City and District Savings Bank building

 

Now an accounting office, this historic building was once the City and District Savings Bank. Started by the catholic church, it eventually became Laurentian bank and has been successful to this day. The building is right at the end of three streets in Point st Charles (Wellington, Grand Trunk and Centre) across from a small triangular park called square Tansey. Its not the kind of place people go unless they are getting the bus, walking to and from work, or riding their bike like me. Using a 2:1 horizontal format I could show the big central structure in silhouette, flanked by two streets with the foreground park elements. I used to paint silhouette all the time then stopped for some reason. To make the silhouette I used a blend of red ochre (PR101) and indo blue (PB60), then washed it out a bit towards the bottom to create a subtle glow. The subtle glow was what I was missing in the older paintings, I'm talking late 90's...you end up with a muddy void if the silhouette is too dark and thick. Its a fantastic composition, maybe there is some way to haul out a 100 x 50 like Van Gogh did, but 12 x 16 is about the biggest size I can easily fit in the bike pack.

City and District Savings Bank, watercolour 4.5 x 9" cold press, November 2024 (No. 3916)