Painting in oil on paper titled ‘Net’ under the show title in the Gallery.

These paintings are at the entrance to the gallery. The large painting is ‘A New World’ and the higher of the two small paintings is ‘Recent Wound’ and below is ‘Susanna’.

The wide view to the right side of the Gallery.

The left side of the gallery

Early graphite drawings circa 1980 and one of the  affinites (an oil sketch by John Frederik Kensett)from the museum’s collection over the guest book.

Al Mathes, a painter and one of his oldest friends, with Colman at the opening.

All old friends at the opening, Colman in blue and bow tie, his brother, Adi Rutkin, Al Mathes and Sage Reynolds (me).

Diane Matyas, Colman Rutkin and Renee at the refreshments table down stairs at the Staten island Museum.

Amy Trautwein, Gopi, Sandeep Shrikumar and Jenny Tango

Tim Moran, Robert Brown and Marc Zimmetbaum

Gail Middleton, Sarah Yuster and Irma Bohorquez-Geisler

Kristi Pfister and Laura Jean Waters

Denise Mumm talking with Jenny Tango

Susan Grabel and Bill Murphy

Colman Rutkin and John Quinn

Colman Rutkin and part of his immediate family in front of the Staten Island Museum after the opening.

I had been in the city to see a screening of an Israeli film ” a Matter of Size” with people from two meet-up groups, the Film Culture Club and the Hebrew Speaking meet-up group. It was a cozy set up in a restaurant on 57th street. It was a beautiful, clear evening, I took the following shots on the trip back to Staten Island.

All the passengers have boarded and the entrance ramps have been lifted off of the ferry just before we departed.

Mates and police man were on the decks below. one mate gave the captain the all clear for departure sign.

The ferry pulls out.

I refer to this water as ‘Making Soup in the Slip’.

A view of the Brooklyn Bridges lit up on the East river.

Looking to the west  side of lower Manhattan.

The work lights on the World Trade Center Tower have been colored, probably for the upcoming  4th of July Holiday. I wisj they had made red and white bands with a blue top. then it would resemble our flag, this way it looks a lot more like the French Flag.

As the ferry progresses acros the harbor, the Empire state building makes appearances in the skyline,  first  a small appearance on the east and then a little longer on the west side of the tower.  On the west it look larger.

Using the telephoto as we begin to lose view of the Empire state building.

Passing the Statue of Liberty.

Another passenger shoots photos from a lower deck.

Our Dark Wake.

Coming back home from an opening, we stopped on Richmond Terrace to take a few photos. It’s a cool, clear, spring night and the view of the city is dazzling. I should have taken a video so you can see the movement and light changes. Next time. . .

All the major landmarks. Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, the Chrysler Building and #1 WTC  with red on some of the work lights.

Wednesday, November 3, 2011

I went into the city earlier than I usually do for two meetings and to do a little shopping. First stop, Broadway and 23rd Street at Madison Square.  The new in-the-street-park has a lot of planters, in this planter I saw what I thought was a tree with unusual leaves.  It had what appeared to be a woody trunk and extraordinary purple palmate leaves, turns out it is a Castor Bean plant, trimmed so that it bushed out instead of taking on its usual taller shape.

Second stop was on 47th Street where I was shopping for silver and burnishing compound.  On the way there from the Broadway line, I saw these policemen with their horses. Don’t think I’ve ever seen this many together at once.

The third horse was standing with its hind foot like this. It didn’t move at all the whole time I was there, hoof tip to pavement.

I saw this bracelet in one of the windows on 47th Street and admired the layout of this filigree design.

Third stop, Canal Street, to Kam Man (Golden Gate) to buy tea. Fall vegetables are in all the sidewalk stands. This was an enormous squash.

Lychee and cactus fruit with chestnuts and  blue grapes.

Okra, asparagus and avocados, a totally green selection.

One of the seafood stores closer to Broadway as I make my way West on Canal.

These guys were alive and rustling in the basket.

Some Canadian tourists deciding on lunch.

Closer to Broadway, I looked south on Center Street toward City Hall.

A telephoto of the City Hall tower and a newer tower with undulating sides.

I remember when this red building was being built, it has had a number of tenants over the years and was starting to look worn, now seems to be under renovation.

Behind the red building, old graffiti and a cluster of water tanks.

Walking West on Walker Street I saw this collection of plants being discarded.  Someone’s roof garden had roses and cotton plants in it for the summer.

Lower Sixth avenue looking northwest.

Some Tribeca cafes.

Looking east to the AT&T Building. Its crown of antennas was built after 9-11 when we lost the aerials on the WTC.

An old building that is marked where it was built. Near my last stop before heading home.

Thursday night, November 4, 2011

After class at FIT, I met Colman, we had dinner and went to an opening in Chelsea. No photos there, it was a art book fair, too many people and exhibits.  We met a friend and a neighbor in the ferry terminal on the way home and had a pleasant ride back to Staten Island.  Here are some  shots in the dark, first as we walked back out of Chelsea to the 1 train on 23rd Street.  A very clear and cool night. The Met Life tower was lit like a beacon to Fifth Avenue.

The Empire State Building, unusually all in white lights.

From the boat as we rode into the harbor.

June

We were going into the city to have dinner with Anja and Austin in Queens.  Adi and Sabine were in New York then too.

The harbor is always hazy in summer.  I keep wanting it to be clear like it is in the Fall when the water and temperatures are closer to each other.  It is a little disappointing to have warm weather, nice to be outside after winter or a cold spring, and be in a perpetual fog.

This is the Norwegian Gem  leaving on a cruise.

Coming back from our dinner near midnight. The World Trade Center is growing in height.

July

There’s a summer sculpture in Madison Square. I don’t like it very much.

These are some large architectural elements on the upper East Side.

A view across the harbor from the platform  outside the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

My new camera has an over the top zoom. It compresses space as it telescopes in on things. Here’s the golman Sachs building in New Jersey, a lighthouse and the Statue of Liberty all looking like they’re a stone’s throw away from each other.

One of the dredges  working constantly in the shipping channels.

Another dredge with a gantry and one of the Ferry gunboat escorts.

September

Heading back to  Staten Island on a sunny day after the 11th. The 9-11 Memorial has opened and the WTC #1 has a huge Flag draped on it above the memorial.

The towers rise at the rate of one floor a week.

The tower has begun to fill the space left empty by the Twin Towers on our skyline.

We went to several openings today, it’s Second Saturday on Staten Island and that is the time of the month when galleries open shows and performances take place. There are sometimes tours of artist’s studios too. You can find the listings by googling Second Saturday, Staten Island.
Tonight was also a surprise birthday party for Craig Mannister at the Art Lab in Snug Harbor. Didn’t take photos there because I knew a LOT of people attending and I hadn’t seen them for a while. There was a lot to talk about.
After the party we wanted to walk home but the gate closest to Tysen Street had been locked and Colman and I had to walk through the harbor to the West gate and make our way home along Richmond Terrace on foot. It looked like there was a full moon out. It was really beautiful through the scattered clouds.  As we walked through the trees I noticed  a bright spot  in the clouds and was confused because it wasn’t where I expected the moon to be.  Then I realized that it was the  lights from the World Trade Center  across the harbor. This is looking eastward as we headed toward the West Gate.

This is approaching the West Gate where we can leave the park.

Colman ahead of me on Richmond Terrace as we headed back to Tysen Street.  That’s the moon in the clouds above the street lights.

Near the center of the Snug Harbor buildings on the terrace there is a little dock in the Kill van Kull, the trees part and  there is a view of Bayonne  where a dock has been built as an entry for a ferry bringing visitors to the Harbor. (That ferry doesn’t run yet)  I had a clear view of the column of light from the cloud ceiling to near the ground where the columns are separate.

A shot through the fence of one of the Snug Harbor buildings.  Next weekend this part of the front lawn will host the annual Art On The Fence Show put on by the  Staten Island Museum which will be moving here over the next few years.

One last view of the moon before we got home.

I had to go into the city twice in the past two days. Yesterday was the third day of rain from Lee, I made a wet trip to into the city to buy silver and go to class at FIT. We had had a couple days of sunshine after the overcast of Irene left the area. There’s flooding all around us and the water in the harbor had changed color. Muddy brown. Makes me wonder if the sea life is having a hard time breathing like people who live in heavy smog.
Here are some shots taken Thursday September 8th and today the 9th, 2011.

A freighter with a distinctive paint  job moored with the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in the background.

Today it’s still hazy but much brighter, the little orange boat does have guns mounted on it. It is an escort for the ferry, we’ve had these Coast Guard escorts periodically since 9-11-01. The harbor water is usually a shade of green.

A telephoto shot of lower Manhattan where Number One World Trade Center is going up at the rate of a floor a week. It’s going to be very tall on the skyline. I think it’s at the 70th floor now.  When the twin towers were there, we only caught glimpses of the Empire State Building as we passed on the ferry. Now we have a full view to the 34th street building.  from another angle we can see  the Chrysler Building  on 42nd street too.

We had dinner with friends in the city tonight. Have been trying to get a good night time shot of Number One World Trade Center (  the white construction lights, formerly known as the Freedom Tower) as it is going up. It’s hiding the Empire State Building from this angle but you can see the Chrysler Building’s distinctive spire as well as some colorful additions to our old skyline. The weather was with me tonight. I shot this from the  Staten Island Ferry Terminal (about 11 miles away) as we walked back to our parked car.

Last night we went into the city to join Adi, Sabine, Anja and Austin and see Caitlin Mathes perform in a new opera, Angel of the Amazon. We had dinner before curtain at the Market Cafe on 9th Avenue. It’s a place worth walking to if you are around 38th street in Chelsea.

When Colman and I arrived it was early evening, the skyline across 9th Avenue was dominated by a pair of glass towers.

Other residential towers of varied vintage are present in numbers, this chocolate and vanilla cake-like building is close to being ugly as well as distinctive.

Before we got to the restaurant, the pair of towers lit their crowns.

Some lighting in the non-theater areas of the Barishnikov Arts Center.

The theater, named for Jerome Robbins, we were in is intimate, it probably seats 3-400 including a balcony. Outside the theater you can look down into an eating area.

Walking back across town after the opera, the sun had set and a clouds were rolling in for a predicted rain.

I have often seen these new spires from the highway in New Jersey, seeing them from there they look like they keep company with the Empire State Building.

The pair of glass towers after dark.

This is probably 8th Avenue looking uptown toward the bus terminal. Adi and Anja are recognizable under the red pedestrian stop light.

As Colman and I walked across toward our train, I saw this chandelier in a warmly lit  lobby.

Further along, when an alley opened up,  I noticed these red lights atop  another building.  The lights moved like a computer screen waiting to display type or an image.

The past week has been very busy. I delivered 90 invitations that I made in two days, yesterday; that’s after a weekend in which I bound 20 books from ink jet prints with hard paper covers and photos, built a box for them and made a logo out of sterling for the box. That project was delivered Sunday night. Here’s a photo of the project, I’ve blurred the marks on the cover to keep my client’s project private.

  It’s Thursday night and I have been in classes at FIT since yesterday’s evening. During the day, after delivering the invitations, I walked downtown on Broadway, crossing 23rd Street at Fifth Avenue to buy some materials for the next job. The first thing I noticed was that the ‘Silver Trees’ sculptures were being taken down in Madison Park. The dismantled trunk was on a huge flatbed truck, another truck held two boulder sculptures.  

    The second new thing is a tower going up on 23rd Street in the shadow of the Met Life Tower.  It’s getting to be like that all over lower Manhattan.  You can look down Fourth Avenue from East 10th Street near Astor place and see a number of towers rising over a large area of  Little Italy and Chinatown.  It’s disturbing to see my sunny old neighborhood being chilled by the shadows of gleaming towers. 

 Looking down Broadway I was surprised to see David Beckham in his underwear, smoldering on a roof top, keeping watch on the traffic from 22nd Street.  I think that’s a new billboard,  haven’t seen anything like that outside of Soho or Times Square.

 It’s about a 12 block walk to New York Central Art Supply and I like the walk down Broadway.  I pass  ABC  Carpet and Home and like to stop in there to see what is new.  Shouldn’t have been surprised to see that their buyers had been to Tucson for the mineral show.  Their purchases were all over the first floor,  they had found some things I hadn’t seen, like these slabs of  quartz that they are using as table mats or platforms. 

 The other things of interest were the piles of hand wrought metal bowls and chargers. The bowls aren’t expensive so I assume they are nickel silver or silver plate. But the leaves you see on the table are sterling, they are priced at $150 and  $180 each. All the leaves are individuals, cast from different leaves. The round ones, about 5-6 inches across, are especially handsome. They are resting on slabs of petrified wood. 

 A little further down Broadway the farmer’s market was running, this first stall with the tulips and daffodils in pots made me feel like Spring is not far away. 

 After shopping at Central, I headed up to 46th street to get supplies for tonight’s casting class. Having made the necessary purchases at Metalliferous, I walked around the corner to see if Tony had been shopping  for beads in Tucson. He had been, his side of the store has almost doubled in size, he showed me some of the Tucson material and while we were talking, my friend Irma said hello. It was a surprise to see another Staten Island artist in this special shop. We left together, walked to the train, got out at FIT, shopped for a sushi dinner at  Wholefoods and then ate in the student cafe at FIT. It’s rare that we have so much time to talk and catch up with each other. It was really pleasant. She left to go to a gallery talk and I went upstairs to my Gemology class.