Painting #4 – Trio of Brills

This painting was from one of my original photographs that I took in 1998. I loved how dramatic the grey sky was, and I took some artistic license to give it even more movement. I am a week behind schedule for this painting, and because I will be working at two jobs for the next few weeks, and with Christmas and the  holidays, it may be the New Year before I get the fifth painting finished. I am so glad to be busy again, however, and I find I use my time more efficiently when I have more structure to my week.

So, to all of my friends, family, and followers, have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

48 x 36 inches
Acrylic on wood

Destination Sign

I thought I would post another older image that I completed. This painting is of a destination sign lying crumpled on the floor of a Brill trolley. It is one of my favourite images; I have already painted two versions of it, and someday may do a third. I love, love, love painting type, so I guess that is why I enjoyed painting this one so much.

Ink and coloured pencil on paper.

Painting #3 – Bus 2271

I have completed the third painting in my series on the Brill trolleys. This painting was done on the 48 x 24 inch remainder of a larger piece of plywood from which the other two paintings were completed. This is  from one of the photos that my friend Rick took, and has a different feel to it because the sky was clear on the day he took it.

Tomorrow I am planning on buying more plywood to complete the next three paintings in the series. I would love to start on the next painting tonight, but unfortunately, the hardware stores are all closed. One of the drawbacks of being a night owl I guess.

Painting #2 – Bus 2282

Well, three weeks have passed and I finally have finished my second painting in the Brill series. I procrastinated quite a bit, but today I buckled down and worked on it all day. I like the juxtaposition of the weedy branches with the sharper edges of the bus; that was the main reason I chose to paint this image.

48 x 36 inches
Acrylic on wood

In this posting I would like to make public my appreciation to a retired BC Transit driver named Rick, who kindly supplied me with more bus photographs than I could possibly paint in the next decade. Some of them are of these same trolley buses, but at an older date when they were in a little bit (but not much) better shape. It will make the series much stronger having such a wide range of images to choose from, so thank you Rick.

Painting #1 - Bus 2182

48" x 36"

I have finally completed the first painting in my series of Brill Trolley buses. This painting took much longer than I was expecting because of all the reflections and peeling paint. It was a challenge to capture the decay of the buses in paint.

My starting goal was to complete a painting in the series every two weeks, and although I went over by two days on this one, I still want to aim for two paintings a month. The thing that excited me most about the image from which I painted this was the way the tops of the buses almost disappear into the grey sky. I am going to get going on the second painting soon, and may post some process pictures for that one.

The Transit Project

For as long as I can remember, buses and transit vehicles have held a special interest for me. I am curious about the journeys people past and present have taken on buses, from daily commutes to cross country trips. Almost everyone I know has some kind of transit story that they can share. Buses are workhorses that people rely on without giving much consideration to. At the end of the day, they have carried hundreds of passengers many miles.

Empty and retired buses capture my imagination because they have so many stories to tell as they lean over on their tires in their resting places. This year I have made a commitment to document in paint some old and retired buses that have moved people in British Columbia. In particular I am going to paint portraits of the Brill trolley buses that served Vancouver until the 1980's.

I am currently working on the first painting in this series of 48 x 36 inch acrylic paintings. My goal is to complete one painting in the series every two weeks.

For a bit of background on my art, I am going to post some previous work on here, but the main goal of this blog is to document new work.