Fourteenth Street between 1st and A

Fourteenth Street between 1st and A

Original Oil Painting by Erin Lee Gafill
24″ x 29″ – Oil on Canvas

One summer several years ago, Tom and spent a month with Tom’s dad Bill in his New York City apartment.  Every morning we took the train to Brooklyn where I had a painting studio facing East – it was brutally hot during the day and often as not I’d find myself opting to paint outside instead.

I chose my locations based on places that were particularly resonant to me – Maria Hernandez Park, near my son’s first NYC apartment. Central Park, an urban oasis that continues to amaze me on every visit.  Corlear’s Hook looking across the East River, Tom’s mother’s favorite haunt.  And the Lower East Side, specifically 14th Street between 1st Avenue and A.

This painting came out of a plein air session on 14th Street. I set up my easel on the sidewalk at first, and then found my way into a center island where I could get a better vantage point but still be protected from traffic.  Mostly, everyone left me alone.  But once in a while someone would venture over to where I was painting, took a long look, and make a comment.

Are they tearing those buildings down?  one woman asked me.

Not as far as I know, I said.

Then why are you painting them? she asked.

Because they’re beautiful, I said.

Hmmm.  Yeah, I guess they are, she said.

Another time, a local offered me to come up to her apartment for water or to use her bathroom, anytime.  She was delighted to see me memorializing her apartment’s view.  She had long admired the street’s aesthetic charms.  Seeing me paint, she told me, made her feel like suddenly she lived in Paris!

That summer was the first summer we ever stayed so long in the city, the first summer after Tom’s mother had passed away.  Every day we ended up back at the apartment, often enjoying a long conversation with Bill over a cold beer or a bowl of ice cream.  Bill used to teach college English to returning G.I.’s, firefighters, NYC cops – I started reading Moby Dick that summer, and Bill and I talked about it off and on throughout our time there.  Our bed was on the floor of Bill’s office, and every night I pulled something off the shelf to read.   I’d never read Moby Dick before – I was surprised to find it was pretty funny.

Reading Moby Dick was a way for me to have a conversation with Bill about something we were both interested in. Painting street scenes  was another way to engage with a city that I’d visited so many times before but didn’t really know. Painting plein air both allowed me lots of solo time  for observation and contemplation, as well as set up interesting interactions with New Yorkers who took an interest in what I was doing.  As always, I found people were a bit bemused by seeing an artist at work.