The weather was very temperamental. It left my house at 3:35 pm. The wind was extremely strong, and it was blowing directly towards me. I had a very hard time moving forward. Many times I had to get off my bike push my bike / transport unit.

Finally I arrived at the location. I set up my easel, palette, mixing mediums, and started painting. Twice the wind blew my canvas off the easel and onto the ground and split my mixing medium onto the side walk. I decided to give up on using the easel and lay the canvas on the transport unit. It was so windy that my canvas was flapping, bouncing like a trampoline. It made it very difficult to paint.

Every time that I paint outside there is always a problem, some sort of natural element to overcome. I kept painting for many hours. The wind calmed down, and I was not struggling so much.

close up of Laurier painting (left side)

On the left side of the canvas I really experimented with my brush work and abstraction. I wanted to push myself, to make the painting less but more… to try to develop the brush work language.

When I got home I had a shower, cleaned, and scrubbed. Then I down loaded my photos from the camera onto the computer. While viewing the paintings in Photoshop (image sideways) I noticed the sidewalk closet to the bottom of the canvas needed a small adjustment. So I put some socks on and pajamas on and went into the studio for ten minutes to work on the painting.

With a deep breathe I went back into the house, left my socks outside (not wishing to track wet paint into the house). Snuggled into bed… .4:02am.

I had wanted to paint this location for some time. But it is difficult to paint an empty Loblaws parking lot. So on Christmas day I biked down to Loblaws and took photos for research material. And on Sunday January 1st 2006 I had an appointment to paint this canvas.

I had a very difficult time getting out of bed in the morning. Fuck it was hard. I was having an interesting dream that was cut short. But it was time to get out and get to work. So I forced myself to eat some breakfast. And put a few snacks together. It took me a little while to organize my equipment.

But I arrived on location around 8 am. It was a beautiful day. The weather was good. Not too cold and no real wind chill. My easel was not working and my screw driver had the incorrect bit. I had to figure out a way. So I walked around the Loblaws to see what I could use to paint on. There was the metal table that was not chained up, nor bolted to the ground. So I used my transport unit and placed it where I wished.

Erika drove over with Isabelle in the car to say hello. She had made me an extra hot chocolate.

I was really experimenting with my brush work. I have started to get bored with the past landscape work and really wished to push myself in a different direction.

I was getting a little hungry. So I started to see what snacks I had brought to eat. But the fruit had all frozen, so it was only the chips and half frozen Dr. Pepper.

The painting was almost complete and it started to snow. I could have just stopped and quickly put my canvas in the transport unit, and walked home. But fuck it. I really wanted to challenge myself. If things did not work out there was a large garage can that was close - that would have been more than happy to eat a shit painting.

So the snow was falling off the palette and onto the canvas.

thank you.

The Byward Market at night

I started on this painting at 7 PM. It was a beautiful day and the night was equal. There were many people walking around. I painted for many hours. As the night settled. There was a young street kid. He was about 19 or so. The night was dark he fell asleep in front of a shop door (next to Sugar Mountain). He used his skateboard as a pillow. For a little duration of time I wanted to go wake him up. Not disrupt his sleep, but wake him up, kick me in the ass. But the way I looked at it was if life has not kicked him hard enough in the ass than nothing is going to wake him up. Perhaps he has been kicked too hard, and needs compassion, understanding and encouragement. But to be blunt and honest I am too selfish and would rather paint the above painting rather than focus on an individual living sleeping in front of a closed shop.

So it was time to paint. Time to focus. It was Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

At 4:15 am the flood lights on the top of the pub turned off. At this time the light on the top of the pole cast a dramatic unexpected shadow on the pavement. I used my head lamp (from Mountain Equipment CO - OP) to help me see my palette and canvas.

At about 4:45 am the sun started to rise. So this painting is a portrait of the Market between 4:15 - 4:45 am. Once the sun surfaced the sea gulls started to cry out for food. I would say sing but it was more a barking noise. I kept painting and finished off the little pieces of the painting. The city was starting to move. Skate board pillow boy was deep asleep. I had finished the painting, packed up my equipment, and biked home - towards the sun.

I showered, had something to eat. And went to sleep at 6:46 am. I slept for a few hours. And started a new day with breakfast with Erika and Isabelle at 9:30 am. I was just so wire and alive.