The paintings below, all oils, grew out of my experience with the book Vanishing British Columbia and my desire to create a series of iconic, somewhat-abstracted-yet-more-or-less-representational landscapes of the different regions of the province. It's an ongoing project, even though some of the pictures were exhibited in a touring show that went to Grand Forks, Qualicum Beach, Salmon Arm and Wells in 2006 and 2007. At some point I will try to write out a real "artist's statement." The grand Emily Carr landscapes from the 1930s of west-coast forests do for them what I would like to do for the rest of the province. I'm happy with the body of work I created in Vanishing British Columbia, all small watercolours that capture colour and light in the province's diverse regions, but I want to go an extra step toward something less site-specific and pictorial/painterly. And bigger. I just can't think of the work of any artist or artists that have done for the province what Emily Carr did for the north coast. I saw Tak Tanabe's prairie landscapes at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2006 and thought they came close to the kind of thing I want to do in BC, although his more recent west-coast pieces are too painterly, too pictorial and representational, at least for me. And, as witnessed by "Flattened Buildings at 4th and Bayswater," I can't resist the siren call of an impending demolition. Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone who can recommend artwork/websites that show me the paths others have taken, or to argue with anyone about the validity of it. All these pictures are for sale through Petley Jones Gallery in Vancouver.

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Small Oils of Urban Places

 Chinatown Edge, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 inches


Fir Street Store, oil on canvas on board, framed, approx. 12 x 16 inches

Fir Street Store from 7th Avenue, oil on canvas on board, framed, approx. 12 x 16 inches

Fog Hill Market, oil on canvas, approx. 12 x 16 inches

View from the 99 B-line, oil on canvas, approx. 9 x 12 inches