Radio City

Oil on linen, 24″ x 36″, 2015, private collection

The scene is the intersection of 6th Avenue and 50th Street, across from Radio City Music Hall. It’s late afternoon in November – in time for seasonal lights, but before all the leaves have fallen. I was inspired by the drama of the trees all lit up — an explosion of lights, leaves, yellow and green.

The composition is driven by the reds, yellows and greens, against the muted tones of the buildings. The yellow of the trees is repeated in the windows, umbrellas, and taxis. Blues are highlights. There are many layers of depth, between the shrubs in the foreground, the trees (whose widths show you the distances), the buildings, which recede through both linear and atmospheric perspective. The verticals in the buildings are repeated in the verticals of the trees, and the organic shapes in the trees, shrubs, and steam in the red food cart contrast the horizontals and verticals of the surrounding buildings.