Ice fog Dorchester square

With ice fog in the forecast, it made for some interesting scenes where the tops of skyscrapers were obscured by cloud. In the foreground, is a war memorial, in the background is the mighty Place Ville Marie building shrouded in clouds. Things worked better with a small brush, but the paint was pretty soggy and unpredictable today. 

Ice fog downtown, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4912a)

At the tops of these yellow trees at Dorchester square there was a large squirrel nest and squirrels hopping around the branches. Thick ice fog enveloped the buildings in the background, and a thin layer of mist was everywhere. 

Living high life, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4810b)

This old artillery piece, likely from world war II sits next to the war memorial. One day before remembrance day, we remember those who lost their lives in the war. Once again the paint was being stubborn today making details elusive. At the illusion of fog is quite authentic. 

Artillery ice fog, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4913a)

Brief snow storm downtown

Across from Cabot square sits the old Forum where the Canadiens used to play. Nowadays its a mall with several street-level shops and restaurants including a dollar store. The dollar store is barely visible in the painting, just a streak of yellow off to the bottom right. I was mostly standing on this location because there is a wide ledge overhead which provided some shelter from the brief snow storm that hit Montreal this afternoon. People even had umbrellas, and I was wearing a combination of winter wear and rain wear. For a more pleasant view of this area check out the sunflowers that were growing in Cabot square this summer. 

Old Forum corner,  watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4910a)

To complete this painting, I stood next to a bus stop shelter which blocked the direct wind and snow which was coming down close to vertically. The old Forum building is in the background, with the Cabot square paths and landscaping in the foreground. There were a lot more trees than this, but the conditions precluded any overlay detailing. Its always an adjustment period going into the winter. The truth is, that I enjoy painting in the winter, in fact I did a few on a trip out to Montreal in the 1990's, I will paste one below...

Cabot square snow storm, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4911)

  

Here is one of the old paintings I did on a trip to Montreal in 1997, it was the first one I remember doing on the trip, which probably makes it the first location painting I ever did in Montreal. Prior to that, I had been painting on location in Ontario for a few years. 

Big Bottle, Winter,  watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, 1997 (No. 1056) 

First snow of the season, wet

Going out into the uncertain weather today, I found a ledge along st Catherine street with some shelter from the cold wet snow. You have to be really committed to your art, in more ways than one, in order to paint on a day like today! The roads were slick with an icy snow layer and light rain. Together with the construction pylons it was so Montreal. 

Wet snow construction, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4907b)

Looking west, and there was a view of an old building that the city plans to renovate, or perhaps demolish, I believe its the old Packard building, based on some google searching and a fuzzy image of the logo over the front door. Its all shuttered now, but it used to have shops on the ground level and studios on the top levels. Despite the shelter, snow still pelted down onto the painting. 

Packard building profile, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4908b)

The entire upper two floors of the building are encased in a re-enforced black mesh to prevent debris from falling onto the sidewalk. It was once a glorious building it would seem, hopefully they can clean off all the graffiti and bring it back to life. For the first painting I had salt water, but the temperature was slightly above zero so I switched to fresh water for the remaining paintings. Salt water wont freeze easily, but it makes the paint dry a lot slower. 

Packard building front, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4909)

 

136 east tunnel under Montreal

The 136 highway goes underneath Montreal, here is one of the entrance ways off of Rue Notre Dame. In the background, you see one of the enormous glass towers they completed last year over on Robert Bourassa. The building angles outwards from street level, that way more square footage can be created from the same plot of land, several newer building use this design. Because of the perspective, it looks like this massive skyscraper is sitting right on top of the tunnel, with a few delicate trees in the middle. I liked the dramatic contrast between vertical and perpendicular... with cars driving into the tunnel. A few yellow signs provided more depth, and importantly, they connect the various layers of the composition by overlapping the horizontal elements. I learned that trick from studying Hiroshige the great Japanese print designer. This would also be a cool scene to do at night, although we are expecting 10cm of snow tomorrow, which will hamper my bike ride/painting trips. Will go on foot if needed. 

136 east tunnel under Montreal, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4879a)

Scenes at the heart of Montreal

If you have been downtown Montreal anytime lately, this kind of scene is all too familiar. I call it Montreal orange, that particular shade of the construction sign that I mix with pyrol orange (PO73) and benzi orange (PO62). The numbers in parenthesis are the pigment code of the paint colourant that I use. To establish this painting I applied a faint outline with grey paint and a number 2 round brush, then started to fill in the colour blocks, with layers of texture and detail. Planning out where the paper would show through was essential to get the signs to pop. My initials are hidden in one of the signs. 

Peel street Montreal orange, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4907a)

Concordia University has been in the news again for all the wrong reasons...they want to postpone the sabbatical for professors, which is a professional development year, and eliminate all the limited term appointment teachers. Even the pigeons were disgusted, they flew away from under the yellow trees at the downtown Campus. 

Pigeons under yellow trees, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4879b)

 

In my authoritative Curio Folio series, this museum has come up a few times, its called MARMALADE. Since you may not believe everything I write in the Curio Folio blogs, I decided to make a painting of it just for evidence that it exists, really.   

MARMALADE, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4908a)

Rustic scenes from Lachine canal

The old abandoned Maltage factory down by the Lachine canal is a boon for artists, including myself as a watercolour painter. It provides an endless supply of industrial motifs and no trespassing required! At the rear of the factory, there is a corrugated metal structure with a funnel, it must have been where the malt trucks would fill up back in the day. From the looks of it, a person would have worked up there. It must have got hot in the summer, being a metal box. As usual recently, I replaced the graffiti with my initials PJD25. When composing a scene like this, the small apartments at the bottom left are important for creating the sense of scale. I did a night scene here with the pink house on top with a similar compositional idea. 

Maltage corrugated structure, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025  (No. 4905b)

Next to the locks, there is a water chute that allows the Lachine canal to continue flowing. One of the better paintings from all of last year was a similar scene of the water cascading under bridge, although today I wanted to feature the wall more than the water. Someone made a painting of a pylon on the stone platform above the wall, I though that was funny. 

Water chute locks wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4906a)

The locks are very old, and for the most part they are slowly disintegrating. It makes for some interesting, rustic colours and textures to paint. I generally start a painting like this with a thin outline using a brush and dilute grey or brown paint. I fill in the main colour blocks, making sure to leave space for lighter elements, since there is no white paint you have to plan ahead. Then I apply layers of texture using various brush techniques, followed by more detail with the small number 2 brush to finish. You can see the JD CD construction company working on a new building in the background, while DYER left her mark on a billboard. PJD25 was at it again, putting his throw on the staircase. 

Locks rustic, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, November 2025 (No. 4904b)

Office tag blue yellow red

Due to the achromatic (pale beige) nature of my office, I made a special painting with maximum colour brightness to spice things up. Being on a graffiti kick, I used a graffiti-inspired design, with a bit of influence from Japanese woodblock print. The initials and date (PJD25) were made to look like they were applied with a stamp. Since spray-painting my name on the office wall probably would have got me in trouble, I opted for the st Armand paper that I acquired from the local paper makers down by the Lachine canal before they moved their business out of Montreal. I met the paper makers, an old couple who had been hand making paper for decades, and they sold me a couple of stacks of paper in various sizes. They start by recycling old rags and clothing, processing the paper fibers, and pressing them out on a giant press device that I saw in person. To do this painting, I used the colour splash technique with a large watery blob of blue (PB15) and scratched in lines with the pointy end of the brush. After a few days of drying I applied the numbers and lettering with pyrol vermilion (PR255), waited a day, then brushed on copious amounts of bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184). The colour scheme was inspired by an abstract painting I did in 2020 called Palette Cleanser #42. 

Office tag blue yellow red, watercolour 16 x 24" st Armande paper, November 2025