The way the East Van Cross faces off against the financial centre of Vancouver is perfectly defiant

Wreck Beach is an odd name for a clothing optional beach but no doubt makes for enthusiastic slogans.

The dividing point between East Van and the West Side.

Snow Day. If only transit were this peaceful.

East Van view down the rail corridor towards the Militant Mothers of Raymur Pedestrian Bridge.

Beach, blooms, boats, bliss.

Railway tracks and East Van night lights. 

Vancouver as it usually looks: overcast, mountains, industry, water, trees.

Vancouver archetypes coming together for the 7pm cheer.

Cioffi’s and the Heights sign, painted when nights on the street seemed a little darker than usual.

Lights, snow, and East Van magic.

Learning is the best trip you can take.

Vintage industrial crossed with steampunk tourism.

Hot town, summer in the city.

Springtime burst of pink confetti petals.

Like flying over Never Never Land at dusk.

Very green. Very dense.

Icons of East Van: a Vancouver Special, the East Van cross, and exactly 13 crows flying overhead.

A rapidly gentrifying commuter corridor.

That brief period when everything glows.

I painted a similar scene a few years ago. There are sure a lot more buildings.

The iconic Rio Theatre on Broadway and Commercial is one of Vancouver's most beloved multimedia venues.

A synecdoche is a part that represents the whole. This is a rainbow of east and west side Vancouver landmarks.

Vancouver is a city of beginnings and endings. But, oh, the sunsets.

Inversions are an atmospheric metaphor.

Playland in the off season feels more gothic than giddy.

Nighttime, the East Van Cross, and graffiti symbols that hint at a colorful life.

Kits Beach is the perfect tranquility base.

A truncated view of Hastings Street at night under a full moon.

There's a special confluence of festivity when Vancouver gets snow in December.

Autumn and winter are the best times of year to see spectacular sunsets in Vancouver.

At sunset, the world is simultaneously calm and vibrant.

This English Bay scene contains pertinent symbols: hearts, a tiara, and a "Y" pathway to denote "Yes".

This is a truncated view of Hastings Street featuring the most beloved signs.

Bait stations remind us that unwanted and unseen living creatures exist.

Being the greenest city in the world by 2020 means there's a big program in place to change our behaviour.

Industrial structures look gentle and unthreatening in the soft early morning fog.

Piles is a colloquial term for hemorrhoids. And sulphur used to be called brimstone.

Siwash Rock looks like a small child tree who wants to wander off into the dangerous unknown.

"Great White" brings three concepts to mind: Great White North, Great White Hope, and Great White Shark.

The 4/20 celebration in Vancouver is comparable to the Fireworks Festival except with fewer liquor containers and more food wrappers.

Escape is often an uphill struggle, whether cultivated or naturally grown.

Vancouver's 2010 Olympics logo was intended as a world welcome. Locally, it's more of a pretty insignia for beach volleyball.

The East Van Cross is an emblem of light which is both a threat and a beacon.

Crows represent our dark and feisty domestic urban lives.

Predators live on the surplus of others except Vancouver housing doesn't have any surplus.

Density is a contentious topic in Vancouver.

The bridge lions face traffic going into north Van. They are a subtle North Shore defense mechanism.

The shoes-over-wires thing is a literal environmental footprint.

“FTW” means “For The Win!” to one generation but it is is a punk epithet to an older one.

In practice, “Mono No Aware” means appreciate what you have because it never lasts.

In the 1880s, Canada's National Dream was unity.

The orange fences of doom signify that this old wood house will be demolished to make way for larger plywood one.

Pork Bellies are a commodity. Housing isn’t.

The River District is an ex-industrial site on built on reclaimed swampland. It is marketed as the next Yaletown.

Stem cells are blank cells that can become any cell. STEM is also an acronym for "science, technology, engineering, and math."

Places where people read and learn are full brightness.

Until recently, Vancouver's real estate market was a somewhat laissez-faire system with houses flipping faster than fingers at a Main Street cyclist.

Oil tankers and sunsets: there is nothing more symbolic of End of Days.

People go nuts when the cherry blossoms come out in Vancouver.

Autumn and winter are the best times of year to see spectacular sunsets in Vancouver.

The many symbols of East Van.

The essence of this scene is the anticipation of a night out: sequins, sparklers, lit pathways, and dancing stars.

View from West Vancouver on a breezy late summer day. You can see all the way to Washington state.

Winter version of my East Vancouver icon panorama scene.

A little study of Indian Arm for the 2015 Anonymous Art Show in North Vancouver.

The Ironworker's Bridge set against the Lions Mountains.

The York is a success story for everyone who despairs at all the disappearing cultural centers in Vancouver.

The way sunflowers turn their faces to follow the sun reminds me of Vancouver.

Panoramic view of Vancouver's Downtown East Side. Some elements have been exaggerated.

Main Street, Vancouver, runs down the center of Mount Pleasant, and is often referred to as "Hipster Central."

Vancouver alleys, whether they are urban gritty or backyard overgrown, are lovely in their roughshod untidiness.

Vancouver's harbour on an early fall morning.

This is Hansel and Gretel at Hastings and Main looking westward at apocalyptic destruction.

The East Van cross is the most significant symbol of East Van, but you can't be in East Van and not think of crows, graffiti, and concrete.

Coal Harbour is a busy place, especially for boats and bikes and planes and pedestrians.

Burrard Inlet with turbulent rainbow waters.

Theatrical backdrop design of the alley where Cinderella and her vermin friends hang out.

Theatrical backdrop design to show the interior and exterior of Cinderella's Fraser Street heritage house.

Theatrical backdrop design depicting a property mogul's office view of Vancouver.

Magic hour is when the sun sets or before it rises. The reddish, indirect light makes everything seem more vibrant.

These are scultural painted shoes based on a Fluevog boot. The left shoe show East Van, the right shoe shows the west side.

The bright cranes are a necessary hit of color on many a dreary rainy Vancouver day.

The saturation of rain in Vancouver combined with certain lighting effects often gives the city a Monet-like aura.

The Whip Restaurant & Gallery is located just off Main Street on 6th.

This perspective of the East Van cross makes it look towering and monolithic.

An iconic Vancouver view.

The view is a collage of many landmarks that East Vancouver residents know and love.

We all start somewhere.

Lion's Gate bridge bracketing downtown Vancouver at night.

Theatrical backdrop design the East Van Panto. All the symbols of East Van.

Theatrical backdrop design for "Jack and the Beanstalk" East Van Panto. This is Jack's House.

Theatrical backdrop design for "Jack and the Beanstalk" East Van Panto. Giant's sky condo.

"The Drive" is Vancouver's first ethnic neighbourhood.

The Grind is a 3 km trail up Grouse Mountain. 3 km may not seem long but the incline makes it feel a lot longer.

Morning fog is magical: mountains become an opalescent mirage while the cranes become primordial pack animals.

A little juxtaposition of some of Vancouver's primary colors: blue mountains and water, red oil tankers, and yellow sulfur piles.

The nightly crow migration is an awesome sight in East Van.

Playland painted all crowded and bright and dizzy, which is how you experience it as a kid.

Ambleside has one of the nicest views of Vancouver and the Lion's Gate bridge.

The HSBC Canada "pendulum building" is well-known office tower in Vancouver.

Eastside Market was a cheerful place with tons of flowers. Closed, alas. Probably will become condos.

The Ridge Theatre was a long-standing Vancouver landmark.

The Waldorf at twilight, with warm inner lights. Adios, Waldorf.

Vancouver spring scene on one of those days when the sun surprises us all.

Cities built near water get double the nighttime sparkle because of the reflection effect.

Every September, there's a sense that everything starts and dies all at once.

This classic Vancouver scene is what you see when you cross the Granville Street bridge.

Some early mornings make Vancouver seem like the most magical place on earth.

Some people describe crossing the Capilano suspension bridge as "walking on air."

One of those rare clear and calm mornings in Vancouver: it will be a good day.

This painting shows the Granville and Burrard Bridges framed by Granville Island and downtown Vancouver.

Colorful houseboat community on the north side of Granville Island.

Autumn sunsets are closer to the horizon and seem to bathe everything in gold.

Red represents vitality, passion, and love, as well as rage, sin, and debt.

Orange represents citrus, zest, endurance, and embers. It doesn't have a negative association.

Yellow symbolizes sunshine, warmth, summer, and happiness. It also means fear, caution, and toxicity.

Green is associated with growth, newness, and nature. It is also associated with envy, greed, money, and nausea.

Blue means loyalty, masculinity, tranquillity, and favoured status. Blue is also the color of cold and sadness and death.

Purple stands for eccentricity, ceremony, mystery as well as mourning, transformation, and bruising.

Pink has several meanings. In Vancouver, the pink cherry trees make even the grittiest urban environments look bridal-pretty.

This painting shows a late-spring morning when Burrard Inlet is calm and the commuters haven’t started bustling yet.

Heritage Hall is located at Main and 15th in Vancouver.

The Lee Building is a well-known building located at Main and Broadway in Vancouver.

Quintessential Vancouver: Oz-like green radiant city at sunset against the jagged mountain backdrop.

An aerial view full of all the symbols of Vancouver.

The Ivanhoe is a backpacker's hostel so I gave it an easy sag to the walls, like a comfortable mattress.

The Sun Tower is a standard fixture in Vancouver's historic downtown.

The Dominion Building was Vancouver’s first steel-framed high-rise.

The ubiquitous harbour cranes are like dinosaurs flexing across the sky. They make the landscape seem prehistoric.

Vancouver is one of those cities that becomes like Oz when you see the setting sun reflecting off the buildings.

The cranes are the most lifelike elements in this painting. Cranes are a motif for hard work and manual labour.

Vancouver is full of endless damp grey days so when you get a break in the weather, the city seems extra bright.

Harbour Center view with brontosaurus cranes.

The Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral is located a block west of Main on 10th Avenue.

Ken Lum's light statue, Monument for East Vancouver, is installed at East 6th Avenue and Clark Drive,

The City Centre Motel was often used for filming Da Vinci’s Inquest, a Vancouver-filmed TV show about a coroner.

Eat, Read, Play: this slice of Main Street shows The Wallflower Modern Diner, Pulp Fiction Books, and Guys and Dolls Billiards.

The Cobalt Motor Hotel was built a century ago as working men’s housing. It was also a pretty awesome punk music venue for a while.

There are days when Vancouver is not all gray: some days, like late summer, it can be perfectly golden.

There are certain traits all Yaletown locals share.

Carnegie Centre with a slightly-askew toque and two front columns bent like hands cupping a flame.

Joe's Café Bar is an unpretentious coffee-sandwich-bar place on "the Drive."

This is the view looking west from Capitol Hill in Burnaby.

This is my studio building at 316 W. 5th Avenue, where I work. Or try to, most of the time!

This is a bright rendition of the Kits Point “dog beach” where dogs can swim and frolic.

Some of the most famous names in R&B have played here.

I always felt at home at the Ivanhoe.

This restless scene is characteristic of Vancouver itself. It’s an active city.

City Hall with festive fall trees and collapsed wedding-cake architecture.

Charthouse Restaurant on the wharf at Steveston Village in Richmond. Seafood doesn't get any fresher than here.

This is looking north down Granville Street at Nelson.

View from the top of the Pan Pacific, overlooking Coal Harbour, Stanley Park, and the North Shore.

Alexander and Main is near the docks in the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.

The Vancouver Art Gallery was originally a courthouse and often plays one for various film crews.

This is the view from the Burrard Bridge looking out at the Pacific ocean and down on Vanier Park.

Granville Island is colorful against the buildings of downtown Vancouver.

Vancouver's dancing core. This painting was stolen October 31, 2010 from the Beaumont Gallery.

Heritage building and passport office.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge is like walking through the forest on stilts.

The iconic Brockton Point lighthouse is like an exclamation mark on the seawall.

I have never failed to get dizzy on this ride. That is why it is probably painted a little more swirly than usual.

The gateway to the North Shore and a daily commute – and sometimes frustration – for many.

Ironworker’s Memorial Bridge, AKA Second Narrows. All roads lead to North Van.

The seabus is a daily commute for many. It's a relaxing way to get downtown.

North Shore Credit Union's Parkgate Branch on opening day. It's called "Blueshore" now.

If you live in Deep Cove, it is almost a requirement to own a boat.

One of North Vancouver’s most idyllic spots.

Cute, eclectic Edgemont Village is a city of sidewalks and color.

The Lions are also known as “The Twin Sisters”.

These are two tall vertical views of the Lions over Capilano Lake in the summer and the winter.

The view of Lion’s Gate from Ambleside with Vancouver in the background.

View of Lion’s Gate looking west. This is the path the cruise ships take out to Alaska.

Parkgate Library at dusk with the lights on.

The Tomahawk Restaurant in North Van is like going back in time. I hope they never change it.

The seabus terminal at Lonsdale Quay.

The dramatic lighting and the red bricks against the greenbelt of Victory Square give this scene a sense of salvation.

Science World is a favorite school field trip. There's a lot of jumpy movement in the painting, kind of like hyped-up kids on sugar.

This is the Rowing Club in as it appeared in the 1980's, when neon was a perfectly acceptable clothing colour.

A quintessential Vancouver scene on one of those perfect late-afternoon winter days.

This is a street in Kits dressed up like a cheerful Saturday Morning cartoon.

This is the Lonsdale Quay/Seabus View of Vancouver.

Vancouver in the background of Ambleside park.

This is Granville Island on a bright fall morning against a backdrop of tall and willowy downtown buildings.

Edge of Granville Island as seen when walking across the Granville Street Bridge.

Island Park walk in False Creek.