Wall Street

Day three of my trip, Sunday, and we were on Wall Street. Pretty quiet there on a weekend! No one but tourists again. There were a LOT of tourists. We were blown away by the masses of people everywhere. It was not like that when I had been the previous years in the fall, so I am guessing the city was full of visitors.

I'd never been to Wall Street. Its amazing how the city has so such distinct flavors in the different neighborhoods. Midtown east is skyscrapers of lots of glass and metal, mixed with old brick buildings. Same on the west side too but then there is Times Square with its own flavor. Wall Street and area seemed more like Europe (with skyscrapers) - many of the buildings there were white stone and brick and the streets were more maze-like. Some of the old buildings down by the South Street Seaport sagged and were definitely out of square!

We painted in the street (which is now blocked from traffic), a view facing south (?) towards the river. We were almost all done when a police officer came by and said we couldn't have tripods there. Can anyone explain that? Does it impede traffic? Is it a safety hazard? I know photographers have to deal with that a lot.

Anyway, the plan was to pack up and go to the Bridge Cafe for lunch. Its the oldest restaurant in the city and right under the Brooklyn Bridge. You can guess what we painted after lunch then! While there, we were entertained by more native New Yorkers - Ellen and her husband Joe. Ellen is another artist who wanted to see how we crazy people could paint on location in the city! They were very fun people with lots of interesting history to tell about their neighborhood. She and Phil are members of Pleiades Gallery, a coop art gallery run by the artists. Its a great space, we went last year for Phil's show. Phil has a link on his site to a scrapbook of our painting trip and there are a lot of images from Wall Street. You can see our paintings progress.


14x11 oil on panel
- I don't think I got the value on the buildings right... they should have been darker. And a more verical canvas would have been better.


6x8 oil on panel
- this is my favorite painting from the trip I think.


Petra and Sherrie drawing a crowd at the bridge

Rainy Times

7x5 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

This was such fun to paint. I vividly remember my first sight of Times Square. I was overawed. It could not have been more perfect for a painter with a light mist falling as well. It was a visual feast and I loved all the reflected lights and color. Everyone seemed happy there too - regardless of the damp.

Table Setting

7x5 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

This was in the elegant "Del Posto" restaurant in NYC. We had a magnificent dinner there and I felt like royalty with all the attention and little extra samples they brought from the kitchen. Very nice meal. Very nice atmosphere. I liked the serene and somewhat severe drama of this painting.