d'Iberville Station, Blue Line Metro

The sun was low and cast an amber glow on the d'Iberville Station. I started at the back of the station because someone was making a ruckus at the front. Not to mention the front of the station is flush with Jean Talon street, while the back entrance had a nice interlocking brick and gardens. All the leaves were off the tree, which gave me a good look at the strangely shaped roof structure. It was maroon, but the sun was reflecting off the surface creating a greyish shine. It was a difficult painting, I just had to stick with it. Today I brought salt water for the first time, I used 75 grams of salt in 500mL of water, precisely measured, which should be good for down to -10℃.

d'Iberville Station, Blue Line Metro, back Entrance, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2882)

 

This scene was impressive, and another technical challenge. When I was in Sutton I painted a sunset scene looking directly into the sun, and had to stand behind a tree and peek out to see the scene without blinding myself. Today was similar, I stood behind a telephone pole and painted the station in complete back-lighting. The sun was reflecting off the cars on Jean Talon street, and creating silhouettes of the people. The pole itself was an interesting colour and texture, it has hundreds of staples in it from people posting signs over the years. A black graffiti marred the post, but I converted it into my signature. The beige in the post was umber (PBr7 PWC) with some perylene green (PBK31) and streaks of orange (PY110). I recently made a study on orange, green and yellow, which helped me to better understand how to paint telephone poles.

d'Iberville Station, Blue Line Metro, behind the post, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2883)

 

The station has two oddly shaped roof elements, at different angles and with different cladding. It is kind of hideous, but beautiful in a baroque kind of way. I set up across the street almost flush with the vee shape between the two roof elements. I was also wearing my moose mitts, which are like thick oven mitts. It was mostly for practice, since in the winter that was the only way to paint last year without loosing fingers! When painting in very cold temperatures, I have to change my style a bit to be more simple. On the way back I made one painting of the Fabre station, but the sun was rapidly going down and I had to pack it in. If the forecast holds up I may head back there tomorrow.

d'Iberville Station, Blue Line Metro, Vee, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2884)