The old mall up on Cote st Luc wont be there much longer, I've been trying to get a few good paintings in before its demolished for condos. This one shows the traffic going by, with the mall in the middleground, it has a distinctive obtuse angle on the roof line, and some of the tall condos in the background. I was standing on the other side of the street, using the bright lights from the IGA grocer to see what I was doing.
Cars passing mall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2025
The pale cream-coloured bricks were reflecting the violet sky creating an eerie glow on the demo mall facade. The left-most store used to be a hair dresser (coiffeure). Even though the roof line slopes upwards when seen head-on, it was actually sloping downwards on the perspective, which I confirmed by holding my brush up to it. You can tell this building has a slight 'A frame' structure even though the actual 2D lines bend down. I've worked a lot on capturing perspective over the last 5 years, not to mention trying to get the edges of buildings straight.
Demo mall profile, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2025
The one shop still in business is a coin laundry. The lights were still on when I arrived and a man was closing down the shop for the night. About half way through the painting he turned the lights off, locked up and walked away. It was hard to paint from memory since I was not anticipating that the lights would be shut off. Sometimes I can memorize the details quite well, like if a train goes by, but this time I had to go with a theoretical depiction of the interior. There is the potential for a great painting here, though I am still waiting for the combination of time, opportunity and good weather.
Night Laundry study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment