Vancouver Looking East

Description

I was shocked when I read that the figures on the silos of the cement company on Granville Island were painted by two brothers from Brazil.   Next to the cement company was the Emily Carr School of Art and Design, the Provincial Art School!!  We are not good enough in our own country.   Lets spend a pile of money and bring in Artists from South America.  What a lost opportunity for local artists.   Lafarge could have had a competition and get art students to submit proposals and made a choice.  Its enough to make you want to cut your ear off in the tradition of Van Gogh.

So much for sour grapes.   My studio gallery was at 6th and Granville Street.  I was living my dream, an art school, gallery and studio in the heart of gallery. I was  also madly in love with Christine, a German artist who unfortunately was bipolar and I had to rescue her from jail and make regular visits to the psyche ward.   We lived on a pile of palettes, I had  two microwaves and a refrigerator.  Vincent Van Dog was my constant companion and held my hand when Christian regularly broke my heart.   

The view is from Granville Bridge looking towards Cambie Bridge.   Vancouver was no big deal for me as I was a cab driver for 7 years to put my way through art school and UBC and later Masters in Art Education at Western Washington University.   Although from Germany, via Munich, France, Barcelona  London and Melbourne where she taught languages and computer sciences.   She was  a typical European,  fluent in many languages.   But Vancouver was too much for her and she became suicidal.  I had to sell our condo at a loss and get her back to sleepy Vancouver Island.    We had a great run. a I was running the gallery which we purchased in Yaletown, had showing on the seawall in Stanley Park and another on the seawall at False Creek.   I was in my glory with my loyal dog Vincent Van Dog at my side.  The downside is in two years I spent $2000 on parking tickets, getting my windows smashed by homeless people before I learned the lesson never lock your car.   Once I was 6 inches over the line, got my car towed expensive and time consuming.  If you are going to live in Vancouver rent a car when necessary.  

It was all a great adventure.  The gallery in Yaletown consistently loses money but the real estate went up $30,000 last year. How many artists own their own art gallery in Vancouver!!   I do an art show of my latest works  and have an opening every two months. I get to drink wine and hang out with all my new Vancouver friends.  I have the best of both worlds. 

The Deutche Fraulein is gone.  She waited till i was out ballroom  dancing, and emptied a lethal cocktail  of 40 pill bottles and finished off with fentynal.  She was determined to go.   I had managed to get to her 4 times before that and revive her.  Not this time.  When I phoned 911, the first question they ask, is “is the body cold?”  I had never seen a dead body out of a casket.   Her ashes are feeding my rose bush in my back yard.  This year I had a spectacular display of roses,.   I say good morning to Christine from my hot tub every morning.