St. Johns

Here are a couple paintings from one of my favorite neighborhoods in Portland - St. Johns, a neighborhood that looks like it hasn't changed much since the 60's in fact "Tulips" the neighborhood's bakery has been in operation since the 50's and the same family owns it. This first painting I actually did a couple of months ago is of the St. John's cinema on Lombard the main street in the neighborhood. (This painting has been sold!)

This second painting is a Dive bar the "Wishing Well" just down the street from the theater, this is not the type of Dive bar that hipsters have made popular in an effort to be Ironic, no this is a genuine creepy bar that I am very curious about but too scared to enter at the same time. Joseph Zbukvic said that every good painting should tell a story or else it's just a pretty picture, this is great advice that I plan to use. I think including people in a landscape painting helps to tell a story . In this painting I imagine the women is running across the street to catch a bus and the man under the Wishing Well canopy is just trying to get out of the rain but has no intention of going inside. I know it's not the most exciting story but it helps give life to this mundane street scene.

Thanks for looking.