Saturday Painting Trip, Downtown Montreal

 

Yesterday I rode downtown via the Maisonneuve bike path and turned south on Stanley Street to reach the Windsor Station building which now houses one of the main entrances to Bonadventure metro station. This is in very close proximity to the Bell Centre where the Canadiens play hockey, so the station likely serves the massive crowds on game day. On Saturday it was very quiet though, had the Habs won game 5 maybe there would have been a game 6 crowd here for a home game but we will wait until next season. The great facade of the building had a covered entrance, there were skylights casting grey squares of light onto the interlocking brick, and artificial lights illuminating the ceiling and intricate brickwork. Outside was a bright sunny day although it kept switching from overcast to sun which made the painting even more of a challenge.

Bonadventure Station Orange Line, Windsor Station, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2923)

 

The other entrance was a non-de script drive in parking lot although people were walking in and out here too. I was standing on a massive raised platform of the Place Canada office tower, looking down on a steep road I believe is Cathedral road. The angles were odd, for example the sidewalk was nearly parallel with the bottom edge of the painting, while the lines of the structure were slanting up at about 20 degrees. I used the tree to anchor the composition, and stuck to the plan throughout the painting process. These shadow-scenes are tough to get right, I would change the shadow mix next time to be less iron oxide. These Bonadventure paintings did not capture the essence I know from this station, it is where you go when you are setting off to travel, like train or bus to airport. I think next time I will try to go in and make an interior painting of the station, it has several underground entrance points that should have more of the character I am after.

Bonadventure Station Orange Line, Parking Entrance, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2750)

 

Heading back up Rue de La Montagne I caught a view of the chalet on top of Mount Royal. I have made a few painting from the vantage point of the chalet for example in 2019, or an earlier one done in winter of 1997. The fore ground was entirely in shadow, with reflected window light casting a pattern on the street. The middle ground was bathed in warm sun, brilliant chartreuse trees filled the view, and a lady in a white dress was walking calmly across the street which contrasted the traffic, construction and noise of the city. The chalet is tucked away in the center top, with the radio tower prominent on the horizon. There were bewildering construction signs everywhere, I painted them with pyrole red vermilion (PR255) and indo yellow (PY110), next time I go down town I have to remember to bring the incredible pyrole orange (PO72).

Rue De La Montagne, view of the mountain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2751)

 

Finally I rode by the old parking lot where I made a painting of a famous milk bottle landmark. In the old painting you can sense the expanse, but now it is a solid block of skyscraper condominiums with no hint of the old landmarks. In this painting, I framed some of the wonderful old triplex condos probably circa 19th century, with a jumble of parked cars (remember the parking lots, all gone now), and a few bits of the towering shards of glass buildings at the very top. I liked this scene due to the neutral yellow  and blue buildings. The yellow is a pastel, I made it with yellow ochre (PY43) and a touch of carbon black (PBk6) with the right amount of water. I learned that mix last year at the Joliette station location, you see the same colour in the yellow bricks there. On the other side is the pastel blue house which looks almost violet, in fact that colour is called periwinkle and made with indothrone blue (PB60) and a touch of carbon black, with the right amount of water. Once again, I used the tree to anchor the composition in the middle. There was a street light growing through its foliage.

Avenue Overdale, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2752)