Times Square
Oil on canvas
90cm x 60cm
I decided to be ambitious and paint a view of one of my least-favourite parts of Manhattan.
The photos I used date from 2011 when, because of a hurricane, our trip to NYC was delayed by several days. Unfortunately our luggage was delayed even longer and didn’t arrive until 15 minutes before we checked out of our hotel. This meant we had no camera as they were in the luggage (we always make sure to carry them with us now!), so I had to buy a new camera and we shared it. Consequently, although I thought I had taken all the photos of Times Square, I realised that I was actually in one of them – this one – I’m the shady looking character on the left.
Times Square is one of the most recognisable ‘attractions’ in NYC, but it is so horrendously busy and so crammed full of tourists and people trying to separate those tourists from their dollars, that the atmosphere is quite oppressive. Nowhere in Manhattan is uncrowded, but there are many pleasanter places.
My first attempt at animating the snaps I took of my progress. They required a lot more editing than I was prepared to give them, so the overall effect is hardly smooth, but it’s good to look back at what I did. This is easily the most complicated picture I’d ever attempted, so I didn’t really have any method in mind, I just started painting at one side and carried on until it was full.