Deciding when a painting is done is not easy. You don’t want to give up too early, and you don’t want it to have the life crushed out of the work either. I think my paintings largely tell me when they are done, although sometimes they can be quite obstinate about crossing the finish line. And as I have previously written, sometimes they fool you and insist on going back on the easel after a considerable break in time. Done. Not done.
Today’s painting seems to be generating a little buzz on social media after a long birth. I started this painting much earlier in the year from a picture I had taken from the GO Train in late winter. I do rotate my active work, so it doesn’t mean that I have been working on it every day. In July it got placed on hold as I rushed to finish a different painting for a self-portrait show (I finished third in an accompanying competition attached to that show).
For those who are not familiar with Toronto, our commuter train is called the GO — the initials standing for Government of Ontario. From where I live in Oshawa, it is about an hour on the GO to arrive at Union Station in downtown Toronto. One can ride it all the way to Hamilton, if one so chooses,
In that hour the mind does tend to wander, especially if I decide against bringing a book. Train lines are a very different way of entering a city — unlike roadways where the building face forward, the train line tends to skirt the backs of properties. These are private places and as such, I often feel a bit of a voyeur looking into them. Many of the spaces are protected by rows of trees, the properties sheltering themselves against the commuter line. Often the train tracks are recessed a bit, leaving you to peer out of a gully. Riding the GO I usually sit on the upper level for that reason — the view is better. Residential properties are more common as you approach the center of the city, although on the outskirts one views a lot of old factories, urban infrastructure (eg. water plants), golf courses and parks. Not everyone wants to live so close to a train.
I’ve taken many photos from the GO over the years, thinking maybe one of them would work on my easel. I have ridden the GO so often I now have some idea of what kind of landscape to expect as the train rumbles down the rail. However, at speed, one has to act fast. As a result I tend to shoot very widely, allowing myself room to crop the image to something that might make a little more compositional sense. I don’t need it to work as a photo. I’m looking for visual information for a painting. I also usually press my phone up against the window glass to avoid the issue of glare. It’s not the most comfortable way to take a picture, but it does work.
Yesterday’s post I suggested that there was a possibility that this painting may finally come into the station (pun intended). I knew I was close. After about an hour and a half yesterday I reached the point where I couldn’t see what else was left to be done. Suddenly it spoke to me. That left me in the unusual situation of starting another painting on the same day.
Living with snow on the ground for nearly half the year it is no surprise that many Canadian paintings feature the white stuff. It is a very different colour palette to work with. I can’t say I do a lot of winter paintings. For me winter is something to endure, not to celebrate. That probably makes me a bad Canadian. When possible, I try and evade at least a part of it by travelling to warmer climates. But there is something compelling about these images. People tell me all the time that my winter paintings are among their favorites.
Others have told me that with four to six months of snow in the year that this is the last thing they want to look at.
I think the answer is to hang the painting in the summer when the weather is blistering hot. That’s when I painted most of it, and found it to be, well, cooling. As a strategy, its one I might return to next year if I can find the right subject matter.
For those who are curious about where to look riding the GO Train, this is from the Lakeshore East line between Guildwood and Rouge looking north (away from the lake). The train is usually roaring by at this point, so don’t blink!
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To read more about me, don’t forget that there is a recent profile on the Fine Art News site. Here is the link:
https://fineartsnews.com/2026/07/rick-janson-emerging-in-late-career/
I also still have available copies of my little Monograph: Somehow This All Pertains To Me. It’s 144-pages and is chock full of images, including some of my earliest work from the late 1970s. It is about the physical size of a car manual. There are only 100 of these in existence, so when they are gone, they are gone.
And if you just want to look at the pictures and avoid all the palaver, you can reach my gallery page by either clicking on the menu, or just click here.
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