Over the past few years I’ve been exploring the medium of watercolor. The first choice that an artist has to make after buying paints and brushes is to decide on subject matter. I found a quite convenient visual topic to explore is the streets of Manhattan, and here are my first efforts.
When approaching the street scenes I ask myself, “What makes this place,” and “How does it feel to be here?” My favorite time is the early morning, when the low rising sunlight projects precious beams between buildings and spreads the shadows of commuters hustling to work. Using watercolor to explore the patterns of value and light, I try to make a poetic statement rather than a literal representation.
Learning the vocabulary of color has not been an easy task. But on the rare occasion of getting it right, the connection is made between my eye, my emotions, the paper, and the rhythm of the multitide of people in their morning commute.
Painting is a meditative task that can lift me out of the daily grind and become a refuge, if only for a few moments. For years my sketchbooks and visual explorations were closed and hidden in drawers. By putting these images on-line I invite the viewer to experience the City with me.
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