Rick Janson Art Studio

We pass by these places regularly without paying them much attention. Likely your kids, or in our case, our grandkids, play in them. They usually aren’t that large, little dots of green among a sea of houses. They are often the focal point of a subdivision. They dot suburbia.

Our last two houses in Oshawa, Ontario have been within a block from a community park, usually a few baseball fields and a soccer field, maybe a play park. The one we are now closest to also has a club house, which is used as a rental. We sometimes vote there. On a summer night you can sometimes see large crowds turn out to watch their kids play organized sports. It transforms the environment. There are always at least a few people there.

I think a lot about these spaces, often unloved but very much used. It is far from the places most of us think about that define our cities and towns, but they are crucial. Where and how we live does say a lot about us. If it takes a community to raise a child, it takes a park to give them somewhere to get outside, especially in an age of omnipresent screens.

When I was a kid I met a lot of my friends in these little parks, Darcy, John and Keith holding court in the sandbox. We always made sure to bring a plastic shovel to first get rid of the cat poo.

I’ve painted these little spaces twice — last year I did a painting of Connaught Park, which I use regularly to go for walks or to cut through to a more commercial area if I don’t feel like driving my car. The cloud cover was quite dynamic that day, making me wonder if I should have brought an umbrella. I loved the shadows not only of what was in the picture, but what was outside the frame. It’s not the first time I’ve painted to reference the world outside the frame.

Back in 2006 I painted Bathe Park, which is hemmed in on three sides by housing, making it en route to nowhere except for the park itself.

Sometimes if you look hard enough you can find a little beauty in these spaces.

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Be sure to check out my gallery of recent paintings by clicking here. Use the subscription button to get notification of all my new posts. It’s free! If you are in the Oshawa area, be sure to check out the Seniors competition/exhibition, which opens next Wednesday (August 19) at the Robert McLaughlin Galllery. You’ll see one of my larger works there.