Amish Buggy

From our travels in Lancaster County, PA. I always feel sorry for the Amish residents because they have to put up with the armies of tourists who gawk. How many of those tourists understand the derivation of the term "Pennsylvania Dutch" and realize that it has nothing to do with Holland or the Dutch. But the identification, however incorrect, persists. I at least try to respect the Amish privacy and antipathy for having individual pictures taken by never photographing members of these communities. For me, the striking part of this image was the whip. 9" x 12", watercolor, drybrush, pen & ink, on Fabriano paper.

Allium and Iris - Madison Square Park

Saint Martin de Porres

This falls into the "You Never Know What You're Going to See Next" category. This was a procession honoring St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) of Peru. Known for his work with the poor, as well as his founding of an orphanage and children's hospital, he was canonized in 1962. (I'm not really sure why these people - identified by one participant as Peruvian immigrants - were parading St. Martin up 9th Avenue, since his official feast day is in November.) The little band that marched behind played dirge-like music at a very slow tempo while the men carrying the platform matched that tempo with a shuffling step. Every few minutes the procession would stop and the men would lower the platform to waist level. Then a priest would say some prayers and strike a bell on the front of the platform. Luckily my boys were with me and really enjoyed the spectacle.

Rainy Tulips

Happy Mother's Day

I never post on the weekends, so here's a belated happy Mother's Day to my own mother and the moms among my readers. (The photo is my mother in 1951).

Amish Windmill

The most difficult part of this painting was the sky, which required at least 20 washes in four colors - plus several more clear washes - to get it "just right." And then my lousy scanner reduced it all to a shambles, erasing the subtleties of the color blends and the transition from blues to yellows. Oh well . . .

I spotted this windmill on an Amish farm in Lancaster County, PA. (When I see the word "windmill" I immediately think of the more elaborate European variety, like the beautiful windmills of Holland, used to pump water out of the Dutch lowlands.) Watercolor, drybrush, pen & ink, on Fabriano paper, 9" x 12".

Ball Perfect Mason

Another experiment with a Ball Mason Jar. 9" x 12", watercolor, Fabriano paper.

Wisteria Lane

Each year this huge wisteria (on 10th St. between Fifth and Sixth avenues) provides an incredible spring show of blossoms. I'm not sure I'd want one quite this large climbing on my multi-million-dollar, 19th century townhouse, but it's certainly lovely for the rest of us!

General Electric Building, Part 2

The General Electric Building Lexington Avenue at 51st St.) was completed in 1931 and represents one of Manhattan's Art Deco gems. Given landmark status in 1985, the 51-story building served as GE's headquarters until operations moved to Fairfield, CT, in 1974. In 1993 General Electric gave the building, by then roughly two-thirds empty, to Columbia University. I'm not sure about its current status, but I do know that Columbia was partnering with several firms to redevelop and restore the building to attract new tenants. I love the Deco details, especially the clock, with its thrusting hands symbolically harnessing the power of electricity.

General Electric Building, Part 1

Alarm Clock

Continuing the "time" theme, here's a closely cropped image of a vintage electric alarm clock. Although only 5" x 7", this proved time consuming because of the numbers, which I painted using a Japanese brush pen.

Nightmare

Lord, how many times have I had this dream - even recently! And I'm always back at VMI, with the situation complicated by the realization that I'm missing some part of my uniform. The funny part of this is that I can talk to guys who graduated 10 or 20 years before me, and learn that they have the exact same dreams! Weird!

UFO - Unfinished Object

Alas, in painting sometimes a good idea doesn't always translate smoothly to paper or canvas. When I start a drawing and then begin painting, I nearly always have a pretty clear understanding of how I'm going to reach the finished concept that resides in my imagination. I can "see" the finished painting. Occasionally, however, the execution doesn't proceed as planned: I dislike my color selections, fail to paint as realistically as I'd like, or misjudge the contrast between light and shadow. Under those circumstances I'll let a painting sit for a week or so and if I can't resolve the problem, I rip it off the work board and tear it up. Naturally that's always a bittersweet experience because I understand that I'm throwing away many hours of work. But with that break, I can allow myself to move on to the next project.

In conception, this image was supposed to be a cropped view of the main clock in the main hall of Grand Central Terminal. The very large flag, rendered in slight shadow, hangs on the wall behind the clock. Although happy with the backlit clock faces - numerals and hands painted with a Japanese ink and brush - I just wasn't satisfied with the brass sphere and its myriad shadows.

The painting has been on my board for weeks and I just haven't been able to move forward. Rather than tear it up, however, I carefully removed it and have set it aside for the future. Perhaps I'll come back to it and solve the dilemma. For now it will remain an unfinished object, a "UFO" in the terminology used by my wife and her knitting circle.

Anna Ternheim - You mean nothing to me anymore

Just discovered her thanks to Misty Mawn's blog. She has several other videos on YouTube. Lovely voice!

Weekend Flowers, Part 2

 

 

 

 

Weekend Flowers, Part 1

The weather hasn't been consistently warm, but the flowers are starting to open and a few trees are showing green. It's supposed to be 80 this weekend, so perhaps we've turned the corner. The bottom two photos are of camelias, which I don't often see in the city. One usually sees them farther south. My parents, for example, have grown camelias for ages, and they always provide an early spring show of rose-like blooms.