Return to Central Park

View Across The Lake 6x6 oil, copyright 2011

Today while looking through my photos in preparation for etsy, I rediscovered this never posted painting, finished early in the summer and sold almost before it was dry.  It's a view of Central Park, looking across the aptly named The Lake towards Midtown.  Buildings are challenging to me as it's hard to know how little detail you can get away with and still have them look like buildings.  Add in reflections on windows, deep shadows, architectural elements... it can easily become a mess.  Surprisingly though, the real struggle for me was the water.  I just couldn't get the reflections right and it kept looking like a pathway instead of a lake.  I think it was scraped down 4-5 times before I was satisfied.  I have to say though, the most satisfying part for me was that I was able to get a tiny flag on the top of the central building.  Don't ask me how I did it, as I'm sure I won't be able to do it again.