Paintings from New York - Queens

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Queens, Newtown Avenue
 oil on card 19.5 x 25.7 cm SOLD

This was painted on a sad street that provides the only diagonal crossing the grid of streets, and seems to be lost in time.

 Actually, Queens overall itself seems to be stuck in about 1977, with innumerable old shops with somewhat forlorn facias and decaying blocks. 

But it has is very nice for Greek things- delis, restaurants, cafes. 

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Above 43rd St., Queens, N.Y., looking down, framed

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Above 43rd St., Queens, N.Y., looking down, oil on card, 12 x 12 cm  Available

Framed and ready for submission to the Royal Academy Selection Panel.

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New York V: above Queens; evaluation

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Above 43rd St., Queens, the back yards, oil on card, 13 x 12 cm

 There is something of Eardley here.

Above 43rd St., Queens, looking North-West, oil on card, 14 x 13 cm AVAILABLE

Above 43rd St., Queens, N.Y., looking down, oil on card, 12 x 12 cm

These three paintings were executed from the roof of my lodgings.

 If I regret anything about the US trip, it is that I did not paint anything close up, intimately.

 All painters have their distances: Lucien Freud or Chardin work much closer to his subject than, say, Turner does. And different cities condition different distances, so that panoramic views are a more likely response to Rio than perhaps to Camden. But I think if i were to revisit, I would try to get closer to my motifs, at least sometimes.

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The trip was, I think the most successful of my longer painting trips so far. The weather was magnificent, the light perfect and  the city is easy to understand and it is dramatic. The decision to focus on Queens, a rough 4 mile radius from my lodgings was wise, allowing me to explore without getting bored. 

I came to love Queens: it is ordinary but then quite beguiling at the same time, with an incredible mixture of unpretentious people from all over. I didn`t find any architectural marvels there- it is strange to me how few Churches there are- but there is a huge amount of good solid ordinary building, both blocks and townhouses -the sort that is so woefully lacking in Brazil- all laid out on an elegant grid, sloping easily down to the river, punctuated by small parks here and there.

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Many thanks to James for putting me up on my first days in the USA and for helping me, and to Tatiane for bravely and brilliantly assuming the role of  photographers assistant.

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New York I: Queens, from the ground

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I`m back from a successful painting trip to New York. I stayed in Astoria, Queens,  a very pleasant area with  an astonishing variety of restaurants, and which has very much a community atmosphere.

 28 pochades from New York: a good and consistent catch this time

 I explored the area between Astoria Park in the North to the Generating Station on 20th Avenue in the North-East, Queens Boulevard in the South and Queensbridge Park in the North-West. All this can be done quite happily on foot.

 Eleven from Queens, from the ground. There are three painted from a roof which I`ll put in a separate posting.

It has a fair range of buildings and spaces, with industrial spaces and workshops along the river and to the North West, as well as handsome tenements and detached houses.

 43rd St and 31st Avenue, Queens, N.Y., oil on card, 14 x 13.5 cm   SOLD

 The fringes of cities, usually less mediated than the centres, contianing ruin and well as order, industry as well as commerce and houses as well as blocks, are almost always much more fun to paint.

Warehouses, Queens, N. Y., oil on card, 15 x 9.5 cm - available

This next, painted under the wonderful raised railway, is one of the best of the bunch, I feel:

 Under the tracks, Astoria Boulevard, Queens, N. Y., oil on card, 14.5 x 10.5 cm  SOLD

 41st St from the junction with Newtown Road, Queens, NY, oil on card, 15 x 11 cm - unavailable

Woodside Avenue, Queens, N. Y., oil on card, 13.5 x 12.5 cm   available

I bought beautiful American oil points by Williamsburg, which have helped enrich my earth colours.

Astoria Park, Queens, N. Y., oil on card, 12.5 x 14 cm     - available

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