For my 600
th post I wanted to do something big, so here is preliminary work done this weekend down in Parc Angrignon at the metro Angrignon in Lasalle. Wanting a 'reboot' of sorts I decided to take on a project that I had in mind earlier this year, to do a painting of each metro station in the spirit of Hiroshige's series called "53 stations of tokaido" which depicted the many rest stops along the tokaido route beween Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto. Okay, the green line metro doesn't have the same mystique, but it will have to do! For the first painting I rode around the sprawling station on my bike surveying the landscape and building. I sensed contrasts... the lush foliage of the park with the stark concrete structures and apartments in the distance, the earthy colour contrasted with the oranges of the station, the hustle bustle of people in transit with the relaxation of a day at the park. Sitting in the shadow of a juniper tree I executed this painting with little planning- I just wanted to let the brush and the inspiration do the work. 7 x 10" cold press (new Arches block I started). watercolour, June 2020
To capture the contradiction theme I found another angle this time sitting in front of the main entrance under some trees in the humongous parking lot. The sky was turning nasty and rain was on the horizon. In this painting the station is kind of 'sandwiched' between the tumultuous sky/city-scape and the lush flora of the park. My new found knowledge of desaturated tones helped get the lilacs, the railing, and the various shades of green correct. I will make a post on that point shortly. I also adjusted the orange the best I could under the circumstances. 7 x 10" cold press, watercolour, June 2020
As the weather worsened I made a quick painting of the nearby pond which I will post shortly along with a discussion of desaturated tones. I made a separate blog for
day 2 on Angrignon location.
These were the first studies for 'The 27 stations of the green line metro, Montreal' series
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