Making these paintings has been a challenge all right, by the time I reach the end of the line (literally) there will have been up to 100 paintings and drawings. Beaudry is past the halfway point considering I started at Angrignon, it is about a 10 kilometer bike ride from where I live. The street is shut off to traffic which made things quieter but there were a lot of people milling about and going to and fro the station. Beaudry is reminiscent of the Berri-UQAM main station just on a smaller scale, and with the rainbow coloured pillars above the door. They symbolize the Gay Village, since this is right in the center of it, and for the time being they symbolize getting over the pandemic. Many people all over Montreal put rainbows in their windows to symbolize hope. 8 x10" cold press, watercolour, July 2020
There weren't many angles on the station due to narrow sidewalks and moderate pedestrian traffic on the road, as far as I know this is the only entrance to the station. I included the same construction pylon so you can see where I was standing on the two angles. I chose not to sit for these locations due to the people walking around...it took a bit of practice to get used to painting while standing up, the water was an issue but I found a way to tuck them in the back of my bike pack. Painting the rainbow pillars was a lot of fun, as you know I have redone my palette with new colours, and made good use of them here, in fact all the pillars use some new colours. They were red (pyrrole PR254), orange (benzimida PO36), yellow (benzimida yellow PY154 and PY184), phthalo green (PG7- ok, this is an old paint I had for decades!), blue (phthalo blue red shade PB15:0), and my favorite, purple (quinacridone purple PV55). 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, July 2020
Since there was only one structure with limited angles I just did two paintings, this sketch would have made a good painting but there was only a narrow sidewalk and I wasn't keen on doing another port-o-let painting! There was a sunflower growing in a potting area of the sidewalk. Montreal has these garden openings in the sidewalks all over the city. When I was riding to this location I was feeling crummy, so I asked for the spirit of Van Gogh to be with me. When I arrived and saw the sun flower I knew it was meant to be. 8 x 11" sketchbook, pencil, July 2020
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