Process:

A few images from a recent location that was on my list to paint in NYC for my disappearing NYC series. This location isn’t ‘disappearing’ yet and as far as I know, is doing very well. It houses a fusion restaurant that I’ve been to a few times called ‘Lovely Day’.

From a visual approach, it fits in with the aesthetic of that series, however, it won’t be included in that series yet… may be in the future. Right now it’s just an interesting location. I love the graffiti on the closed gate, as well as the character of the awning.

What I generally do in my architectural paintings is actually go to the location and do a plein air sketch of the scene. If there’s time, I’ll establish my colors with a watercolor palette or do a value painting with water-based graphite, and then I’ll take some brief notes.

I’ll also take a simple reference photo of the location from my perspective. I’ll take all that and at some point in the future, I’ll make a painting of it, in the studio, using my reference sketch and photo. In this case, I sketched and shot this location a few years ago in 2018. It was a partly cloudy July 4th, in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday. Around 85°F. It was pretty humid.

I’ll deconstruct my architectural painting process from the beginning to the end, in much more detail in some other postings.