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

Between working and rainstorms I managed to squeeze in a couple of more metro stations this week. When I arrived at Langelier station it had been raining the whole bike ride and then got worse when I arrived. Luckily I had scouted out a great location in a tiny grassy area with trees where there was a view of all three of the entrances which are on totally different corners! You can count all three of the navy blue metro signs in the painting. I tucked myself under a leafy tree to keep the rain off the painting but it still created a mottled effect on certain areas which just serves to enhance the rain illusion. Hiroshige often composed prints with rain, he would show people running around chaotically trying to cover their heads, while ribbons of rain poured down on a diagonal. 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, July 2020

Other than slabs of boxy concrete, Langelier station is defined by large square, vertical outcroppings with empty circles cut in the middle. What a clever way to reduce weight on the structure while adding a creative touch to the architecture. It made for a challenging painting, at least the rain seemed to be passing over, I got one neat cloud in the painting, it floated behind the sign. 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, July 2020

Grey skies were obscuring an otherwise brilliant blue sky. Three quarters of this design are the clouds, there were many different overlapping layers and blending colours. I used many different techniques to create the stormy clouds including wet-in-wet, and dry-over-moist. Wet-in-wet is where you keep the first layer very wet, like the yellowish clouds, then you put in some fairly wet paint, like the blue of the sky. You see the result at the top. Dry-over-moist is a term I just invented, in this case you let the paint almost (but not quite) dry, then put a fairly dense mix onto it which creates a cotton like effect. Unfortunately these things can easily happen without wanting it, like in the last painting notice the blue metro sign mixes a bit with the metal frame.  8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, July 2020

Finally I made a sketch of the concrete shape, trying to capture the angles and shapes accurately. There was a person sitting checking their phone. During the sketch some staff came out for a smoke and sat on the garden box you see in the foreground. That's always kind of awkward, when someone wanders into the painting and probably wonders if they will be in it! 8 x 11" sketchbook, pencil, July 2020