Lights at Old City Hall, Toronto

12 x 36 Oil on canvas

We never know what might inspire us. Looking through Pinterest I saw a photo of New York on a snowy day featuring a beautiful light standard with buildings in the background. Unfortunately, I don't know who the photographer was but I loved the way the photo looked. While taking photos during a very snowy day, I took this image of the light standards at Toronto's Old City Hall. I had a 12 x 36 canvas in the studio, and decided it would be a suitable size for this image. I don't normally paint this size, but a suggestion from artist Mary Karavos inspired me to paint something in a different size. Mary does beautiful collages using imported papers. Check out her work here.
The light in the background on top of the Canada Life Building is a weather beacon, in use since the 1950's.

Snow in Chinatown, Dundas Street

24 x 24 oil on canvas

This picture is pretty much the weather we had yesterday with blowing snow and not so great driving conditions. Anyone who lives in an area that gets snow, knows that snow doesn't stay white for long. It turns into a brown salty slushy mess. 

This scene is in Toronto's Chinatown, along Dundas Street.