To tell you the truth, I got very disappointed at first with the way this was going. Then, one of my friends on
Facebook posted a video of Josh
Groban’s “The Bells of New York City”. It reminded me of how inspiring a place New York is to live.
As I go through Manhattan, I always get caught up in the frustrations of living in a big city. There are people taking up the sidewalk, subway trains that are late, and car horns blaring away. It’s easy to be annoyed.
But sometimes, I draw back and look at the big picture…I live in New York City!
It’s something I dreamed of doing since I was a teenager. How many people have their dreams come true?
I must admit I don’t seem to know what is good art these days. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I work, there are often exhibits of modern art that frankly, I just don’t get. Some of them are similar to ideas I’ve had in the past, but dismissed them as not being art. Who knows where I could have been if I had followed them?
Perhaps I’m a bit bitter, but that’s where it stands.
Anyway, here’s another in the series of New York aceo’s. This is another view of Central Park which I haven’t actually seen.
Here’s the 5×7 sketch of the picture I’m working on. It’s a skyline picture of Manhattan.
Paintings of the skyline of New York are plentiful, so much that it has become cliche. I think that what a person has to consider is actually what a cliche is.
It’s a tried and true subject matter, something that is beautiful, has been beautiful, and always will be beautiful. It’s something that people can relate to easily.
I think the challenge is to bring something new to old subject matter, make it your own. I hope I’m up to the challenge.
Back to the subject of aceo’s. Here’s another in my series that went absolutely nowhere. I bring you the lake at Central Park. I actually worked from a photo of this, because I rarely go into the park. It’s not that I am afraid of being attacked, but I am really afraid of getting totally lost.
Looking back on my posts, I realize that I never put up the finished version of Autumn Song. That beautiful part of fall is gone, and we are faced with the winter. It’s dark, but once December comes, we know, if not outwardly seeing, the light is coming back. Just keeping that in mind gives me hope in the dark of winter.
In November, leaves fall off from the sycamore tree out front revealing the Manhattan skyline. It looks dazzling and beautiful, but when you’re there, it’s loud and crowded. Very stressful, I know, I lived there for four years. I miss the excitement though, and not knowing just what you will find or see. So I often wonder, what’s better, a view of Manhattan, or living in Manhattan itself. Here’s the aceo of the view from my window.
