Côte-Vertu Station, Orange Line Metro

The terminus of the Orange line on the west branch is Côte-Vertu station, where I made one painting back in May of this year. The more I thought about that painting, the more I felt that the most important element of the scene was missing, people! So I took advantage of the great weather today and biked up to the terminus using much the same route as last weekend but turning west on St. Croix to the station. The early morning sun was a golden hue, it illuminated a busy scene of people, cars, and the station.

Côte-Vertu Station, Orange Line, Main Entrance, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2872)

 

Crossing the street, I found a place to park my bike near a post and went about painting this scene of the metro riders exiting the station. When the metro car stops underground, a great throng of people emerge all at once. The station is relatively new, it has bright orange bricks, cyan coloured panels and decorations on the front. To paint the people I made sketches with my paint brush incredibly fast, and committed the rest to memory. The characters are essentially composites from many people to get the light, shadow, and perspective correct.

Côte-Vertu Station, Orange Line, Front Perspective, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2873)

 

Turning towards the north entrance which was backlit, I saw an intricate jumble of roof tops. One of the mega buses stopped, it had an accordion-like connection between two full size bus cars, but you can only see the central portion here. The A frame behind the sign is the awning for the metro entrance. I sketched a few people inside the bus. This was a hard painting, it always is more difficult when everything is backlit and greyish.

Côte-Vertu Station, Orange Line, Rooftops, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2874)

 

From the google map I saw a narrow strip of a park near the station. It had winding pathways and concentric circles made of concrete. They sure loved concrete when they built things in Montreal. In the background you can see a mega-bus waiting at the stop, and the station peeking through. Just off to the rightm unseen in the painting, there were two huge fast food restaurants with surrounding parking lots. The whole park reeked of greasy fries and burgers, and garbage was piled up in and around the waste bin. In the painting those are leaves on the ground, but they could have been hamburger wrappers too.

Côte-Vertu Station, Parc Bélanger, watercolour 6.5 x 10" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2916)

It was time to head down to make some more paintings of du College station. As I rode past the chaos of a busy Côte-Vertu Boulevard with all its cars, people and fast food, it occurred to me that the real scene had not been painted yet. I pondered this over some cold instant coffee for awhile, then found a good spot to set up my bike-studio among the action. Using four different vantage points I created a montage of motifs from the location. It was an awesome blend of fast cars and fast food.

Côte-Vertu Station, Fast Cars and Food, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2875)