Getting the Work Out Part IV - Bruce!

Bruce on 3rd
Oil on canvas
24x30 inches
1985

Bruce on 2nd
(Pink Cadillac)
Oil on canvas
24x30 inches
1985

Rockin' at the Garden
Oil on canvas
24x26 inches
2001
NFS

30 Years!
Oil on canvas
12x8 inches
2006

August will mark the 40th Anniversary of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's "Born To Run" release, one of my all-time favorite albums. Whenever I am feeling tired or uninspired, I put the music on and my spirits are lifted, my energy returns and I'm ready for anything. Such is the power of music, and BTR is what works for me, and has done so for all these years.

Bruce on 3rd depicts a stretch of 3rd Avenue in the 50's. I substituted my own billboards for those on the construction wall, picking out images from the Born in the U.S.A. album that had recently been released. Bruce on 2nd is a stretch on 2nd Avenue uptown and was inspired by the song "Pink Cadillac." I took photos of a Honda and a Subaru as mentioned in the song and always pictured a big pink Cadillac from the 1950's, a car Elvis might have driven. Rockin' at the Garden is my favorite and is hanging in my home. I was at one of the the Live in New York City concerts at Madison Square Garden and it was truly one of the best concerts I'd ever attended. The CD was playing while I was painting this piece and I had a chance to relive the experience again and again. 30 Years! was inspired by the 30th anniversary of BTR, 10 years ago now. I saw these billboards pasted on some scaffolding on the side of the Lexington Avenue Armory and thought the combination with the old brick building worked as a subject.

I'm still painting and Bruce is still rockin' and may he do so for many years to come!

For all of you Springsteen fans out there, I'm offering 3 of these 4 paintings for sale as I'm in the process of reorganizing my studio. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Getting the Work Out Part III

Houston Street Still Life
Oil on canvas
24x18 inches
1997

On Columbus
Oil on canvas
40x32 inches
1988

Greenmarket
Oil on canvas
30x36 inches
1996

The Xylophone Player
Oil on canvas
24x30
1994

The paintings today depict scenes ranging from Columbus Avenue on the upper west side to downtown Houston Street. A street musician, a greenmarket, a street fair and a thrift emporium. Sadly, the site on Houston Street is no longer around. I passed by recently and it looks like another new luxury building is going up.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have on any of the paintings posted in this "getting the work out" venture. Thanks for checking in.

Getting the work out Part II

Some street scenes from the 1980's. "Fruit Stand" is a 9th Avenue scene and "Fruit and Fish" depict fish mongers on Canal Street. These paintings highlight small mom and pop stores, a fast disappearing component of the city. I've included several crowd scenes as I have always loved to people-watch and what better place to do that than in NYC. Friar Tucks features a long-gone restaurant/bar on 3rd Avenue. I used to work in an advertising/public relations company and this scene is reminiscent of "Mad Men", a show I loved that really captured a particular time and culture. As I mentioned, due to loss of storage space in my studio from an on-going construction project in the building, I need to make space. Keep checking the blog as I'll continue to post paintings for sale, priced to fit any budget. If interested, feel free to email me at sjfstudio@aol.com for details.

Friar Tucks
Oil on canvas
30x20 inches
1980

Fruit and Fish
Oil on canvas
24x30 inches
1982

Fruit Stand
Oil on canvas
16x20 inches
1987

People at the 42nd St. Library
Oil on canvas
28x22 inches
1980

3 Ladies with Sunglasses
Oil on canvas
16x20 inches
1981

Green Pavement Crowd
Oil on canvas
24x30 inches
1982

Getting the work out in the world

As mentioned in the previous post, due to construction in my studio and loss of a large part of my storage area, I am offering a number of paintings up for sale at prices to fit every budget. This is the first group with more to come in upcoming posts.

Brasero
Oil on canvas
30x40 in.
1985

A restaurant once located on 2nd Avenue in the 30's.

Restaurant 3
Oil on canvas
36x30 in.
1994

A restaurant scene once located on Broadway near Bleecker Street.

The White Restaurant
Oil on canvas
18x24 in.
1997

The Cowgirl Hall of Fame restaurant on Hudson Street.

Pozzo
Oil on canvas
36x30 in.
1985

A painting of a bakery once located on 9th Avenue.

All of these paintings are framed. I will pay the shipping costs.

If interested, please email me at sjfstudio@aol.com for more details.

I look forward to finding good homes for my paintings.

Raining inside my studio

Yesterday was not the best of days. I have been an artist all of my life. I always created art out of a need to share what I see in everyday life.

For the past two years, we have been dealing with a renovation of the restaurant on the ground floor of our building. It was determined that all of the heating, air conditioning and chimney would have to be placed on the roof. That meant I would lose a good portion of my storage space. For weeks now, workmen have been in and out of my studio, measuring, drilling, hammering, sawing, you name it. Vents and ducts were installed and now it was time to break through to the roof, a day I was not looking forward to. A big hole was cut in the roof on Monday, much larger than anticipated and a beam was cut. On Tuesday, not only was the roof work continuing on the venting outlet, 2 new skylights were being installed by the roofing company hired to re-roof and waterproof the area where all of the new equipment would be located.

Shortly after lunch it started to rain…a downpour. The workmen hurriedly covered the open skylight with plastic sheeting and roofing/flashing and thankfully no leaks. Not so with the hole cut by the new tenants for their equipment. Pouring rain IN…MY... STUDIO. An artist's worst nightmare.

I was yelling for help and the four of us in the studio at the time started getting the paintings off the shelves, out of the studio and then started wiping them down. The contractor sent up several of his workmen with rolls of paper towels to help. It was a hell of a day and it could have been avoided had the work been done properly to begin with. The contractor and his workmen had no contingency plan in place should it start to rain, hence the awful outcome. Choosing a day to work with no rain in the forecast probably would have been a good idea as well.

These pictures do not really capture the horror of seeing water cascading down from the ceiling. Looking at my paintings, I felt as if I were watching "my children" drowning and calling out for help.

Today I've been assessing the damage. The paintings formerly on the shelves are now scattered throughout our space - in the hallways, computer room, wood room, etc. I won't put anything back until the roof work is complete and lord only knows when that will be.

I was once told by my friend's mother that when one door closes a window opens. I realized yesterday that I create art to tell a story. Now that much of my work is out of the storage area and off of the shelves, I've had the opportunity to reexamine my work. It is good work and I want it seen. I always envisioned keeping a significant amount of my work in the studio. This experience has shown me that is not the only way to think. As a result, I've decided to keep a smaller percentage of my work and get more out into the world. I'm determined to find ways to make this happen. For the next few months, I will be selling a portion of my work at prices to fit any budget. If you have ever wanted to own an original "Florin", this is the time. Feel free to contact me and I can send you images via email or we can arrange a studio visit.

A nice profile in this week's Times Ledger paper on my work

LICQueensboro Slice
Oil on canvas
9x12 inches

An article appeared in this weeks Time Ledger papers in Queens. She makes journey from camera to canvas pretty much covers what I choose to paint and where the work is created.

Here is a link to the article.
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2015/27/florin_2015_06_26_q.html