Metropolis, 24″ x 24″ Acrylic on Canvas, in progress. A view south along Sussex Ave to the main Kingsway entrance to the underground parking of Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby, BC.

  • February 6, 2025
    In Progress 1, I've just started a new painting, this one from my own South Burnaby neighbourhood, featuring the Kingsway entrance to Metropolis at Metrotown. I start right in doing the drawing with my paint brushes. Not having an eraser forces me to be careful checking all the spacial relationships between the components of this scene. It certainly doesn't have to be exact. I like how the hand drawing seeds life into the final rendering.

  • February 7, 2025
    In Progress 2, I’m continuing with the drawing but also blocking in larger areas with colour. Obviously, this is to be a night scene and I want it to be foggy, which is something I don’t have direct reference for, so I’ll just have to work that out as I go along. Fog would be much easier with oils because of its long dry time, but with acrylics, I could always use my old airbrush or canned, artist's acrylic, spray paint is available, but I’ll give it my best shot with brushes first. Either way, I have to block in some base colours first. Let’s see how it goes.

  • February 11, 2025
    In Progress 3, The complexity increases as I continue to draw and block in the scene, especially as I start to fill in more buildings, cars and street level elements. This is where I discover some of my initial drawing is off here and there because some pieces aren't fitting together right. I just adjust and fix as I go along.

  • February 14, 2025
    In Progress 4, More drawing and blocking as I fill in more and more of the canvas. I've concentrated the last few days mostly on the buildings and cars. Next, I'll be working on the sky and the two black towers in the background.

  • May 6, 2026
    In Progress 5, I've taken some time off from this piece for some R&R and work on other projects, but over that time I did keep nudging it forward. Most of the work has been on the two office towers in the background as I light them up and build the evening fog effects I'm looking for.

  • May 26, 2026
    In Progress 6, Still nudging this piece along with more work on the background top area, adding more fog effects, still experimenting with the final look of the towers and their lighted windows. In this regard, I've also been adding street light poles and middle distance building details. Still keeping things rough while I find the fog tones that build the depth into the scene. I'll block in the rest of the street surface next so I can better judge the colouring I need going forward.

  • August 30, 2025
    In Progress 7, I took a lot of time off from painting over the summer but still poked and nudged this piece along from time to time. Today I stopped to photograph the canvas for a work-in-progress pic and I'm feeling pretty happy with it at this point. Stepping back from the canvas can do that—break my OCD-like fixation on all the procedural layering and details and lets me just take it all in at once, like I've never seen it before. I like it! It has the mood I've been after. Even my rough brush work is working, giving the piece a vibrant, gritty noir feeling that fits. So, I'm almost done. The street surface colour, refections and texture along with light sources, cars, all need more finishing, but not a lot. Actually, lettering the road and building signage is probably the biggest task remaining.

  • March 11, 2026
    In Progress 8 - Finished, Finished! Thanks everyone for following along. Next steps are getting a high res digital capture and reference print proof. I'll then be adding the image to my website's print shop. Friends were asking me why I would want to paint a mall, and I get that. Metropolis is the third largest shopping centre in Canada. But all that shopping has little appeal for me. What got me was I think the architects did an amazing job with this street entrance, especially the glass tower and spire in the middle of the scene. It's actually a glass elevator shaft that will take you from the underground parking up to the cineplex on the top floor. So I've always viewed its design as a wonderful nod to the Superman Daily Planet Building and/or King Kong's Empire State Building. To me it says, we have movies here! And this site line along Sussex Ave, across Kingsway, could hardly be more perfect. I love movies and this has been my closest theatre since the late 90's and over all that time I've have always been captivated by this scene, especially at night. I'm not sure what kind of appeal it might have to others, I felt compelled to paint it regardless.