Perry Street Revisited

If you've followed this blog from its early days you might recall this subject from an earlier work. I first painted this window and fire escape on Perry Street about two years ago. One of my favorite paintings, I included it in last year's show and sold it to a woman for whom the subject evoked memories of her family's World War II-era Harlem apartment. I was sorry to see the picture go - but happy to have sold a painting.

At the time I promised myself to revisit the picture - sooner rather than later - but didn't take up the project until a couple of weeks ago when I made the initial rough sketch. Last week I realized it would be a perfect image for a detailed pen and ink drawing with watercolor washes. So for the last several days I've worked until 1 and 2 a.m., squinting through my glasses to get the India ink details just right. Once that was done, the watercolor portion moved rather quickly. This time the image is slightly larger - 9"x12" rather than 8"x10" - and I cropped the view just a little. The results, I think, are as satisfactory as the original. And this version I will not sell! On to the next project! (9" x 12", pen and India ink, watercolors, Fabriano paper) You can click on this thumbnail for a larger image.