Ride out East to Radisson Station and Park

In 2020 I painted at Radisson Station, it is the second to last station on the green line metro. Looking back on the series. I felt that a few stations were worth another visit. It just took a bit of time for me to 'get the legs back' for what is a substantial bike ride to make in one go, the station is about 21 km one way, with some hills. I managed the 42 km round trip without any trouble, and even brought along a tire change just in case. In the painting, I depicted both of the 'bunker-like' stations as seen through the trees. Since the bus would stop behind me, people would occasionally run out of the station and through the trees to get to the bus. 
 

Radisson station, Green Line Metro, as Seen Through the Trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2022 (No. 3191b)

 

With the sun beaming down, I could only find a few spots in the shade to paint from. This scene was uninteresting until the bus stopped, then there were three overlapping elements in the composition, and the bus brought in some extra colour which was sorely lacking from the concrete and metal station. An emergency phone provided a splash of yellow, and the windows of the station had a neat turquoise. This done on the Strathmore series 400 paper, which I was not a fan of for watercolour, the Strathmore Gemini is much better.

Radisson station, Green Line Metro, Bus Stopped, watercolour 8 x 10" Strathmore S400, August 2022 (No. 3323)

 

A bike path took me from the Radisson Station to an appropriately named Radisson Park. It was a long narrow park with a large nature area consisting of trees, grass, benches and stone paths. It seemed like a fitting place to make a watercolour- save for the fire hydrant and street in the background, this could have been a provincial park. I gave a lot of attention to the trees, one was a tall blue pine tree, the other a typical deciduous park tree with its leaves sparkling in the summer sun. There were actually four of these old benches here in almost full shade. It was a great place to sit although I was the only one there.

Radisson Park Bench, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2022 (No. 3192b)