Okanagan BC

Studio Life Exploring the inter-relationship of shapes is endlessly fascinating. Here are a series of quick watercolours of trees in autumn with simply colours and shapes.

Okanagan BC

Studio Life Sometimes I sketch for shapes, patterns or moods. It’s always fun to add colour and notes. These three drawings from different places in the valley are similar in shape.

Beyond Vancouver

Steveston BC – a great spot for fresh fish Both my father and brother were mechanical engineers and I have always been fascinated by machinery. Plus, having never lived in one place for more than four years, the qualities that make a place unique continue to intrigue me. In 2003, I spent time in Steveston

Vancouver’s Heritage Colours

True Colours program More on colour: Black and white archive photos don’t help owners researching historic colours when restoring heritage homes. Writing color notes, I rarely paint on site in my sketchbook – adding pigment later. (When dawing a quick series, damp pages can easily damage ). Vancouver owners can choose from Dunbar Buff, Strathcona

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?

Vancouver BC

Seasonal Colour Many trees shed their foliage in winter, revealing many features hidden from the road, an ideal time to draw houses. Then, a walk in the park also shows us the graceful spread of wooden limbs in places like Jericho Park (sketch) On COVID neighbourhood walks, I took seasonal pictures for friends abroad. Their

Industrial Heritage

Waterfront Vancouver sits on a wide delta where many fingers of the Fraser river spill into the Straight of Georgia. Like all waterfront cities, marine traffic plays a key role for commerce, fishing, tourism etc. Vancouver waterfront aws originally heavily industrial. I often drew warehouses that ceded their spots to development pressures. Granville Island had

Vancouver Neighbourhoods

Sketching old buildings When first exploring Vancouver, I sketched  older buildings which seemed to encapsulate unique neighbourhood character whilst not knowing much about the city’s history. In the 1980s, many areas had clusters of wooden buildings that included commercial stretches of two-three storey apartments, with stores and cafes, as well as a variety of areas

Steveston BC

All images are copyright of the artist and cannot be used without permission I love markets as I grew up partly in Argentina and Peru, with a break for high school in Ottawa. There’s something irresistable about poking through piles of “stuff” in search of a treasure. A “find” to me – versus you –

Neighbourhoods

(All images are copyright of the artist and cannot be used without express permission) In 2015 I was taking a UBC course with John Atkin: Understanding Neighbourhoods. On those walks we looked at original houses, built on newly cleared lands, circa 1910 to 1920s. Even more so now than seven years ago, these older houses