Tag Archives: Freedom Tower

Blackout !

Leave a comment

“I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway,

I’ve seen the Empire State laid low.”    – Billy Joel

Right now, Rose Garden is going slowly.  It’s through no fault of my own, but pet owners will understand.  Pumpkin has taken up a new sleeping spot, right behind my easel.   It’s a choice between letting Pumpkin sleep peacefully, or get artwork done.  You can probably guess my priority.

So, I’ve been paying attention to the news.  Along with Hurricane Barry, it seems that Manhattan has had another blackout.  I’ve lived through a couple of those. Sure, there are big crises, there are also a lot of little crises.  That’s part of living in a big city.

New York Skyline

This is an ode to New Yorkers.  They gang together during times of crisis, but most are not very friendly.  I think it’s a matter of personal space.  If I can’t have it in literal 3D dimensions, at least I can keep my emotions clear.

 

grandcentralsunday

I can give examples of being pulled out of bad situations by strange New Yorkers, only to be met by gruffness afterwards.

416

So again begs the question ….did I do the right thing leaving NYC?  I’ve come to the final conclusion, it just doesn’t matter.  I am in Connecticut now, and unless I suddenly am flooded with wealth, I can go back to New York City.  So, end of dilemma, I must make the most happy, successful life here.

 

EPSON MFP image

So, here’s to old new beginnings:

freedomtowerinspring300

 

venus and mars are alright, tonight

Leave a comment

For those of you who caught my short-lived, remarkably self absorbed post the other day,  I apologize.

But an update, the featured picture “A Western Tao”, is alright after all.  Much to everyone’s surprise, my artwork survived the flood waters.

It’s a drawing of a man and a woman.  Every remember the book “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus”?  This drawing could be an illustration for that. Which brings us to a  quote from a Paul McCartney song:

“Venus and Mars are alright tonight”

Which cleverly segways us into my latest drawing.

Remember I was drawing a picture of the night sky and the Milky Way?  I was struggling to find a good name for it. So I finally decided on a title:

Venus and Mars are Alright Tonight

20190406_113948

I had the start of another drawing, but realized it was an image that belonged to my winter depression.  So, my next drawing will be about spring.

FREEDOMTOWERINSPRING

Typos and all!

Damn! Damn! And Damn Again!

Leave a comment

I seem to not be having much success with my artwork these days.  First the dogs, and now this.  My Welcome to Spring piece is not up to my somewhat perfectionist standards.  Grrr.

So,while I rethink this, I will share with you a spring drawing I made a few years, back when I lived in NYC.  Our sky was blank after 9/11.  To see the Freedom Tower going up, in the early spring, gave me hope.  I forgot what the title to this was..but here it is!

A Stroll in the Old Neighborhood…

Leave a comment
"Guardians"
Guardians

Here I am, being nostalgic again. As we were packing the car with a load of *stuff* to take to the new place, I saw my landlord’s chair, against the stone wall. He’s had it there all the years we lived there, probably many years before, and now….

It got me thinking of how the neighborhood had been good subject matter for my artwork. I didn’t have to go too far for inspiration.

So, for those of you who haven’t seen them, a parting glance of a little street, in a very big city:

Sycamore

 

lgsycamore1

 

empirestate011

 

louiesspot72.jpg

 

viewfromlic72_thumb.jpg

 

freedomtowerinspring300

 

fullpocketparadise72

 

??????????????????

 

????????????????

 

fourth

 

 

Next Work in Progress, Freedom Tower in Spring, and an artist’s frustrations

Leave a comment

Just to let those of you know who might be interested,  the 5×7 sketch of “Freedom Tower”, is now on Ebay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/140966258541?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I have continued on with the larger version.  Here’s where it is now.

Image

I’m having fun with this.  There was a time when art wasn’t fun for me.

I probably did my best work in the 1980’s, but, boy, did I sweat bullets doing it.  You see, after all my success in high school, I felt sure the art world would welcome  me with open arms, only to find thousands of competitors with the same idea.  My first experience sending out slides was a failure.  So, I decided to try harder.

I sharpened my drawing skills, thanks to the book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, a book I wholeheartedly recommend.  Then I decided I would do work that was IMPORTANT.  It was very detailed, and if the least thing went wrong, I would discard it.  Many times I would repeat the same work five or more times.

So the time came to send those slides out, this time to juried shows.  Again failure, except for one acceptance.  Each time I sent in an entry, too, it cost money.  The fees started piling up.

I got discouraged, and eventually the work I was doing suffered.  So, in a fit of rage at the art world, I decided to quit art altogether.

Come some years later, I decided to play with acrylics.  I decided to concentrate on the process, instead of the subject.  The result was the Namaste series.  I still don’t know how I feel about the results of that.  Here’s an example.

086

Finally, once again I got involved in colored pencils.  Subject matter once again appealed to me.   So here I am.

Freedom Tower, work in progress 2

Leave a comment

I’ve gotten the foreground of “Freedom Tower” pretty much done.  I may go back and look at it with a fresh, but I think that’s it.

While I was doing this, it occurred to me that visual arts are a lot like music.  You’ve got compositions, rhythms, and harmonies.  I tried, here, to get a lively harmony and rhythm going.

As for healing art, maybe this piece is for me.  I was not directly affected by 9/11, except for being a New Yorker.  Some people lost loved ones and friends, some people’s health was horribly affected by the smoke at Ground Zero, but all of us in New York felt something.  In the morning, I’d wake up thinking I had a nightmare, only to realize  that the nightmare was true.

So, it’s very hopeful and healing to see the Freedom Tower rising on the horizon.

 

freedomtowerwip2

Freedom Tower, 1st work in progress

2 Comments

Here’s the stage where I am in doing the large version of “Freedom Tower”.  As I usually find, when you translate something small into something much larger, you run into difficulties in detail and composition.  Here I’m finding I need more trees to fill up the foreground.

In reality, the foreground is actually a cemetery. I may include some headstones, as a tribute to those who died in 9/11.   Still thinking about it.Image