1887 W. 3rd By Laurazee Watch

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Acrylic on canvas, 48" x 60"



This commission was from someone who had very fond memories of living in this triplex in Kitsilano. They installed the fence and the window box when they lived there and both were still in use when I took the reference photo.



The overall shape of the house is kind of like a pudgy teapot with a face. There was something in the sweet old-fashioned touches like the white picket fence and the flower-filled window box that were best expressed with a teapotty shape. Houses have faces, and this one definitely did.



At the time, they had a friendly fat black cat with green eyes and a crooked tail. The cat was placed on the front steps because he was "usually out front greeting people." The customer's favourite West coast season is spring, with "a sky that has a good amount of grey, just to keep it real!" The lighting is warm, buttery late afternoon (left-side western light).



I had this one up on my easel around Christmas and had lots of admirers. One fellow, a realtor, stared at it for a while. I told him the address and he said, "Yes, I know the place. In fact, I know someone who was born and raised there." Funny coincidences.



These are my favourite sort of paintings to do. There's a built-in nostalgia and sentimentality when you think of where you spent happy times and it is best described with whimsy and a few emotional details, like the cat, the red geraniums, and the five o'clock lighting. I like to imagine everyday scenes that were repeated over and over in one's memory. This is life extant.

IMAGE DETAILS Image size 2053x3480px 1.44 MB Make NIKON Model COOLPIX S550 Shutter Speed 10/428 second Aperture F/3.5 Focal Length 6 mm ISO Speed 400 Date Taken Dec 1, 2010, 11:00:05 PM Show More

Published : Jul 21, 2011