University (Sir George Williams campus). This old dépanneur, called Elephant Direct is on Chomedey st, near the old Forum. It looks to be shuttered, and an adjacent building looks boarded up too. One can imagine this prime real estate would make for a good condo tower, they built many around here. The architecture was a hodgepodge of ideas, you can see a classic French roof-line with bay windows and a steep sloping shingled facade. In the middle, is a corrugated plastic roof that covers a balcony. It looks like someone still lives in the mid and upper floors. Metal bars were behind the window, and a metal grating was in front, so pretty secure it would seem. 

Dépanneur Elephant Direct, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, April 2026 

 

Looking east along st Catherine, there are many restaurants and shops with interesting exteriors. Over the years, they have been renovated, painted over, built on, painted again... resulting in more hodgepodge architecture. This one had tall 'stucco' panelling, like a slap of rough asphalt, and brown aluminum siding, with a black shingle roof. Red, orange, yellow and chartreuse signs popped off against an otherwise grey, blue and brown drizzly day. The building at center bottom in the distance is the Place Ville Marie tower. 

Red, orange, yellow chartreuse signs, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Please come back another day...

Rain, rain go away, please come back another day... actually, the rain is great for the plants outside, and its clearing out all the dust and dirt from winter. In Cabot square, there was a final pile of dirty snow melting away in the misty drizzle. A bus was parked in the background, with a port-o-let in the middle of the scene, anchoring the composition. I'm looking forward to painting scenes like this on sunny days when I have a bit more time. 

Cabot remaining snow pile, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

The old Canadien's arena, the Forum, is now a large shopping complex with black cladding. There is a Dollar store but I changed the sign to my initials. The trees here are very mossy, a dark olive green with black accents and hints of red-orange leaf buds. 

Trees old Forum, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Rain rain go away!

The rain subsided enough for me to get out at lunch hour and pick up a sandwich and bread at Snowdon bakery. It started up again and I made a quick painting from under the front of the City Fruterie strip mall on Harley street.  

Lights City Fruterie, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

It was a water park in more ways than one, down in Coffee Park. They built a water play area for kids here, I just painted the scene since it was one of the few areas with an overhang and some rain protection. A commuter train went by in the background. 

Water park, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

All the leaves were on the ground, from last year. As old leaves decay they fertilize the grass and roots of the trees for more growth. Soon things will start growing again and I look forward to seeing some flowers. 

Trees no leaves, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Pastel sky, zen factory, mount crud

With rain in the forecast, it stayed remarkable dry for this bike ride, not even a drop. This scene shows part of the old gantry crane, it was used to load and unload cargo from the train cars onto boats. Now its just an iconic structure. I used a dreamy pastel colour sceheme for the rest of the painting, trying to make some of those 'happy trees' that Bob Ross used to talk about. 

Pastel sky gantry crane canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Making a visit to the Zen Factory, which is my nickname for this derlict factory warehouse that is now a graffiti haven. This scene shows the side view near rue st Patrick, although I am standing on Boulevard de la Vérendrye. The city is making plans for this location, probably a community housing development. There is a lot of wildlife here, so too bad it wont be a forest. 

Zen factory horizontal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Some young lads were looking around, trying to get into this place. They kept staring back at me, thinking I was a cop probably, but then went ahead and climbed onto the roof and through a window anyways. Watch out for the tetanus! I wont get near the place, last time I wheeled my bike onto the asphalt around the building I got a flat tire and a rip in my bike pack. All the graffiti was changed to be my intials and year. 

Zen factory vertical, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

I got a close up view of Mount Crud... that is, the giant pile of snow that is created from snow removal during winter. The black colour is probably gravel and tire particles... I wonder how many car keys, money, glasses, and other lost objects are in that pile? It was a towering hill, probably ten or so stories high. Getting the charcoal-shades correct was harder that is seems, I used mixtures of violet (PV55), blue (PB60), yellow ochre (PY43), burnt umber (PBr7), charcoal black (PBk6), red ochre (PR101)... is there any paint I did not use? 

Mount crud, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Decarie expressway Spring yet?

Decarie is a sunken highway, about two stories down and walled with concrete, it goes north to south along the east side of NDG. All around it there are pockets of grass and trees which offers a rare chance to paint nature, like natural nature, not landscaped or manicured. Well they do mow the grass so I suppose that counts as being manicured. This creepy tree, as seen in the foreground, was done with a near black mix of carbon black (PBk6), indo blue (PB60) and burnt umber (PBr7). 

Decarie creepy tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

 Here is a close-up scene of the bridge over Decarie running along st Jacques, with a few off ramps visible. I am standing up on a cul-de-sac, that is a round dead end of a street. If is a good place to stand and paint with views of the highway and city-vista to the south. 

Bridge over Decarie, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Another scene next to the Decarie, these pine trees have a spot to themselves, and a giant puddle was reflecting. In the background, the trees line the train tracks, although there were few trains going by on the weekend. 

Pine trees and puddles, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026