Saint John Window

"Saint John Window", watercolour on paper, 9" x 12"

I painted Saint John Window from a photo of a real Saint John (New Brunswick) window that I took when I used to spend some time there. I was going to photograph all the interesting architectural elements of Canada's oldest city, but I never finished that project.

When it came to filling in the panes of glass, I immediately thought of a cruise ship! The port of Saint John is a stopover included in many summer cruises, and I never stopped marvelling at the humongous size of those vessels, which moored a mere block or two from where I lived. They reminded me of the ocean liner scene in the movie Amarcord, one of my all-time favourites.

And should my house have faced the port, this scene would have been a very likely one.

I cropped a great deal of the wall away, and I'm glad I did.

There's a lot about it that I like -- especially the idea itself, the sky, the ship, the colours and the humour in the initial ambiguity (is the viewer inside looking out or is he outside and is the ship a reflection?) -- and I certainly had a lot of fun painting it.