Assomption Station, Green Line Metro, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve

After finishing up at Viau station, I headed out to Assomption station which is on the east side of the Olympic Stadium park on a nondescript street. It was one of the smallest stations yet, a single structure in the middle of a light industrial commercial area and large parking lot. There was a great place to sit across the street with some tree coverage and good sight lines. The metro sign is near the exact center of the design, so I had to include a lot of detail in the background elements to balance it out. There is no real foreground or background in a design like this, so the details and the architecture are more important.

8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, July 2020

From the same spot, I did a second painting, featuring the blue pine tree, and the red fire hydrant and mail box. If you put this together with the first painting you get a full panorama of the station. I really enjoyed creating the abstract arrangement of the triangular window with the two red elements. There were some people standing and sitting, waiting for the bus, but I left them out as usual. Occasionally, I have included people in the paintings if it is feasible. 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, July 2020

Circling around the back I found a great combination of colours with a maroon tree, warm concrete, orange dividers, and a cyan sign on the wall. There was also a bit of interlocking brick at the base of the wall which was a Venetian red with purplish shadows but I ran out of space on this small painting. Around me was a huge one acre parking lot completely empty. When I finished I rode my bike around it a few times just to feel some freedom. 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, July 2020

The location in the back of the station was not particularly interesting, but it was a great place to sit, with some shade and no people around, so I made a sketch of the scene. Initially I wasn't going to do a painting but as I did this sketch I became more and more convinced that it would make a good painting. There were actually two trees and 4 or 5 of the orange dividers, they were all tilted on different angles. 8 x11" sketchbook, pencil, July 2020