Nearby the Bonaventure metro exit, the one that is outside of the Bell Center Arena, I got a good view of Place Canada park, which frankly I was surprised to see something named like that in Quebec but I think it is part of the adjacent Cathedral unseen in the painting. The taller buildings (Place Ville-Marie is the prominent one in the background) were illuminated with the low sun, while the rest of the scene was mostly in shadow. Knowing that the paint would be moist, I tried to preserve a few key features including the contrast between the blue sky and the light orange-yellow building, the correct hue and value of the snow, and the little snow highlights on the dark tree branches. To make it work, I paused midway and walked to the end of the street and back, mostly to warm up, but also to let the paint dry a tad. When painting in winter you can also go back to the same spot because of the boot prints in the snow. I took public transit to get downtown today because riding the bike was not going to be feasible from NDG, although I saw people riding on the paths downtown.
Canada Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2024
Formerly Dorchester Boulevard, this street was renamed Rene Levesque by the politicians at the time. Its a very busy street almost a highway, and considering it was Sunday when I did this painting there was a lot of traffic. Fighting the elements, it was silly to take on a scene like this, but I knew the busy traffic just had to convey a sense of contrast and motion. Yellow dots from oncoming cars, and red dots for cars going in the other direction. Just the sky scraper buildings had some sun on them, the rest of the scene was in shadow. The painting was too moist to sign on the bottom so I inserted my initials on the building, which the old YMCA building, now its a YWCA.
Rene Levesque Boulevard, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2024
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