Colour

Heritage buildings

Walking along Jackson St on a breezy sunny day, I was first attracted to this white building by thedappled shadows, then to its icing sugar colours

In the 1980s, when I began painting old grocery stores and their adjascent sites, colours appeared consistently across a variety of neighbourhoods. How had they looked originally? Hard for me to know. In Buenos Aires, where I was born, original buildings in La Boca used the bright paints from fishing boats. In the newly growing Vancouver of early construction, it is easy to imagine builders using whatever was available.

Colours alter atmospheres in both life and painting. This original is filled with soft muted hues with an occasional jewel. When I accepted a commission to paint three old hotels on Main St, north of the railroad station, I was delighted to find them of full life and detail.

B&W image: Main St. Hotel (colour below)