Montréal Est: Parks along the St. Lawrence

 

On day 1 of my bike ride to the East point I made several paintings at Parc Honoré-Mercier, then carried on along the Notre Dame bike path to the next park called Hotel de Ville (City Hall Park). The first thing I saw was this incredible blue pine tree with purple cones. In the background colourful buoys were in the St. Lawrence River. The bike path can be seen just behind the tree and before the shore line. Getting the colour and value right was tough, the tree was a smoky blue-green, while the river was a greenish dark blue colour. The purple pine cones were neat, you don't see that colour very often in nature. 

Parc hotel de Ville 1, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press June 2021 (No. 2705)

 

There was a prominent rocky point that descended to a large block of concrete, it seemed to be used for sitting or fishing. Some bicycle cops showed up and they were just taking a rest. I captured the image of one of their bikes at the top left, but added a saddle pack to make it look my bike. Some of the rocks had an iron-oxide colour to them, so I signed in burnt sienna an iron oxide paint.

Parc hotel de Ville 2, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2706)

 

The main feature of this park as the name indicates is a Moulin (Mill), although not a rouge one. It looked pretty old (Vieux) but well maintained it is probably a tourist attraction in better times. At least it attracted one tourist enough to make a painting of it. Van Gogh famously painted windmills in Paris when he first arrived. It is a difficult structure to get right, I began with a carbon black outline then filled in the colours. To get the brick effect I made a dilute yellow ochre (PY43) wash, then added grey (PB60+PR101 caput mortum) when it was still wet. Once that dries, the stones went on in groups, including grey, brown and black stones.

Parc de Vieux Moulin, Mill, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2707)

 

The next park was completely in shadow when I arrived due to the low sun. This boat was the same one that I saw from a distance in the Parc Honoré-Mercier paintings, and it was still illuminated by the setting sun. The white part of the ship is just the paper showing. To make it glow, I made the rest of the painting various shades of grey, so the white looks radiant by contrast. 

Parc Doris Lussier, Ship, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2708)

 

Just enough light for one more painting, I found another ship subject in the distance at the next park.  A sail boat was moored close to the shore between a narrow island with no name which acted as a breakwater. I made sure to get the sails right because my dad is a real expert on sailboats and could probably guess what kind it was from the painting. This painting concluded my first day of the trip, I headed up the hotel from here. In fact I had made 10 paintings on the first day which is not a bad haul. Glad I got out there safe and sound too.

Parc Neuville-sur-Vanne, Sailboat, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2709)

Community Artwork

Talking about equality and lack thereof, we noticed how our neighborhood is starkly different along community lines. Across Côte Saint-Luc road, the tall rows of brown brick triplexes gives way to sprawling single family dwellings surrounded by green grass lawns. This painting is one of contrasts, the dry lawn in the foreground compared to the watered green lawn in the background, and the single level bungalow house compared to high density triplex. The wind was fierce when I did this one, almost blew away my palette a few times. 

Community Line, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2722)

 

Back on Côte Saint-Luc road I found this impressive scene of apartment blocks each with its own character. The white truck in the foreground was a parked delivery truck, which I hoped would stay for longer but it drove away midway through the painting. To make a painting like this, I first do the outline and then fill in the details. The cars zipping by, I just had to go by brief impressions. I decided to make one of the cars red just because it is fun to use ferrari red paint (PR254... pyrole red).

Community Windows, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2722)

 

There is a community center at the corner of Walkley and Côte Saint-Luc road with little bits of grass and some fenced in green spots. The locals hang out here and the kids have a small patch of lawn to play on. An expensive jet black SUV was parked at the curb, its buffed door panels were reflecting the community center lawn. Its gleaming chrome and luxurious qualities contrasted the rusted iron fence with weeds and wildflowers growing. Yet the circular iron design mirrored the hubcap, and was in itself reflected in the car doors. This was one of those paintings that just came together, the concept, composition, and technique worked. Rendering the car was complex, the mirrored image was warped and had reduced value and chroma. The window and parts of the chrome, body and window were also reflecting the sky. The main message is the stark divide in wealth that can be seen if one takes a moment to notice it.

Community Reflection, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2021 (No. 2722)

Montréal Est: Parc Honoré-Mercier

The east part of Montreal is called Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles. There are plenty of hyphenated names out there, not to mention incredible parks along the Rivers and a large nature reserve. I spent a few days on the Point-aux-Trembles side which is next to the St. Lawrence River. My final destination was the very tip of the island, a small park called Parc du Bout-de-l'Île where the Praries River merges with the St. Lawrence River. This group of paintings was done at Parc Honoré-Mercier, a long narrow park where I made a few painting last year after completing the green line metro series. The colours of the river were surprisingly tropical: turquoise green and sapphire blue with flashes of caramel tones. As the clouds passed over, the river changed colours like a chameleon. The rest of the scene was dry and arid, we are in the midst of drought-like conditions. 

Parc Honoré-Mercier 1, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2700)

 

The next scene was looking downstream at the beginnings of the shipping port, you see a gigantic ship moored on the horizon. People were fishing up and down the St. Lawrence River. This part of the park had just been renovated so the landscaping was brand new. A seemingly angry group of red winged blackbirds were making noise and flitting about. At this angle, the river had more emerald tones.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 2, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2701)

 

I found a path leading down to the river side. It was a vast expanse of rocks and pebbles. This scene was overcast so I stood right out in the middle of the rocky beach, then the sun came out. Painting the chaotic rock patterns was a challenge. The famous ship was still there on the horizon.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 3, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2702)

 

Near the end of the park was a large fishing pier with a small crowd of people angling. The clouds were layered and variable, a mix of storm clouds and clear blue sky. This was a good place to sit and have a snack, my bike saddle packs were fully loaded for the trip. You see the colour of the water changed once again, when it was overcast the river appeared to be a flat blue. I  created the glowing sky with indo blue (PB60) and caput mortum (PR101), along with techniques such as lifting, wet-in-wet, and dry brush. It took the whole 'tool box' to paint a complex sky like this.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 4, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2703)

 

Five paintings seemed like a nice round number to complete (hey I was being an artist not a mathematician). The grass in the park was dry as dust, I used yellow ochre (PY43) with a touch of indo blue and some green (PG36). In the background the pine trees were almost orange, while the foreground landscaping provided some colour accents. For most of the painting on this trip I established an outline with dilute carbon black, in this one the outline was really helpful due to the complex perspective and geometry. Maybe a little science did come into play.

Parc Honoré-Mercier 5, cold press 5 x 7", watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2704)

To get to Parc Honoré-Mercier I rode my bike East along the familiar Maisonneuve bike path which goes through NDG and across downtown Montreal. From there I veered right onto the Notre-Dame 'bike path' which oft consists of a sidewalk marked with bike path symbols. It takes you East all the way past the shipping port and into Montreal East. Good thing I wore the earplugs there were a lot of trucks going to and fro the port. On day one of the trip I rode about 28 km and made 10 paintings.

End of the Island: East

On the road, out in East Montreal I made it to the end of the boot...that is the shape of the island and a small park called Parc du bout de-l'ile. That is where I took the picture of a painting I made earlier this morning. You see my fully loaded saddle pack. 

Parc Marcel Leger with Maison Antoine Beaudry, 5 x 7" cold press watercolour, June 2021

 

Here is a selfie of me taken along the way.

And my trusty bike. The shore you see across the water is off the island. 

 

And here is a photo...not a painting, of some beautiful flowers growing in the Parc nature point aux praires. I actually did make a painting here, and will start posting them when I get back. There seem to be about 20 plus paintings from the trip so far. Tomorrow I take my bike home on tired legs!

Symphony of Brown No. 1

 

The other day I was riding my bike down the Maisonneuve path and I saw the most incredible array of browns- the siding of a condo, a fence, a garage, trees, there were a dozen different shades. I've been meaning to paint the scene but haven't had the chance to do it yet. Today on a short walk to get fresh air, I brought along the new earth max palette with no less than 15 shades of brown and some other colours for accents. It was great fun to employ a full battery of iron oxides and limonites on this quaint urban scene. It was done in a nearby park where I have painted before, primarily chosen due to the symphony of browns. Umber for the left, burnt sienna for the middle, and red iron oxide for the right condos. Raw umber natural for the fence, burnt umber for the bench, and umber with indo blue for the tree trunks and cars. Even the cloud shadow had caput mortum a violet iron oxide with indo blue.

Symphony of Brown No. 1, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2682a)

 Tomorrow I will be off on a bike trip to the east 'boot of the island' park, there are bike paths almost the entire route. I don't know if I can do social media but will certainly try, it worked okay from Sutton last year. I return on Friday. If all goes well I plan a similar bike trip to the west shores of the island early next week to conclude this brief vacation. Should be good to stretch the legs and get a few nice painting done.

Mystic Sidewalk

 After several paintings this weekend it was time for some palette cleaning. The four colours I use to make greens include phthalo green yellow shade (PG36), perylene green (PBk31), lemon yellow (PY175), and benzi orange (PO62). In fact, what we see as green is mostly dark yellow, which explains why I went through so much yellow paint in my years of painting. In the painting, yellow and orange are laid bare, against a backdrop of muted greys and slate green. A whimsical interlocking brick path invites the eye into the distance. A giant chicken roams the horizon looking for somewhere to lay more condos.  The new palette setup has been working great so far, after some tweaking I think it is all right for the summer. 

Mystic Sidewalk, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2683b)

Sunday Painting Trip: Little Burgundy

Little Burgundy is a developing neighborhood just southwest of downtown Montreal. I stopped at Jazzmen park because it was literally the center of Little Burgundy according to google maps, it is a small park with an area for jazz bands to play. The rest of the park is composed of comfortable looking recliners and towering pine trees. The ground was a carpet of pine needles, all dry as dust due to the ongoing drought. There was near complete silence here as I painted early in the morning. It really did feel like camping for a few moments, just missing the lake. 

Jazzmen Park, Little Burgundy, 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2685)

 

Continuing East by bike, I turned on Georges-Vanier Blvd north to get up to the metro station. There was a most spectacular view of the downtown core just over the crumbling Ville-Marie Blvd elevated highway 136. It took longer than usual to complete this painting my thumb was going to fall off by the time it was over! If you look closely, there is a Montréal Canadiens symbol on one of the skyscrapers, it is the condos that the organization built a few years ago. The tallest middle building is Place Ville-Marie. I made sure to get the full 'sweaty' concrete colour and texture, mostly with umber (PBr7) along with sienna (PR101) and some phthalo green (PG7).

City View along St. Antoine, 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2687)

 

The Georges-Vanier metro station was an impressive array of concrete structures. The highway was in the background with an underpass road (Rue st. Antoine and Fort street), and a tangle of trees and signs, one said 'detour'. Montreal is famous for its summer detour signs, most of them don't really go anywhere it just means 'get lost'. Kidding aside, the detours are actually better now, one can drive through Montreal without too much trouble. At least on my bicycle!

Orange Line Metro, Georges-Vanier Station, Signs, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, June 2021 (No. 2686)