Counting on Colours

 This painting served two purposes, one, it was a good way to clean my palette after a very grey-and-brown day of painting. Second, the painting I did today were overwhelmingly grey and brown! Save for a red guard rail here, and a pop of blue in the sky over there, there were very few colours today and I felt like painting something light and bright. Luckily the forecast calls for a blue sky on Sunday and Monday, and some of the foliage and grass is starting to turn a tiny bit green.

Counting on Colours, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, April 2022 (No. 2990b)

PJD goes to PJD

 

Park Jean-Drapeau was created from landfill for EXPO67, it sits under the Cartier bridge and hold the amusement park, a concert venue, and winding paths through trees. Throughout the park you can see PJD stamped on the surface of concrete dividers, picnic benches, bins and other objects which of course denotes the initials of the park. It also happens to be my initials which I put on every painting, so I could have done a painting here and have PJD in it. This scene was a real challenger, usually on a painting trip I try to do something easy to start off with, but this was maximum. I started with the sky then worked on the grass, the structure inside the dome, the tree, the steel framed dome, then the details. It seemed to work our reasonably well.

Tree and Dome, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2991a)

 

The overcast sky was casting a grey shade onto the river, with various highlights. If you look at the shore, there is the famous apartment complex called Habitat 67, like a giant pile of brown lego blocks with windows. There were more colours in the river when I was painting it,but it dried near exact grey. I will have to exaggerate the blue next time, indothrene tends to loose a lot of its chroma and value when it dries. 

 City Skyline, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2992a)

 

I really just wanted to paint this rusty bridge to try the colours. The green was mostly just perylene green (PBk31) with a touch of yellow, then the rust layers in while moist, included yellow ochre (PY43), red brown (PR101/ PBr7), and raw umber (PBr7).

 Rust Bridge, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2993a)

 

In an empty overflow parking lot next to Park La Ronde, there were these massive heaps of wood chips. In the background you see the Cartier bridge with one of the pale yellow structures that holds up the off ramps. To make the texture on the wood chip piles I used the hog's hair brush normally reserved for cleaning my palette, it gives a great stippling effect. There were still a few puddles from the earlier rain. I quite like this painting.

Wood Chip Piles, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2994)

 

There is a race track on the island used for the annual car race, in the meantime it is open to cyclists, walkers and rollerbladers.  A lot of the cyclists were wearing Lycra and riding track bikes, they would whip around usually in groups of two or three. I found a strip of grass with an interesting view of the overpass bridge which is an off-ramp from Victoria bridge. I painted in the cyclists last with just a few expressive lines and colours. After I did the painting, I hopped on my bike and did a lap!

Bikes Under Bridge, Park Jean-Drapeau, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2995)

 

On my way back I noticed that a new bike path extended beyond the hospital along the auto-route and under the turcot west interchange that I painted the other day. At the very top left of the painting is the fancy white bridge, and probably near the exact spot I was standing for the previous painting. I liked the interplay of all the angles, they create a visual puzzle. The bike path and sidewalk are set back from the road, so they did a great job with it. I was worried that this painting would turn out drab and muddy, but now that I see the scan it seems to cover the abundance of grey neutrals and still remain lively.

Under the Underpass, Turcot West, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3091a)

 

 

Views from St-Jacques Escarpment

 

At the southern edge of NDG you find the St. Jacques Escarpment which is visible on your left from the main highway when driving into the city. These paintings were done from atop the escarpment which is easily accessible due to a prominent road called St.-Jacques street. Midway along the street is a small park  with some good views of the downtown. Here, I painted the view looking east towards the city. The old house in the background is one of the focal points, along with the tree, park bench, and interlocking brick visible to the bottom right.

Park St.-Jacques Escarpment, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3090)

 

The old house has a Victorian style roof and windows on the side, although the front has a modern brick facade. It had an eerie vibe, magnified by the leafless tree and ominous sky. You can see a piece of the highway in the background.

Old House on St-Jacques Street, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3004a)

 

Continuing along the street you come upon the new St.-Jacques Bridge, gee, you think they would be a little more creative when naming things around here! A few weeks ago I made a painting from this position looking towards the bridge. This time I turned southwards and painted the spaghetti of highways that makes up the massive A15 (Decarie) and highway A20 (downtown) interchange. When I compared the painting to the real scene it was surprisingly accurate. The focal point is the old industrial area in Ville St.-Henri where you see the pink houses sitting high a top a dilapidated factory. The pink house are an art installation that have become something of a landmark here in Montreal. They are visible from the canal bike path, right next to the Atwater brewery and patio where I did a painting trip back in 2020.

View of Pink Houses from Escarpment, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3003)

Surfing Hippos

 

The initial sketches I made for the Gabon painting were a little wild. Here is a painting of the scene, some hippos are having fun on the beach splashing in the waves. The actual landscape element was a chocolaty brown river flowing into the turquoise sea which is suggested up to the right. But I found the idea of surfing hippos to be very amusing.

World Inspired Landscapes: Gabon, Surfing Hippos, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, April 2022 (No.3009a)

World Inspired Landscapes: Gabon

Gabon is a prosperous little country in West Africa located along the jungle basin. Most of the economy is driven by oil and gas with abundant trees and other natural resources. A few decades ago the government decided to invest in nature reserves to conserve the animals and to attract tourists. It worked well, and Gabon is a popular destination for eco tourists who want to see gorillas in the wild or walk across the jungle canopy on rope bridges. It is good to know that some countries can find ways to conserve their nature without exploiting it too much. One thing that struck me while researching Gabon is the hippopotami seem to enjoy hanging out at the beach, and even body surfing in the waves. I couldn't believe it but there are enough pictures of it, just google surfing hippopotamus and you are probably looking at Gabon. They also have bat caves with crocodiles that live there, eating bats and turning orange due to the chemical reactions with the guano. Wonders of the world. 

The coast of Gabon is a very long stretch of white sand beach, with a fresh water river emptying into the salt water ocean. The river water is a dark coffee brown due to sediment, so when it mixes with the ocean it created some interesting colours with the turquoise water. In the painting, the dark river water mixes with the ocean, which also reflects the sky and trees. At first the composition appears to be a complete abstraction until you notice the hippopotami lurking, waiting to catch a good wave.

World Inspired Landscapes: Gabon version 2, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2998b)

Signs of Spring, Squirrels

 On the way to pick up the Lufa Farms groceries I made a quick painting at Trenholme park. The squirrels would not sit still for a second so it was a challenge to get them right in the painting. In the background at the left you see the back side of the Lufa Farms delivery truck. You just pick up your 'basket' which is a grey plastic box with folding lid, and then transfer your stuff into a bag to bring home. The painting doesn't have too much colour in it because of the weather conditions, and because I am using up the last of the paint on my winter palette so that I can give it a good cleaning. The plastic palette gets stained with the pigments especially the phthalo blue and quinacridone magenta, which can be removed by scrubbing with a scouring powder like Vim.

Squirrels and Trees, Trenholme Park, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, April  2022 (No. 2998a)

Ride to Ville St. Henri, hail storm

 

The trip started off well enough, it was partly cloudy with some ominous looking clouds off in the distance. This scene is at the beginning of the new bike path that heads straight down from behind the new hospital to Ville St. Henri, although here I am looking west back towards NDG. I made a similar painting but from the opposite side a few weeks ago.

New growth, St. Jacques Bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3083)

 

You would think with a scene like this I would have turned back and headed home. I almost did, but the wind seemed to be blowing strongly from Northwest to southeast so that storm should have passed by (spoiler: it didn't pass by). To get the sky I used indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange (PO73) with some yellow ochre (PY43). Unfortunately I added some carbon black (PBk6) and it dried flat and dull, next time I will skip the carbon black and add burnt sienna perhaps. I like the billboard in the middle right, it seems to glow because the sky behind me was still a mostly blue sky.

Dark Sky, City Skyline, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3084)

 

By now little hail pellets were coming down making it very uncomfortable for me, and also disturbing the painting. You can see little dots on the painting. The yellow ochre building in the center is the fire hall building although I think it is a shopping center or market now. Hidden off to the right is the front of the metro station and a large sidewalk in front. It had been quite some time since I painted the metro sign, brought back some good memories. There are a few stations I plan to revisit this year that were under construction, or in some cases the location had more to offer.

Place St. Henri Station, hail storm, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3002)

 

I made it as far as Atwater market when the hail started to pick up. This scene was too tempting to pass up, the backlit sky had an inky black cloud hanging low, and the light was reflecting off the old train tracks. The buildings off in the distance are old factories along Atwater street that were converted into luxury condos. If the people who used to work at those factories could somehow know what became of them, it would probably be unbelievable. There were a lot of people walking around with lattes and small dogs.

Canal and Old Train Track, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April  2022 (No. 3085a)