The Holiday Season

"Shirley's View II"
Oil on canvas
36 x 24 inches
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This painting is a scene overlooking Central Park and Fifth Avenue and is currently part of the corporate collection of a pharmaceutical company. They chose this painting for their holiday card and as I was given a bunch, I sent them out this year to family and friends. The holidays are not my favorite time of year and I always breathe a sigh of relief when they are over. The next two weeks will find me eating latkes during the festival of lights, having holiday get-together's and lunches with friends and helping to trim a tree. I try to avoid the hectic pace that this season can bring on and instead try to keep to my usual painting schedule when possible. I'm hoping that the upcoming year will be a good one for all of us. Wishing you a happy holiday season and thanking you for following my blog postings throughout the year. Hope to have some really wonderful work to share in the upcoming months.

West Village Walk-Up

Huff and Puff

"Hudson and Jane"
Oil on canvas
24 x 18 inches
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I delivered a painting this morning to a collector in the West Village of Manhattan. The apartment was in an old, walk-up and getting the large and heavy painting up the narrow, winding stairs was tricky. I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached my destination. Living in an urban environment I tackle a lot of stairs on a daily basis. I live in a walk-up. I take the subway daily. My studio is located in a walk-up. You'd think I'd be used to this by now. I've made a promise to myself that if and when I ever move again, it is going to be to an apartment with an elevator!

Today's adventure reminded me of this painting that I was commissioned to do several years ago. The building I found myself in this morning was not unlike this scene in the West Village. These old, turn of the century buildings can still be found all over the city, in stark contrast to the newly-built glass boxes now in vogue. I like to look at the old buildings, notice their details and even their decay and I like to paint them. Over this past week-end friends from out-of-town called unexpectedly and I spent several pleasant hours visiting with them. We found ourselves on 3rd Avenue in the 50's and I pointed out a stretch of tall office towers. I remembered working in that neighborhood in the '70's and '80's when low rise, 3-story buildings like the one in my painting abounded. I watched those office towers being built. How New York City's infrastructure keeps up with all the continuous development never ceases to astound.

Allied Artists of America 96th Annual Exhibition at the National Arts Club

"59th Street Bridge Reflections"
Oil on canvas
36 x 30 inches
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I stopped in to see this large exhibit on Saturday and my painting "59th Street Bridge Reflections" has received a painting award. Always nice to get this type of recognition for my work. This is always a very fine exhibit with beautiful work on view. The show runs through December 1 and the reception and awards ceremony will be on Sunday, November 29th at 1:00 pm. There will be a sculpture demonstration as well by Madeline Segall-Marx, a talented sculptor. The NAC is located at 15 Gramercy Park South if you'd like to stop by to see the exhibit. Hours are Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri 10-12 pm, 3-5 pm., Tuesday, 2-5 pm. Sat and Sun you must call for gallery hours - 212-475-3424. It's a good idea to call the club as they often have events in the gallery space and it might not be open to the public. I have a buyer for this painting so this exhibit, in a sense, is its last hurrah before heading off to a new home.

A Little Night Music in the Garden

Bruce and Leonard


"30 Years!"
Oil on canvas
12 x 9 inches

Tomorrow night I'm heading to Madison Square Garden with an old friend to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and I'm psyched. I've heard that the second album, "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" will be played in it's entirety and I'm especially looking forward to hearing "New York Serenade." It was the first Springsteen song I'd ever heard on the radio, that piano intro is mesmerizing and it was the song that made me a believer :-). The song was performed at the 2001 show that I attended so here I'll be, 8 years down the road, enjoying it once more. As Springsteen and the members of the great E Street Band get older and in the sad case of Danny Federici pass away, these concerts - legendary really - might not be in the future. So, I'm gonna really, I mean really, savor Saturday's show.


Photo on a marquee, 2009

Which brings me to the concert I saw, also at the Garden, a few weeks ago. Leonard Cohen, 75 years old, the master poet in the tower of song. He held the crowd in the palm of his hand, as one song after another were sung by the man himself and his incomparable back-up singers and band. When I was a kid, I was a real folkie. Got a guitar and learned a few chords. One summer I attended a music and arts camp - it was there I was first introduced to oil paints and made the decision to become an artist and it was there that I learned a version on the guitar of one of Cohen's early hits "Suzanne." He sang that song along with so many others with his "gift of a golden voice" at the concert I attended and the night was truly unforgettable.

Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen - two master singer/songwriters and performers. Their songs are part of the soundtrack of my life and how lucky am I to have been able to get tickets to see them doing what they do best.

The Crash of '29

Eerily familiar

"NYSE"
Oil on canvas
9 x 12 inches
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Today marks the 80th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1929, the one that heralded in THE Great Depression. The other evening I watched a PBS program, again, about the crash that was filmed in the '90's. Way too many similarities with what happened then and what is happening now. Saw the Michael Moore film "Capitalism" recently as well. We're living in scary times and it's all too true, history repeats itself, again and again.

A few weeks ago I was down in the Wall Street area. The streets surrounding the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall were filled with tourists wandering around the canyons of finance snapping photos. The Exchange is draped in a huge American Flag these days and it does grab your attention.


Photo NYSE 2009

As a working artist, I've been living "on the edge" for a long time now. There is no security that comes with the job description of artist. No one is going to fire me. I paint because I love it and can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing. When the economy is struggling, artists struggle along with it. It just comes with the territory. My mantra is "one day at a time". Keep on working. Keep on exhibiting. And hopefully, keep on selling.

Scheffel Hall

German Renaissance Revival on 17th Street


"Scheffel Hall"
Oil on canvas
24 x 18 inches

Continuing my explorations in paint of the Gramercy/Flatiron Districts I'd like to share this new painting with you. Scheffel Hall is a wonderfully ornate building, surrounded by nondescript buildings on either side, so it really stands out on 17th Street and 3rd Avenue. Built in the late 1800's, the upper facade has some wonderful terra-cotta cladding. Reading up on the history of the building, it served as a restaurant for many years. I remember passing by when it was Fat Tuesday's, a jazz club. A hologram of Dizzy Gillespie in the front window changed as one passed by, with the musician's cheeks puffing out and in as he played his horn. It now houses Sal Anthony's pilates and yoga hangout and when I peek in the open door the old wooden interior is filled with exercise equipment. The building originally had another entrance around the corner as well, but that was taken down and a small church is tucked in that space. Anyone who has followed this blog knows that I love the older buildings of the city and Scheffel Hall is one beauty that I hope will not disappear anytime soon.

TDF and Me

Theater, theater, theater

"TKTS"
Oil on canvas
30 x 36 inches
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One of the greatest things about living in New York is going to the theater! When I was a child, my mother used to drag my brother and I to Broadway to see a Saturday matinee. I grew up to love the theater-going experience, and I try to take advantage of the many ticket offers and discounts that are available which allow me the luxury of attending a show. A cabinet in my studio is packed with Playbills, I don't have the heart to thrown them away. The Theater Development Fund, the folks who run the TKTS booth on 47th Street, do a great service by making possible affordable tickets. As the prices have climbed higher and higher over the years, I'm fearful that many folks, especially younger people, will not have the opportunity to see live theater.

I did this painting several years ago of the TKTS booth which has since been torn down and totally remodeled, as often happens with subjects that I have painted. Might have do do another painting of the snazzy new structure. I share this one with you today because the Fall has been wonderful for this ardent theater-goer. Among the plays that I've seen that I've really enjoyed have been "Memphis" (a great new musical!), "Hamlet", "Superior Donuts", "Finian's Rainbow", "Rock of Ages", "Wishful Drinking", "The Royal Family", "After Miss Julie" and "Ruined". Have also seen several wonderful off-Broadway shows but there is only so much room on this blog.

I don't always agree with the critics. The rumors that the Great White Way is on it's last legs still abound. But, for me, theater and New York are inseparable and I thank my lucky stars that terrific plays are being written and revived and that terrific actors are still treading the boards, to the delight of many.