The Bay facade and burger joint at night

Do you ever wonder where pigeons go to sleep? Some of them on the Bay sign apparently, they heard it was going out of business. It was a difficult painting to do at night, I composed the half-circle up and to the right, with the bottom of the painting showing some of the entrance and show windows. Getting the Bay to be somewhat legible seems to have worked out, and you can see the pigeons roosting on top.  

Pigeons on the Bay sign, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4606)

From the colours and fonts you might have guessed this was a Burger King, but tonight it was PJD burgers! It was closed by now, so other than pedestrians around on the sidewalk there was nobody inside the building. I included a tiny sliver of sky and a building up on the top left to give the sense of night time. I also used shadowing on the sidewalk to convey a sense of darkness, with interior light shining outwards. 

PJD Burgers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4607)

All along the side of the bay is this illuminated overhang, with the full name of the store in yellow font. It said the Hudon's Bay Company in French, but I just abstracted the lettering to give a fell of the colour and contrast. I packed a lot of detail into these night paintings, and of course made a right mess of my palette. A lot of people saw me painting tonight, they all looked with curiosity, what is this guy doing standing next to his bike hunched over a small piece of paper with a brush and palette? 

The Bay overhang, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4608) 

Night paintings along Maisonneuve bike path

Some people might recognize this lamp and pond, its in Westmount park just east of NDG along the Maisonneuve bike path. It was pretty dark by now, but I had the head lamp, and there were a few other lamps nearby providing some light. When painting at night, its important to stay safe by knowing the neighborhood and keeping to well lit public places. The only threat here were the mosquitos but I wore long sleeves, long socks, pants and had bug spray on. A few tried to get me to no avail. 

Lamp reflection in pond, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4600)

There was a noodle shop on Maisonneuve street with bright lights that I could stand by and paint this scene, looking east. At night in the city there are multiple light sources such as street lamps, car headlights, illuminated signs, and interior lights shining through windows. Really bright lights like the overhead lamp have an aura around them too. There was no moon visible tonight,so the sky was an inky purple that I made with the good old combo of pyrol orange (PO73) and indo blue (PB60). . 

Street lamp and cars, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4601)

Standing in the same spot but looking across the street, there was a view of the Guy Concordia metro with the blue arrow sign, and many illuminated windows all around. And I got a few bins in the scene too. These paintings look desolate because I edited all the people out tonight, there were in fact quite a few people crowding the sidewalks, although not many cars which was nice. It cooled off slightly but not enough to be comfortable.  

Guy Concordia night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4602)

Stinkin' hot day, another reflection

Finding a spot to paint in the shade during lunch hour was not easy, I found a location that was nearly perfect at the corner of Grand Blvd and Maisonneuve next to the bike path. These yellow flowers were in shadow, and formed an interesting silhouette against the brightly-lit asphalt of the road. Getting the yellow shade correct took a bit of fiddling, I used various mixtures of bismuth yellow (PY184) yellow ochre (PY43) and some orange (PO62) and green (PG36). Making dark yellow is tricky, it can lean to the orange or greenish hue depending on the mix.

Yellow flower silhouette, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4597)

It was so hot and muggy that the paint on my palette was turning soft and gloopy. It made for quite an interesting mess to control! Its the opposite to the problem I have in the winter, when the paints turn hard and brittle making it difficult to get colour on the brush. The scene was done on the exact same spot as the previous painting but looking east. The bike path is tucked in between the road and the foliage, it created a good triangle for the composition. 

Bike path parked cars, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4598)

Getting back to the PERFORM Centre, aka work, I parked my bike in the shade of the adjacent building, and saw this neat reflection in the glass front of the Centre. The glass has enormous laser-etchings of people making various physical motions, its a type of glass mural meant to convey the sense of human performance. To paint the scene I established the perspective of the building with an outline, filled in the reflected trees and sky, put in the glass support struts, then painted the figures over top. Finally I added a few interior lines to signify the blinds in the windows and a bit of the internal detail. The glass had a strong green-blue tint which I made with a mix of green viridian hue (PG7) indo blue (PB60) and diluted carbon black (PBk6).

Perform Centre reflection, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4599)

Blue-violet butterflies in the city

After painting the pastel skies and haze around the Montreal skyline, I was going to leave the area... its the narrow ridge behind the hospital that gives incredible views of the city... when I noticed all these little blue-violet butterflies fluttering in among the wild flowers. It was a tough painting to do, the kind you have to hang in there and finish. The background is a cropped version of the Montreal skyline with a prominent traffic information sign over the highway (with my initials of course). The foreground was the center of attention... I painted the pale blue-violet butterflies first with a dilute mix of sapphire blue (PB15) and magenta (PR122), then dabbed in the basic shapes of the coloured-flowers including pink, white, warm yellow, and cool yellow. Each type of flower had a different shape, texture and background foliage. Using a pointillism technique I daubed in the surrounding foliage making sure to leave a few small specks of white, then applied stem and leaf textures. The sooty, charcoal greys and hard lines of the highway and city contrasted nicely with the soft and colourful flowers, foliage and butterflies. 

Blue-violet butterflies in the city, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4703)

Pastel sky, hazy Montreal

With lingering forest fire smoke, Montreal was enveloped in a layer of haze that created pastel colours in the sky. Using raw sienna (PBr7, Daniel Smith) I created the warm and cool greys in the background, and dilute pyrol orange (PO73) gave the eerie orange glow on the horizon. The rest of the painting was done with a gradient of hue saturation... that is, greyish in the middle ground, then brighter colours and more contrast towards the foreground. In doing so, the illusion of amber haze is created.

Pastel forest fire sky, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4593b)

Waking up really early to beat the heat and potential rain, I got these scenes of Montreal enveloped in a thick haze. Yesterday the air smelled of a campfire, I checked the forest fire map and there was a large fire in Moosonee that seems to have dissipated today. This view features a large billboard with my custom message (Peter is here, Montreal), a pastel sky and background, with the highway in the foreground. Making the yellow bright in the foreground created the sense of depth, and gave an odd fluorescent atmosphere to the painting. 

Billboard and haze highway, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4595)

As I wrote in a previous blog, the cause of these fires is global warming due to fossil fuel burning. All around, I heard cars roaring by on the highway, burning fossil fuels of course. Its all cause and effect... heat from the city causes fires in the back 40 (north) like in Moosonee for example, then the smoke blows back on the city. Painting smokey haze and oddly coloured skies is a skillset I never wanted to have, but as an artist, part of the job is to reflect the landscape as it is. (I also do ridiculous abstract paintings too.. so its not all business all the time!). 

Mount royal and foliage, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4596)

Sunset on Lachine canal and night scenes

These kinds of paintings will always be reminiscent of Claude Monet's famous painting, "Impression, Sunrise" which was the beginnings of the term impressionism. Here, I depicted the sun setting on the Lachine canal, it was a fiery tangerine orb against a neutral lilac background. In fact, the sun was long gone when I got around to filling in the orange colour, which was done using a mix of pyrol orange (PO73) and orange (PO62). I call that mix 'Montreal orange' because it looks just like a pylon or construction sign, and apparently makes the idea orange for a setting sun a la Monet. 

Sunset on Lachine canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4592)

 

The food festival commenced this weekend, its held annually at the Peel basin on the old loading pier. In the background of course, you see the Farine Five Roses factory, actually Canada Maltage but the sign is still there, protected as a heritage feature. There were three parts to this painting, the top part with the purplish sky and building with illuminated sign and windows, the middle part with the tents and yellow-lit people, and the bottom segment which reflected the scene. It was especially tough since I forgot to bring the headlight, so by the time I finished the painting it was near dark with just a weak amber street light on, so I had no idea what it would look like until now. I got the contrasts really good, which was the main challenge. Speaking of another famous artist, I had Van Gogh's "Café Terrace at Night" in mind for this one, he painted people in front of a cafe at night bathed in yellow light. 

Peel basin night party, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4593a)

 

On the way back I was hot and exhausted, but then there was a perfect spot to stop and paint the facade of the Bay building downtown. A nearby storefront had such bright lights that I was completely illuminated and could see what I was doing. Meanwhile across the street in the square there was some kind of south American dance party going on, I've seen it before they play music, probably Colombian or Venezuelan, and do Latin American dancing in large groups. It felt like I was in a different country for a little while. I kind of botched the painting, but its such a good spot I would go back next time, probably with a bigger piece of paper. And maybe I'll work on my Latin dance moves too!  

The Bay facade night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4594)

Setting sun at train crossing

While painting the setting sun down near the train tracks in ville st Henri, a VIA train went by from west to east. Memorizing its shapes and details I replicated an impression of the train on location, which had green reflections in the windows and some pink colour from the sky. In the background is the flamingo-pink sunset with the elevated highway and train control lights hovering above everything. 

Sunset VIA train, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4589)

At the back of one of the buildings there was a large undulating air duct reflecting orange light from the sun. This contrasted nicely against the brick red which I made with a mix of burnt sienna (PR101) and pyrol red (PR254). When bricks are illuminated by red light they become very intense, like burning embers. 

Air duct sun set, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4590)

Before the sun fully descended I did this painting of the tracks with one of the structures next to an exchange. The painting doesn't show it, but the track has a fork here, and that box is connected to a track shifter that would send the train one way or another. It reminded me a lot of my Dad's train set he built, it also has track junctions that are controlled by an electronic switchboard. 

Tracks and switcher, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2025 (No. 4591)