Twisty Pine Trees in Little Burgundy

These twisty pine trees were in Vinet Park, Little Burgundy just around the hip hop stage. They reminded me a lot of Tom Thompson's Jack Pine, and so I wanted to make a special effort here to capture the vibe, but with an urban twist. For all I know these may actually be Jack Pines, at least they capture the same spirit. To paint the twisty trees I focused on the various colours and values of the bark first, then applied the green needle foliage using olive tones. The bark varied from a dark orange to a dull red, with purplish and black tones throughout. In places the bark was almost yellow. The foreground shows some of the community planters with what appeared to be small red fruit or flowers. In the background, a dense urban environment backlit and pale grey. If I can't get out to Algonquin park or Lake Superior like the group of seven did, then at least on this day Little Burgundy was a suitable substitute.

Twisty Pine Trees in Little Burgundy, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3897)

Street scenes from Little Burgundy

 Notre Dame street runs all the way from st Henri through Little Burgundy and into Old Montreal. Here is a typical view of the shops and facades in Little Burgundy. There were a lot of trendy looking restaurants and antique stores along the way, and one even had a lineup of young people waiting to get in for brunch. A painting like this is more of a drawing, I outlined most of it with black paint before filling in the colours. The tree was over painted using dark yellow, green and brown.

View down Notre Dame, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3949)

 

I guess a plaster and stone house is better than a plastered and stoned house? I don't know but this one had both, plaster on the top and old looking stone work on the bottom. Off in the distance was Mount Royal and a view of the General Hospital.

Plaster and stone house, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3950)

 

An art wall really brightened up the location, it even had some great figure drawings that I omitted from the painting. In the foreground there were magenta 'bee bombs' and yellow brown eyed Susans. There were also white flowers but I omitted them too. Soaring skyscraper condos are slowly dominating the skyline, you see one of the new ones in the top right. I left it deliberately black and white to contrast against the rest of the colourful scene.

Colourful wall and flowers, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3951a)

Littel Burgundy, Vinet park

 

Little Burgundy is a small working class neighborhood sandwiched between st. Henri, Verdun, and the downtown core. This weekend there was a free, two day hip hop festival featuring a famous artist from the Wu Tang clan called Ghostface Killah. When I arrived this afternoon things were rather quiet and I did not catch a glimpse of any famous people, but I did make a painting of the main stage seen at a distance. The composition worked out surprisingly well, just missing the fans and the musicians! It was a lull in the action as people were setting up for the evenings' festivities.

Vinet Park hip hop stage, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3948b)

 

Several colourful picnic tables were strewn about, similar to what I had seen in park Agrignon. This time I arranged the picnic tables more or less as they were in real life, and copied the colours. Doing this painting was a real palette management challenge, almost every colour was used. In the background there is a large A frame shed that looks to be a hundred years old or more, it has that old fashioned stone masonry wall.

 Vinet Park colourful picnic tables, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3899)

 

 

 

 

Views around the McAuslan Brewery

The pink house is part of an old grain/malt factory that some artists painted pink and green. Embracing the goopy paint consistency, I applied thick layers of blue, rust, pink and greens. The idea was to just let the paint do its thing. Since I am back to the Arches cold press, nearly done with the Strathmore, I can pull off the watery effects better. 

Pink house dramatic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3947a)

 

Just across the street from the McAuslan brewery there is a functional apple orchard, surrounded in a tall fence. I've always wanted to paint an apple orchard and this was my chance, right here in Montreal. The painting is on the back of the McAuslan painting I did a few months ago, its the Strathmore paper. The Strathmore paper was very light and held the layers okay, but I am glad to be done with it. The best part about the Strathmore paper was how thin it was, it takes up a lot less space than the conventional Arches paper which is about twice as thick.

Apple orchard st Henri, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3865b)

 

I would have preferred to ride around to the front and paint the facade, but the heat and humidity was getting to be quite stifling so I just made a quick painting of the back of the brewery. You see a truck trailer, and some of the big maltage silos with a tall loading device. Behind the black wall of the building, would be the giant copper fermenting vats. Tucked away on the left is a small depiction of one of the red awnings, there were a lot of people there drinking beer and I could hear them and some music from all the way back here!

Back of McAuslan brewery, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3948a)

River sailboats and lighthouse

 

Taking a cooler route today along the bike path going west along the shore line, I made a few paintings in the nice breeze. The sailors were also out taking advantage of favorable conditions. It was very hot and humid today, the paint was nearly the consistency of honey making the palette a bit of a goopy mess! The river colour is indo blue (PB60) with a dab of green (PG36) and yellow paint (PY97) to neutralize it.

Sailboat on st Lawrence river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3943)

 

This was the first one I made on the trip, you can see the pigmentation was heavier due to the paint consistency. Its the opposite problem that I have in the winter when its 15 below, the paint is rock hard. I made some adjustments based on this painting, although I kind of like the result, it looks very 19th century.

Sailboats on st Lawrence river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3944a)

 

Here is a classic view of the lighthouse near Lachine, it was completely surrounded in construction, I guess they are going to lay down interlocking bricks and asphalt. Nature has no place in Montreal! Its actually amazing how much concrete there is around here, the little harbor is surrounded in great slabs and mounds of the stuff. This kind of painting would be a good practice piece for anyone trying to learn watercolour. It's not that difficult, but does contain a wide variety of tricks. Maybe if I get into writing books one day I can do an instruction one. 

Lighthouse near Lachine, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3945)

Touristy scene from Old Port Montreal

If I was a professional artist I would drop by this location every day and make a painting. You get a good view of the iconic clock tower and Cartier bridge in the distance, with the st Lawrence river whooshing by. In this effort, I included the walkway and curved reflecting pool they fill up in the summer. It connects to the artificial islands off to the left, you can't see them in the painting, but it looks a little like Venice.
To paint this touristy scene, I did the sky first, leaving the shape of the clock tower blank. As it dried I worked up the details of the foreground and quickly applied the water with a few decisive brush strokes. When the sky dried I could overlay the bridge, done quickly and without hesitation, then complete the rest of the scene with greens and darks. You could fuss over a scene like this for hours with pencils and preliminary work, its a hard scene to get right, but on this day I wanted to catch the breezy energy of the scene. Its a good location and I will probably go back there next time I am around. 

Touristy scene old port, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3896)

A few Scenes from Old Port, hot and muggy day

Taking a little detour after work I rode down to the old port on a hot and muggy day. At the end of one of the big piers, you can see the industrial area along the harbour, including some grain silos and loading docks. The green thing top right is the off loading tower for when the big cruise ships dock. Its a simple colour scheme, blue, brown, and rust. When painting industrial areas I try to use a more textured approach.

Old Port Harbour view, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3894a)

These tracks carry some kind of small tourist train across the old port. In the old days it was probably used for shipping and receiving goods from the port, and transporting malt to the brewery. Cartier bridge hangs in the hazy distance.

Cartier Bridge with Tracks take 2, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3944a)

Cirque du Soleil usually debuts new shows in Montreal's old port before touring the world. This show is called Kurios, a funny made up word, it signifies a 19th century steam-punk, cabinet of curiosity vibe. I could hear the music playing and people cheering. To paint the tent, I actually painted around the shape of the tent, and then added a thin shadow, with the decorative detailing. The people were sketched in with a red outline, and then detailed with random colours and patterns that I saw in the crowd.

Cirque du Soleil Kurios, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3946)