Henri-Bourassa Station, Orange Line Metro

After one painting at Henri-Bourassa Station last weekend, I decided to go back and do a few more. Last time it rained heavily cutting my trip short, but yesterday the weather was tolerable. Cold, windy and mostly overcast, but tolerable none-the-less. The station is tricky to paint because it is a long bunker-like structure with narrow sidewalks and constant buses going by, not to mention the noise of a busy road. I found a spot by the bike racks and did this painting of one of the entrances back-lit by the sun. Each shade of grey has a different hue and value. The sunlit ground has a warm neutral orange and the shadows have more of a cool indigo.

Henri-Bourassa Station, Orange Line Metro, Front Entrance with Bike Racks. Watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2021 (No. 2857)

 

As I drank some cold coffee and snacked on chocolate muffin and banana bread, I noticed an entrance across the street. The entrance was non-de script, however it had an impressive glass wall above it, which was reflecting the park behind me, which is Ahuntsic park. The park was neat and I would have made a painting from that vantage point but unfortunately the park was under construction. Oh yeah, the pigeons I saw last week were probably the same ones I captured in the painting sitting on top of the buildings.

Henri-Bourassa Station, Orange Line Metro, Reflective Glass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2021 (No. 2858)

 

After the last painting I headed up to Cartier station in Laval and made some paintings there. On the way back I saw yet another entrance to Henri-Bourassa Station on Rue Berri. I was cold and the sun was going down but the scene was compelling and I had to give it a go. A woman was sitting down, and a seagull kept trying to fly at her. She was frantically trying to swat it away with a purse, and yelling at it! Then a man tried to shoo away the persistent bird. I found it comical to watch as I made this painting. The focal point is the sign, which had a diagonal slash of sunlight illuminating the top half.

Henri-Bourassa Station, Orange Line Metro, Last Light, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2021 (No. 2859)