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JULY 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 9″ x 12″

This incarnation of the Cathedral Church of St. James has dominated the northeast corner of King and Church Streets since 1853. The building itself is huge: this painting shows only part of the spire, which at 305 feet tall is the second highest in Canada. This church is also notable for its clock, which chimes a tune every hour, and for having Canada’s only set of 12 change-ringing bells which are rung by an impressive sounding “Guild of Change Ringers” on Sundays. Famous past visitors include Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, and various current and former Prime Ministers.

I like this church because it adds some much-needed green space to the area, and the chiming bells remind me of my past aimless wanders through European cities. The beautiful St. James Park, directly to the east of the church, is maintained by the city of Toronto.

In this painting I focused on only the church spire because the full building is too large to capture in a single frame. The sky was rapidly clouding over when I photographed it, giving the tower a bit of dramatic shadow. I tried not to let myself get too bogged down in the details of this one—mostly because I would have been painting it forever. [map].

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JUNE 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 12″ x 16″ | View Larger »

The view south from the main square of Toronto’s now touristified Distillery District reveals a scene that looks almost as industrial as it was several decades ago. In this painting there are a number of focal points. Looming in the distance are the silos of the Victory Soya Mill, opened in 1946 and operational until 1991. Dominating the center of the painting is the eastern end of the elevated Gardiner Expressway, much maligned for cutting off Toronto’s downtown core from the waterfront. Finally, in the foreground are bright orange rail cars sitting idle on a siding, filled with gravel and surrounded by discarded railway ties and scrubby vegetation.

I took this photo a couple months ago when the grass had just turned green but the trees were still leafless. The setting sun was giving everything a yellowish glow and making the orange rail cars shine. This painting has an unusual composition which I think works okay. [map].

MAY 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 5″ x 7″

The Patrician Grill diner is a King St. institution, having served eggs, burgers, fries and meat loaf since 1967. It’s a family run place with no pretensions and the brothers who currently run it have perfected an air of gruff friendliness. Their motto “Eat here, diet at home” pretty much sums up everything else you need to know about the Patrician. I have developed a (literally) unhealthy obsession with their Cheeseburger Deluxe combo.

The interior features vinyl booths, wood panelling, and a long counter with stools. Classic rock plays on a small boombox. Its authentic vibe has led to it being used as a set for TV shows, including “Due South” which used the Patrician as a recurring hangout for characters.

The hanging neon sign is very distinctive and I’ve always liked it. I couldn’t get a decent exterior shot of the overall building, so I decided to just zoom right in on the sign and do a small 5×7 painting. The center of the sign has a light-diffusing plexiglass shield over some neon tubes, which proved to be very difficult to capture. I did my best, though it lacks the vibrancy of the real thing. [map].

510 Spadina Streetcar

MAY 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 8″ x 10″

I wandered a bit farther west than usual to snap this photo on Spadina just north of Richmond Street. Although this is a couple blocks south of Chinatown, you can see the awning for the Double Dragon Asian restaurant in the background. The streetcar itself is a southbound 510 car to Union Station. It was just rolling to a stop, with the doors about to open for the approaching passenger.

This was intended to be a small “quickie” painting, but it turned out to be much more detailed and difficult than I expected. There are a lot of very unforgiving lines on a streetcar, and the flat colours messed with my perception of depth. I’m moderately happy with it, though I think it could be better. [map].

You can purchase various prints of this painting from DeviantArt.

TD Centre Plaza

APRIL 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 12″ x 16″ | View Larger

The intersection of Queen St. East and Sherbourne St. is not a part of Toronto most of us visit intentionally, and if we do find ourselves there we usually tend to walk through quickly. It’s not dangerous neighbourhood like some you’ll find in other cities, but it still remains an area of shabbiness and despair even as gentrification closes in from several directions. This intersection is very close to my home, as close as many places I walk to all the time like the St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery. But because I’ve so successfully built my routines around not walking through here, I sometimes forget it exists.

I like this painting quite a bit because I think it has a bit more character than some of my others. There is a looser feel and a bit more griminess comes through, even if some of the specifics like the sign lettering and the window bars are not ruler-perfect. I also enjoyed painting the many little details that are specific to Toronto, or at least to Ontario: things like the numerous OLG lotto signs, the Green P parking sign, and the TTC streetcar sign and tracks [map].

TD Centre Plaza

APRIL 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 6″ x 8″

In the space between the towering skyscrapers that make up Mies van der Rohe’s TD Centre in the Toronto financial district there is a grassy plaza filled with benches, plantings and sculptures. When I used to work in the Royal Trust Tower in the late 90s this area was everyone’s lunch and break-time oasis, especially in the summer when they occasionally set up a stage and had musicians perform.

I took a panoramic photo of the plaza last summer, and while that overall picture didn’t work I was intrigued by this small pastoral bench scene in the lower corner. After finishing that long grueling Flatiron painting, I thought it would be nice to do a smaller, simpler painting. While I have a general aversion to painting people (way too difficult) I’m fairly happy with the way this one turned out for a few hours of work. This view is looking southwest, towards Wellington Street: the reddish building in the background is the Toronto Club circa 1888 [map].

Gooderham Flatiron Building

APRIL 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 9″ x 12″

The Gooderham Flatiron Building at the intersection of Front and Church is one of Toronto’s most distinctive and historical buildings. It’s also one of the most photographed, though the usual tourist vantage point is a bit further back to fit the CN Tower into the frame. For the past few years the building had been cloaked in scaffolding undergoing a brick-by-brick restoration. I took this photo in January the first time I walked past and saw it with the scaffolds removed. It looks fantastic.

The Flatiron was constructed in 1891 by George Gooderham, who had his personal office in the top floor under the green roof where he could overlook his Toronto business “empire” which included the Gooderham & Worts Distillery, the King Edward Hotel, and the then nearby waterfront. Local historian Bruce Bell has much more to say about the fascinating history of this building, including true tales of underground tunnels.

Myself, I’ve only ever been in the basement of this building, which currently houses the Flatiron & Firkin pub that serves historilicious pints. [map].

You can purchase various prints of this painting from DeviantArt.