Acrylic and image transfer on wood.60x48x1.50"Outside the cities where I have lived in Holland, Montréal is the place where I have lived the longest. I have spent many, many hours strolling through the city’s streets observing city life. I always like to imagine where all those people are going and what their lives are like. I do the same thing with the people in my paintings, I like to make up stories about the depicted urban scenes which are usually reflected in the titles as well. In this piece something is about to happen between these two people. Maybe he's finally managed to gather all of his courage to ask her out, or maybe they're both about to graduate and have to figure out what to do next, or maybe he just wants to borrow her notes. I know which story I was making up while working on this piece but that doesn't mean that has to be your story… In the beginning I painted Montréal for familiarize myself with my new home town, then I moved to Japan and they became wonderful reminders of a home I had left behind. Now that I am back in Canada and live about 45 minutes north of the city, this piece is a reminder to venture out there every once in a while to explore all the urban beauty this city has to offer.
