painting 55: Fir Cemetery in Portland 2

This was a challenging painting.  I know by now that I shouldn't chase the light.  But yet again I was chasing it like crazy!  I swear there were harsh dark shadows at one point! Besides the changing of light, painting in a cemetery was quite peaceful.  I had a lot of time thinking about life.

painting 54: Fir Cemetary in Portland

painting 53: Hope

This is one of the last few paintings I did before I leave Vancouver for a couple of months.  I chose to paint this composition because I thought it would be appropriate for my "Lost Tracks"series.  I liked  how the bright green grass on the train tracks contrasted with the remains of the Cypress Community garden.  I called this painting "Hope," because I started to see the grass growing again slowly on the left side.  I also saw the devoted gardeners who were left with the mess that CP left them, and I started seeing them plant again!  While its a hard time for the neighborhood, some of them didn't lose hope.  Hope is all we got.  When things don't turn out the way we planned, we could create beauty from the setbacks.  It could either break us or make us! I know that within time, these gardens will grow again and the community will make it even more beautiful.

My First Real Sale!

My friend, Vasho set up a group art event in East Vancouver this past Saturday.  The event was called Ciliate 7.  It's the first time in a very long time that I showed my personal art work.  I've shown my art when I was in school, but that was years ago!  I'm finally following my passion!  As much as I love the process, its such a great feeling to see the results.  Although this is the beginning of my journey, I feel really happy. It makes all the crappy paintings worth it.  Its such a great feeling when people appreciate your work.  I even sold three art pieces!  And I'm super happy with my paintings new owners.  They are going in good homes! It's one thing to create art for yourself, which I find is the most important.  But when someone is willing to give you money for something that you created for yourself, it leaves a warm feeling in my heart.  I'm a pilgrim honoring my journey!  Ok, back to painting!

Before and After of Cypress Community Garden

painting 52: The Aftermath (Cypress Community Gardens)

So this is the the aftermath of CP removing the community gardens.  It was raining when I started painting this scene.  I felt that the rainy weather oddly enough matched well with how the community was feeling during this time.  A woman passed by me while I was painting and said, "this looks like a war zone in Afghanistan."  Another woman passed by and said, "Shame on CP."

painting 51: Stop Harper (on Maple St. and 6th Ave.)

 So much has happened since my last post.  Unfortunately CP (Canadian Pacific) has removed a large  part of the community gardens on Cypress St. Its been a somber few weeks for the people around Kits.  Something that was so beautiful and great for not only the Kits community but for all of Vancouver has been taken away.  People from all over town would have fond memories of walking through the tracks. I have to say that the Cypress Community gardens is one of my favorite spots in the city.  The place was so magical for me.  Even though I'm not from here, I felt for the people.  I  was so fortunate to meet some amazing locals who would stop by me while I paint and share a part of their experiences about not only the community gardens, but about their lives.
Here is a painting I started.  This is the usual path I take when I walk to the gardens to paint.  I always found this one particularly section interesting.  I also thought this composition would be appropriate to paint during these particular time.  There was a "Harper" sticker on the stop sign, which looks like "Stop Harper."  Stephen Harper is Canada's prime minister. One woman that passed by me mentioned, "Harper has failed us."  Oddly enough while I was painting the text, "Harper"  on my painting, someone removed the sticker. I didn't even notice who took away the sticker while I was painting.  I guess there are Harper supporters.  Maybe it was a CP worker...