Picture this if you will: North Vancouver in the 1970s. A husband and wife go for a night out at the Seven Seas Restaurant on the Lonsdale waterfront. They order dinner. But then a wave rocks the restaurant – which was once a ferry, actually – causing the wife to feel so seasick that they have to leave. That is, after paying for their big meal, and only having eaten watermelon.
This is just one of the stories that Vancouver-based artist Lynda Tierney was regaled with after she posted her painting of the now-defunct dining spot to Reddit last week. After sharing her work, nostalgic comments started pouring in from past patrons of the iconic restaurant.
“I loved hearing everyone’s stories about it, because it’s been around for so long,” Tierney said. “I tend to paint a lot when I’m travelling as well. I like having that geographical connection … that’s why I post on Reddit in a subreddit for a place that I’m visiting or something that I’ve painted from a specific place.”
Tierney said she was commissioned to paint the work by a woman as a Christmas gift for her mother, who used to work at the Seven Seas. The reference material for the painting is an archival photo. The restaurant itself closed in 2001, after floating near the foot of Lonsdale Avenue since 1959. Before its time as a classy seafood joint, the Seven Seas was a North Vancouver ferry that carried up to 600 people and 30 vehicles per trip across Burrard Inlet.
The artist said her style is mostly realism, but she makes stylistic variations to enhance the overall mood of her pieces.
“One of the things I’m always trying to capture is just a specific feeling in my paintings, and I really like bringing up feelings of nostalgia and stillness,” Tierney said. “I like painting things like urban spaces where I’ve taken out all the people, so there’s this eerie quiet that comes through.”
To watch her artistic process in action, follow Tierney on TikTok and Instagram. Prints of her works can be bought on her website.
