Shaughnessy Village is a small neighborhood around the Forum building, it has old fashioned condos painted in bright colours, and several modern condo tower structures. Its been a fight by the locals to preserve the neighborhood which is under heavy pressure by developers. In the painting, you see a pale yellow facade with the jet-black Forum building in the background which used to be a hockey arena.
Yellow facade, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2026
Next door, there is a purple-trim facade with greenish-blue shingled roofs. Large blocky stone bricks hold up the structure, creating a baroque architectural effect. I wanted to capture the colours and shapes rather than make an accurate architectural illustration, plus I forgot to wear my glasses for the first bunch of paintings!
Purple and green facade, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2026
Still open for business I think, although closed today, is the Bon Jour dépanneur and its prominent yellow and red sign. Its integrated with the housing block from the previous paintings, you can see a pale green facade with intricate iron railings to the top right. I stood in the same spot and made those three paintings in quick succession, withstanding the strong cold wind barreling down Maisonneuve bike path.
Bon Jour dépanneur, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2026
And the defunct Elephant dépanneur with an orange construction sign out front. One assumes this part of the street is slated for re-development, which is too bad it has a lot of character. When condos are put in, they tend to be bland glass and brick boxes pushed right up to the sidewalk so you loose the neighborhood feel. They call that 'in fill' where medium density is bulldozed to make way for high density. Luckily the Shaughnessy community is organized enough to oppose or at least influence what gets done around the neighborhood.
Elephant dépanneur construction, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2026
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