Joe’s Café Bar is an unpretentious coffee-sandwich-bar place on “the Drive.” You can go there and enjoy watching Brazillian telenovelas as well as camaraderie-filled World Cup games. There is bench seating, Formica tables, fluorescent lighting and lots of kitschy décor. The owners unapologetically shrug off the low-key appearance and say it has a café style “straight out of Portugal”.

The building itself is more of a soft peach color, but I wanted to have green and red – the colors of the flag of Portugal – as the dominant colors. The “Joes” rainbow-coffee mural juxtaposed with the Commercial Drive road sign is a representative combination and reminiscent of the often optimistic and socially-conscious patrons.

Lastly, one might say that the wavy, jittery style is appropriate for a place that makes the best cappuccino in town.

Acrylic on canvas, 16″ x 20″
Fall, 2009
Located at: Private Collection (SOLD)