In Late April I was back in NYC to see some great shows, including the opening of the new Whitney Museum at the southern end of the High-Line, and the Richard Estes show at the Museum of Art and Design on Columbus Circle at 59th street. Riding the subway uptown from Chelsea to Columbus Circle I caught the daylight streaming into the station and was struck by the wild combination of light sources, shadows and dramatic colors. I could tell the sun had just passed the prime point in the sky for the best composition and I marked the time to try and return the next day to shoot reference photographs for future paintings.
On all my trips to the city I visit with old friends, many of whom are painters I've known for decades. I was watching the clock while one of these painter friends and I did our swing together through MOMA, knowing that the broken cloud cover was going to make my chances of catching the light at the station just right pretty iffy. When it seemed like it was time to walk from MOMA on 53rd near 5th avenue over to Columbus circle and give it a try, I said my goodbyes and headed that way.
As I entered the station the sun went behind a cloud, but I wandered around framing the shot I wanted and hoping I was going to get a chance to catch the right combination of sunlight, interesting people on the platform and maybe even a train. Each time the sun would burst forth the intensity of the light was momentarily blinding and it was almost like turning a mood control up, watching the smiles on peoples faces, only to see them turn to involuntary frowns as another cloud blocked the rays. As each train would enter the station, the platform would empty, and my wait for the crowd to build would begin again. Eventually everything came together and the couple in the foreground went through a variety of poses as an express roared through on the center track and when the local train they were waiting for arrived, they shot me a glance as they boarded. I always wonder if the people who populate my paintings will ever chance across them and remember when they saw me photographing them...
After returning to my Portland Studio and I was back to working on my Dollar Slice painting I kept thinking about that light in the station, so I took a short break from the weeks remaining of working up the details on it to knock out this little one. The many paintings this size I've done over the last few years are a satisfying way to bring images to life relatively quickly, and they pack plenty of punch despite their small scale.
For those of you who will be in the Portland, Oregon area in June, I have 30 paintings up at a large shared workspace in the Pearl District, and I will also have a private exhibit and June 4th first Thursday reception at a well known archtectural firm in the same neighborhood. Please contact me directly for information about these exhibits or an invitation to the reception. My work can also be seen at the following galleries:
My wonderful gallery representation: LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
And as always, you can also contact me directly by email: info@sethtane.com and follow my occasional photo posts on: Instagram