While walking home from a summer BBQ at a friends house in the middle of the night I stopped with a friend in Madison Square Park to see this years public sculpture.  I was taken aback when Jaume Plensa’s Echo appeared perfectly lit in the thick night sky.  We walked around Echo while enjoying the quiet NYC summer night.  The sculpture appeared to follow us as we walked around the park.  It feels alive in this location.   I am particularly drawn to the scale of the sculpture.  It is equal to the height of the trees and stretches towards the sky.   It is definitely worth seeing in person.  It’s up until August 14th.

A few days later I returned to the park to paint a literal landscape with a realistic surreal twist.  People who have seen the painting without knowing about the sculpture think it is one of my surreal paintings.

Here we go…

I got there early and was the first to enter the newly opened gated area.  After some pacing back and forth I decided on this vantage point.

A rough acrylic sketch in some primary shades to feel out the composition.

Jumping into the painting with oils now.  Some dark greens to fracture the space.  It’s only oil from this point on.

Now that I am certain I’m sticking with this composition I start adding the trees.

Testing how putting blue in the sky activates the green.  Although I’m painting from observation, it’s all about what is on the canvas.

Removing the pink from the sky by adding blue.  Every mark of creation is a mark of destruction.

The light is starting to set in the west, so I remove some shadow from the left side of the face.  At this point I took a quick bathroom break.  On my way to the bathroom I had a strange feeling I recognized every other person on the street.  On my way back I thought I recognized a high school classmate while crossing the street.  I turned around and said her name.   Sure enough it was her.  I’ll say it a million times, New York is the smallest-biggest city you’ve ever seen.

Starting to lock in on how I want to place the shadows.  While painting outdoors the light is continually changing.

After spending a lot of time on the trees I turn my focus to the buildings in the background.  I love studying buildings when I paint.   There are so many things to notice, especially as you stand in the same place and watch the light change.

An action shot by the talented Larry Closs.  It was nice chatting with you Larry, and thanks for the great photo.  Notice I have one headphone in.  I listened to Outkast’s Aquemini most of the day on repeat.

Time to change the pace as I add lots of details.  Literally carving out the building on the right side by scraping the paint off the canvas with my knife.  I also gave the sculpture a facelift.

Adding the lines denoting the sectional construction of Echo.  It was very sunny, so notice the reflection of the grass on the chin of the matte stone surface.  Keep in mind that color is traveling all around us.

Fine details and some whispy clouds finish the painting off.  Go see this sculpture for yourself and grab a bite to eat at Shake Shack.  It was tough smelling those burgers all day.

This is the perfect time of the year for painting on location.  I am currently available for commissions, so if you would like to commission a location painting or anything else contact me directly.

What an amazing public work of art, great work Jaume!  Plensa exhibits internationally, and is represented  by Galerie Lelong in New York and Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago.