Saturday painting trip, what is gained

 

In a recent blog I showed some work I did down in an old parking lot, it was used for overflow parking for the Bell Centre events like hockey games or music shows. There were lots of good angles, landmarks, and classic Montreal scenes of snow piled up higher than the cars. What is gained? The condo development is massive in scale, up to four skyscraper condo buildings are there, one of them still under construction. There are some good things about these developments, it gives some affordable housing albeit one or two bedrooms for yuppies, and helps prevent traffic since these people can live and work downtown. If it were up to me I would have planted a forest there. If you look hard enough there is one tree in the middle hiding behind a building.

Condo development near Bell Centre, watercolour 6 x 7.5 " cold press, July 2021 (No. 2924)

 

I was heading East to the metro stations when this scene caught the corner of my eye as I raced by on my bicycle. It took a few minutes to ride back against the flow luckily the sidewalk was wide enough! The commuter train was not moving since this was done on Saturday so I had plenty of time to make a good painting. Since it was overcast I could stand without any shade, just my bucket hat and sunglasses to offer some protection. I liked the dimensions and depth of this scene, it shows you how the city can be a labyrinth of tunnels, bridges and lane ways.

Commuter train downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2756)

 

The first planned stop on my Saturday painting trip was the inside of Bonadventure station. Last week I painted some of the exterior entrances, but the scenes just did not convey the right feeling of the station which is a major transportation hub. I descended down several flights of concrete stairways to reach the familiar platform entrance that connects to the Montreal underground and VIA rail station. The platform has impressive vaulted ceilings populated by bright lamps. The painting shows the main entrance and exit, dozens of people were going back and forth in waves. This is definitely the way I want to convey the Bonadventure station... like a journey into a mysterious cave.

Bonadventure Station, Orange Line Metro, Interior, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2021 (No. 2757)