The morning started with a bike trip across the canal path until St. Laurent street north and over to Palais de Congre, the big convention center where the station is located. The station itself is only visble from the outside as a sign, and a cavernous doorway tucked under the blue-green glass of the Palais. In the foreground I added some landscaping from a small park with trees from where I was standing across the street. The contrasting greens and blues was fun to do.
Place-d'Arms Station, Orange Line Metro, Palais de Congre, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2762)
The metro station offered little by way of compositions, so I turned my Northwards to China Town where the hotel has some Asian inspired detailing. China Town is slowly being consumed by developers, a gentrification of sorts that threatens the cultural ethos of the neighborhood. To capture this conflict, a construction crane was composed with the Asian architecture nearby. Anchoring the design is the metro sign which I had to magically move a bit to fit on this scale.
Place-d'Arms Station, Orange Line Metro, China Town, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2763)
The other day I was writing about how low chroma the city is (not much colour). When I rode by this spectacle, some type of colourful display in China Town, I had to give it a try. The tree in the back ground was adorned with shimmering copper-coloured balls and ribbons, while the vast expanse, a parking lot perhaps, was filled with blowing banners in many colours. The scene was complex, many pieces had to come together. I even forgot one flag on the left, may have to fill it in with a colour!
China Town, Colourful Display, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2927)
As I headed up St. Laurent to the bulk store Anatol, I went by Dieu du Ciel, an amazing craft beer pub and old haunt of mine. The outdoor seating made for a welcoming display and a nice contrast with the various browns and greys of the building. To capture the white brick in shadow I created a near neutral grey just slightly leaning blue, while the sun-lit brick side was a neutral yellowish. Prior to 2020 I did not know how to recognize or make those colours, now it has become more clear to me as an artist. A friend of a family once said to me that painting eggs is the hardest thing you can do, now I get it, the many shades of white and grey.
Dieu du Ciel! watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2764)
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