Hula in the New Year

Window shopping in Soho

Soho Hula Reflections
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 inches

A new year, a new painting. Actually did this one a few months ago and wanted to share it with you today. I'm often stopped in my tracks by some of the wonderful window displays around town and this one in Soho was just too good to pass up. The hula dancer, the tropical fabrics, the oysters and pearls and red branches - wow. Really had fun painting this one.

Gearing up for the New Year with some new projects that I look forward to sharing with you soon! For those of you who have been following my blog a big thank you from me. Please keep checking in and sharing it with your friends.

Happy Holidays

Ho Ho Ho Bah Humbug

"Just Whistle"
Oil on canvas
30 x 36 inches

It's that time of year again, when I take a deep breath and wait until the holiday jingles and shopping ads cease. What I do enjoy about the holiday season is the opportunity it provides to visit with friends and family, the real gist of the season. The painting I share with you today was done several years ago and I always thought it would make for a nice card, but never had the opportunity to use it. This Tribeca scene was done during a hot summer and I chuckled when I saw the holiday decorations on the store window that had been left on display year-round. I found myself on a hot, humid, sticky NYC street, staring at Santa and his reindeer and decided to do a painting. Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and peaceful holiday season and thanks for checking in on my blog to follow my work, both old and new.

The Bowery, The Bowery

Big changes downtown

Bowery Reflections
Oil on canvas
18 x 24 inches

Last night I watched a documentary about the Bowery examining the big changes that are taking place on what was once known as Skid Row. The New Museum recently opened, upscale restaurants and condos have been springing up and vestiges of the old downtown neighborhood are fast disappearing. The Bowery has long been known as the lighting district as well, and I wonder if that will remain the case with all that is currently going on. I always enjoy looking into the windows of lighting stores, so many interesting lamps, shapes and shadows, glowing lights and atmosphere. I did this painting a few years back, capturing a window on the Bowery that might or might not be around after the dust of renovation settles in the neighborhood.

Alwyn Court

Terra Cotta dreaming


"Alwyn Court"
Oil on canvas
30 x 36 inches

Today I share a new painting with you. I spent much of this past summer working on Alwyn Court, a wonderful building on the southeast corner of 58th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan and it ranks of one of my all time favorite buildings. Built in the early 1900's, the intricate details on the facade are amazing and were a real challenge to paint. Having done a painting of this building in the 80's, I decided to revist it with another take and it was a joy to work on. I also spotted some interesting reflections on the windows and this painting had it all, as far as I was concerned.

"Alwyn Court" is currently on view at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South in the 94th Annual Exhibition of The Allied Artists of America. I was very happy to learn that it has been awarded the Dr. Clifford Wheeler Mills Memorial Award for Oil. The exhibit is open to the public through December 10th, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop in.

141 Broadway

Here's yet another luxury condo conversion in NYC

"141-147"
Oil on canvas
10 x 8 inches

Yesterday I passed by this building on Broadway in the 20's that I had painted several years ago. There was the scaffolding that is seemingly surrounding so many of the older buildings these days. I noticed the "luxury condo" signage and had mixed feelings. I love the character of many of the older buildings in New York and I am so happy to see them renovated and saved as opposed to them being torn down and replaced by faceless, drab structures. However, another luxury condominium in our midst? I wonder who is buying these residences, certainly not anyone that I know, and that makes me sad. So little middle class housing is being built and that's a loss for New York. That being said, this is a beautiful building that will once again stand tall and proud on Broadway, once renovations are complete.

2 Group Shows

Getting the work out there...

"Vesey II"
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 inches

"Vesey II" will be on view in The American Artists Professional League's 79th Grand National Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in NY, 47 Fifth Avenue from November 6-November 16th. Reception is on Sunday, November 11th from 2-5pm. This is the second painting I've done of this marvelous building on Vesey Street. Wonderful carved stone figures looking down at the ruckus on the streets below them, year after year after year...

I received a call on Monday morning telling me that my painting has won the "John Collins Memorial Award" for oil How nice!

Two other paintings of mine, "Vesey I" and "45th Street Reflections" are currently on view in an ONLINE exhibition, "Richeson 75: Landscapes and Exteriors". You can see the show at www.richeson75.com. Some really fine work can be seen here and a book has been published of the exhibit as well, which makes this experience expecially nice.

Mostly White - a group exhibition

4 Paintings in this group exhibit

Study for "NY Yacht Club"
Oil on canvas over wood panel
7 x 5 inches

Today I'm sharing a recent, small painting that will be on exhibit at the Franklin 54 Gallery, 181 Christopher Street, NYC from November 1, 2007 through January 6, 2008. The opening reception is on Saturday, November 10, 4-7 pm. The subject of this work, the home of the New York Yacht Club, is a fanciful, seafaring building on 44th Street - they don't build 'em like this anymore!