That time of year

 

 

The month of May has come to a close, and summertime fun is just around the corner.  In fact, it seems like there's been non-stop fun lately so it's time to settle down and bring to conclusion the "East Side Storeys" series.

 

For the series finale, I'd planned to place figures on a balcony, to be viewed from a lower vantage point. Over months, I'd spotted some lovely old homes that offered different possibilities.

 

 

 

 

 

During the first COVID year, the life drawing studio I attended moved its sessions on-line. Sometimes the facilitator would set up a "mole cam" to capture views that would be impossible to get in person.  I'd always wanted to do something with this pose in particular.

 

Eventually, I chose one of the first houses that had suggested the balcony idea to me.

 

Uh-oh.  When I went back to get a better photo, I was shocked to find a City signboard indicating the house is slated for demolition and replacement.

 

 

And why should I be shocked?  It's the Vancouver story these days.  At least this old house will be replaced, simply, with a somewhat larger new house – not a residential tower from 8 to 44 storeys.  But let's not go there.

 

Every painting in this series quickly took an unexpected turn and went somewhere I hadn't planned.  All right, then.  I gave up on the balcony idea and reverted to one of the oldest, most intriguing houses I've come across.

 

Built in 1906 (thank you, BC Assessment records), it was likely a rooming house for workers contributing to the early 20^th century development and population boom that hit about 1910.   

 

Oh, I do love those bay windows!  Musing on who might have looked out those windows in days gone by, I decided to tap into the rooming house vibe.  Dreamily and surrealistically, the images unfolded – not to "haunted house" standards, but yes, with a little air of mystery.

 

A rooming house of the early 1900s would have had a landlady – a kindly one, let's hope, and she began to show herself behind the curtain.

 

Here, in the final version, she's likely checking to see how many of her boarders have arrived home from work.  Is it time to heat up the chicken stew?   A couple of them are already hanging out, waiting for supper at "The House at the Bottom of the Hill" (copyright 2025 – East Side Storeys Series).

 

I walked by there again today, hoping for a photo to capture the rather steep slope of the hill – to no avail, with the trees in full leaf. 

 

 

More usefully, for the end of this series, I spotted these neighbouring houses, just two blocks away:-- On the right, one of the typical houses of this part of the city.  On the left, under construction, one of the new-style 21^st century models.  Someone else will have to tell that story some day.