Sun going down on the lachine canal

The colours around the Lachine canal picked up an interesting amber glow as the sun descended. Greys were warmer, yellows were slightly olive, and blues took on a neutral appearance. What makes the painting really work is the composition, with the lamp providing a strong anchor and depth. I actually just wanted to paint the sumac tree off to the right, and it really came together with the other elements including a busy overpass bridge. 

Canal overpass with lamp and sumac, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4022)

 

By now its a classic scene of the gantry train by the Lachine canal. You just can't go wrong painting this! There was a prominent tree right in the middle of the scene which I had planned to include, but the scene was nice enough as it was. You have to make quick decisions like that on the fly when painting on location.

 Gantry crane sun down, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4023a)

 

Its the first thing you see when taking the 'new' route over the highway and reach the canal which explains why I have painted this billboard and bridge so many times. Especially in the winter, the path is difficult to ride on and I stick to this particular spot. But today I felt like painting the canal so here it is! When painting concrete, its important to notice that the value is quite high, that is light, its like a pale neutral beige almost. The sky on the other hand is about a medium value.

Canal overpass with billboard, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4024a)

 

Part of the massive Turcot project was to improve the st Jacques access from the highway. The cars at the top of the painting would be coming from downtown Montreal, driving west, over top of the trains, and heading up to NDG via st Jacques. What appealed to me about this scene, besides the train tracks was the abundant foliage that they planted on the embankment, which included blue pine trees. As usual I replaced the graffiti with my initials PJD24 using the style that was there in real life just different letter. Its kind of fun copying the graffiti art, some of it is pretty good.

On ramp and train track, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4024a)

 

I wrote about making quick decisions on the fly and in this case it did not work out as well as I had hoped. The plan was to frame the sumac tree and canal scene with the top of the bridge and foreground shadows. When I saw how nice the canal, tree and gantry was looking, the bridge element on top just seemed unnecessary. I pulled off this type of composition successfully when painting Molson Brewery under Cartier bridge, but in the Molson painting I had the bridge much higher, and showed one of the bridge supports to tell the visual story more accurately. At any rate, I would surely like to go back to this general area to make more paintings.

Nice view under overpass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4023b)

 

 

 

 

Night burger, sunset power station Verdun

 After painting around the canal I headed down to Verdun for some excellent Tandoori chicken on Wellington street, then made a quick painting of the burger joint across the street. The scene reminded me a bit of Hopper's Night Hawks painting, so I called it Night burger. Most of the painting is done with carbon black and burnt umber with indo blue, and yellow, red and blue accents.

Night burger, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4028a)

For some reason the Verdun power station is a regular backdrop for spectacular atmospheric effects like the moon and sunsets like you see here. To paint this scene the sunset is applied first, then the dark elements are painted over top when dry. Its quite dramatic with all the contrast and unusual details. 

Sunset power station, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4028a)

Detour after work, sunny day

The city recently completed a new entrance for the trains, its the tall glass structure with the sloping roof. The train was going by every 5 or 6 minutes due to it being rush hour and luckily I had the earplugs with me. Well its not luck I always bring them. To paint the glass tint, PG7 is the way to go, its a great phthalo green blue shade, a paint I have been using for over 30 years. In fact I have been painting for about 35 years now, 1989 onwards, but at first I had chromium viridian (PG18) a similar shade of green but more subtle. 

New train station, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4019a)

 

Painting the commuter train required several passes, I finally got the pattern more or less right. Completing the scene are a few figures painted over top, by the number of backpacks they must have been students. Today was the second  day of classes at the University. I made the metallic greys with dilute black (PBk6) and blue (PB15). Watercolour painters sometimes give advice to avoid black paint but I find it indispensable although it can be overused in a painting. Without black you have to mix bright colours like magenta and green which mess them up on the palette. There are also convenience greys, which are mixes you can buy in a tube, but may as well use carbon black its a great pigment.

Waiting for commuter train, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4020a)

 

The barrier came down and I had to wait, but why waste time? I set up and made a painting of the complex train barrier and cop car in the background, the cop was just getting out and watching every time the train went by, nice gig. Foregrounding an object like this is a trick Hiroshige used a lot in his 19th century prints. The most famous was the one he did of a horse's ass with dung on the ground. Those Japanese illustrators had a good sense of humor.

Train barrier and cop car, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4020b)

On the way back I made this painting of the auto shop across the street, back lit. It had been awhile since I painted a picture of the auto shop so here it is. In the painting, the old red walls were recreated, even though now its a pale cadaverous grey. The cars are done real simple, black outline, blue wash leaving white highlight at top, green/black window, random colour for car paint, and the cherry red tail lights.

Auto shop back lit, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4021)

Final paintings of the "summer' ... almost

Technically summer season ends September 21st, but labour day marks the end of the practical summer for us working folks. Yes tomorrow the students are going to swarm the campus once more and professor D will be in front of the classroom droning on about pharmacology and physiology. SO lets talk about art. This painting is the classic Beaver Lake up on Mount Royal, although the complete lack of beavers makes it more of a pond encased in cement would be more accurate. There were fish and plants in it though. You cant go wrong with the composition here, the infinite curvature of the pond and abundant people give an almost musical composition. 

Pond curves (musical people), watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4018a)

 

You might think this was a leftover painting from PEI, but I paitned it today up in Beaver Lake, or concrete pond as I like to call it. The birds were some kind of heron-pelican looking sort, with one seagull hanging out. In the foreground, you can see down into the water where the bottom had a caramel colour and shards of light coming through the ripples, with tall water plants growing. The idea was to capture, the boats, the birds, and the sparkling transparent water along with the dock. A lot of people stopped to look.

Birds on dock in pond, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4017b)

On the way up I stopped to make this painting of Montreal through the trees, a scene I have eyed many times but never thought of a way to paint it. Today I started with the pale background scene of downtown Montreal, then over-painted the trees and foliage. If I try this again I would paint the trees and foliage first, then leave space for the downtown to show through.

Montreal through the trees v2, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4018b)

World of windows

Painting windows is never easy, and there sure were a lot of them in this scene of condos near the de la Savane metro station. I used numerous techniques to paint the windows. First, I outlined the buildings in greyish paint (PBk6 diluted), then filled each in with a different pastely colour including cyan, blue, violet, orange, yellow and green. In fact, the whole pastel rainbow is here. Then I added window shapes as squares, or as hash marks, or I painted the brick work as cross hatches which created the dark on light effect for example the building on the left. Once all that was established I added somewhat random details from the buildings to give enough variety. Rows of trees, and a cloudy sky provide the environmental atmosphere. I thought the painting would look chaotic and stressful, but now that I see it, it seems serene and gives a sense of community. The buildings are like good neighbors in a way. Its a hard painting pull off because of the subtle details and massive scale in real life.

World of windows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4017a)

 

Old and new structures

In the area around de la Savane metro, nestled between the Decarie expressway and autoroute 40, there was an old industrial/residential area that has been rapidly converted into massive condo developments. In among the towering skyscrapers, there is a stretch of road with an old fashioned auto shop. When I rode by, it was one of the scenes where I just slammed in the brakes, set up and started painting. On the left is a yellow oachre-brick and brown siding building with an emerald green awning adorned with gold lettering. On the right, a dilapidated plaster alley way covered in rusted pipes and tubes, with an old fashioned stone facade circa 1960's or 1970's. Its a wonder this isn't a condo development, but maybe its zoned industrial. I hope the city keeps spots like this, not for an artist's sake but it gives jobs and services to the community.

Old fashioned auto shop, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, September 2024 (No. 3906a)

 

This is the same building but viewed from the rear, where there is a medium sized soccer field in the foreground, and an array of new condos in the background. Seeing the old building sandwiched between these elements was kind of neat. Funny enough, there was hardly a person in sight anywhere despite the thousands of condo units everywhere.

Old and new buildings, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4015a)

 

Changing neighborhoods, this is the Mile End, you see the iconic rusty water tower on top of the disused factory. In the middle is the new garden they built next to the off ramp, and some sumac trees in the foreground. The sumac was done with a mix of greens, then over-painted with red (PR179 + PR109), using a flat brushstroke. That's where the brush is applied on its side, taking advantage of the fact that brushes are pointed you can make that shape pretty easily.

 Factory and sumac trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4015b)

 

Here is my interpretation of the unofficial iron sculpture park where one or more of the local artisans anonymously install these interesting works. Okay, I may have installed my initials too, if you look closely!

Iron sculpture park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4016a)

Labour day Monday paintings around Montreal

Taking advantage of the near complete absence of car traffic on labour day Monday I took a bike ride around Montreal with my trusty paint kit in the bike pack. Initially I thought about going up to the north shore but the ride is dreadful and there is not much there from an art standpoint. This neighborhood is in the middle of the island, near the end of Montreal, it has been intensely developed with condos. To paint the 13 story building on the left I painted out the skeleton in black paint (PBk6) then filled in the sky, worked on the bottom left fill elements, then painted the green wash over the building to represent window tint. Most of the composition is the sky, which was part of the plan here, it was an intense cloudy sky with a cold wind. 

Sky and apartment building, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4014a)

 

On the way I stopped to paint this KFC which was rebranded PJD in the painting! It was all manner of pink and coral colours, with a bone white facade. I heard a song called 'Pink Pony Club' by Chappell Roan the other day, I still dont really understand what the song was about, but this building reminded me of that. So pink pony club is a fried chicken restaurant, at least in Montreal.

KFC or PJD? watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4014a)

 

In mile end there is a long stretch of old factories that are now artist studios, antique stored and small galleries. This seems to be a studio/condo, the person who lives there showed up and walked in the front door as I painted from across the street. The window had iron sculpture on it, the front door had a painting, and the facade was painted in cyan, yellow, green, violet, red, and blue, half of which appears in the painting. The door said Nomad Life TV for some reason.

Nomad Life TV, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4013b)