‘Walking Distance’ was painted in 2011. At the time, the concept of shopping locally was a relatively distant concept. How things have evolved since then. Recognition of the ordinary drawing attention to our connection to the urban space. A day-to-day commonplace and the unremarkable become extraordinary.
Looking back through a book on the history of Middle Park, I discovered that by 1910, “there were no fewer than twenty places of business on the north side of Armstrong St.” - quote from The Heart of Middle Park, Stories from a suburb by the sea, published by Middle Park History Group.