As we waited for the 420 bus last week I noticed a few good views along Robert-Bourassa near the train station. Today I rode back to the location and made a few paintings including this one looking south towards the Farine Five Roses buildings. The composition uses two buildings as a framing device, on the left is an enormous new skyscraper they recently completed, on the right is an old brown concrete building probably from the 1960's era. To paint the cars I used an economy of brush strokes including an inverted cup shape for the roof, a line for the back bumper, and three black marks for the shadow, then finished with a stroke of colour.
View down Robert-Bourassa Blvd, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2023 (No. 3629)
Cars were parked on a steep incline in front of an old style office block. These kinds of paintings are harder than they look because there is no sky line and little contrast to work with. A lot of people walked by and looked on as I worked. To mix beige colours I use a greenish umber (PBr7) neutralized with dark blue (PB60), and with a touch of orange (PO62) added if needed. Sometimes I mix yellow ochre (PY43) with dark blue for a really greenish or neutral grey.
View up Robert-Bourassa Blvd, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2023 (No. 3524a)
The train station is located in Gare Central which is accessed by a dark low-hanging parking garage on rue de la Gauchetière. Aside from the navy-blue via rail sign, there was a colourful fast food chain sign which I changed to PJD 23. There was a lot going on in this painting and it took a fair bit of time due to the amount of detail and complex composition. Most of the scene was in shadow but a few surfaces caught the late morning light.
Gare Central, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2023 (No. 3524b)
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