Today was the final push to reach the summit. Like a mountain climber who does several practice runs to acclimatize to the altitude and gain strength, I have traveled back and forth to the city for almost 2 months on my bike to paint the 27 stations of the green line metro. I took the Maisonneuve bike path, riding past several of the stations that I already painted, now familiar sights, to arrive at Honoré-Beaugrand Station the green line terminus, 22 kilometers from home. It has no less than five structures including three 'skylights' and two entrances, as well as a bus terminal. This was the first painting. I could see through the narrow entrance to the other side. This painting was all about the concrete, like, 50 shades of concrete! To get the orange glow of the morning light I used a thin wash of isoindolone yellow (PY110) on top of the concrete which was mostly umber (PBr7) with indothrene blue (PB60). 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, August 2020
Having just one station to complete the series, I was able to spend more time on the paintings than some of the other stations where I was trying to squeeze a lot between work and bad weather. This painting was all about the drawing, all of the structures had to be precisely aligned to one another to get the right depth. Without too many angles it was not too hard. The concrete colour was a warm toasty yellow, I used my new goethite (PY43) and raw sienna (PBr7). The skylights on the left were a dark neutral turquoise, while the trees were a mix of benzimida yellow (PY154) and perylene green (PBk31). 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, August 2020
Moving across the street I found a good spot to sit under a tree. This is the same entrance as the first painting but on a severe angle. It looked good when I finished it, but now I see the perspective was a little off. I enjoyed capturing the two different magenta colours, one in the background apartment (quinacridone rose PV19, yellow ochre PY43, lamp black PBk6), and the burning bushes near the front (perylene maroon PR179, perylene green PBk31, touch of quinacridone rose PV19). 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, August 2020
Since this was the grand finale of the series I did a few extra paintings. Knowing it was all but over I felt a weight off my shoulders. This painting was done from the same location as the previous one, but looking north. I used some of my older brand of paper here, it is much smoother than the newer stuff I bough, I prefer the smoother finish because the sky looks more realistic, and the lines are straighter. Painting this one was easy, after over 80 paintings of metro stations things were automatic! 6 x 7.5" cold press, watercolour, August 2020
And finally the finale. This scene was tough because I couldn't sit here, it was the middle of a busy sidewalk and the sun was beating down, so I stood off in a shadow, and just peeked out from time to time to check the perspective and shadow colours. The yellow crosswalk really stood out against the road, and its shape was almost the inverse of the shape of the station. This was a very long station because there were several bus stops here and lots of people waiting considering it was Saturday. As the final brush strokes were placed it dawned on me that this was it, the moment, I had finished the 27 stations of the green line metro. I raised my arms in celebration (like I used to do when we won an ultimate frisbee game), then packed up and headed to the park. I wrote FIN! on this one to signify the end of a nearly 2 month journey to the end of the green line. 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, August 2020
Before the second painting, I made a quick sketch of the scene in order to understand the depth and lines of the three structures. In the painting I zoomed in the view a little to emphasize the interesting space that was created in between the three structures. 8 x 11" sketchbook, pencil, August 2020
The sign here had the same colouring as the usual navy blue 'down arrow' but the symbol was different, a schematic of a bus with a driver. An actual bus parked here briefly which I captured in the sketch. 8 x 11" sketchbook, pencil, August 2020
Although living in Montreal, l've not had a chance to visit many metro stations, and being able to get that through your watercolor painting is fascinating.
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