Train depot and the real Hipster hangout

Down in Point st Charles, known simply as 'The Point' to locals, there are great views of the train depot. I was reminded of the location upon returning from Toronto on the VIA train, it went right past a lot of these scenes. I often scout out locations from the vantage point of the train when I am on it. If you follow my blog you will remember this train depot on a cold day, in that blog I lamented the difficulty of the conditions due to severe wind chill. Thinking today would be better I headed down there by bike and made this smaller version of the scene on a vertical format. In fact, the wind was so strong that this one was a challenge too, the paper kept blowing up and down despite the elastic holding it down. Once again, the turquoise train was in the foreground and I quite enjoyed making the colour with variations of phthalo green (PG7) and indo blue (PB60).

Train depot summer, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

I was painting in and around the hipster brew pub a few weeks ago, but this spot is the real hipster hangout. The building is long and narrow, I painted it before, in this version I was looking at a perpendicular angle from the sidewalk at one of the store fronts and the restored land in the foreground. It used to be a train maintenance building, now it houses community run shops and spaces. Someone was playing jazz music on a clarinet at one of the cafes here. 

 Hipster hangout, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025

 

A little further towards the city and I found this view of the downtown skyline (that is mount Royal in the distance) with a sound barrier next to the train yard. It was remarkably silent here, almost complete silence with a pleasant breeze and warm sun. 

Sound barrier, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, June 2025