New Ink Painting




(India ink on panel, 8 ½" x 11")

This painting depicts a real staircase located in midtown Manhattan and is a study for a future oil painting. The impressive aspect of the design of this staircase is the stylized use of the hand railings to stress upward motion, which from any viewing angle leads to the climax of the skyscrapers above. What the architect achieved in structural terms, I can use (in the oil painting) for a somewhat different purpose and use the lines of the handrails as a kind of "lightning strike" visual cue, guiding the eye to a human figure at the top of the stairs. With that figure staring off into the sky at the buildings, and the buildings disappearing into the blinding light of the sun, I can create a nested chain of visual cues, leading inescapably from foreground to background.

I submitted this painting to the Shades of Gray drawing competition, a yearly contest for drawings done in black and white media.
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Also, here is an edited version of an earlier painting called Night Light. I altered a confusing shadow on the figure's face and softened the lines of her hair. I think she is much prettier now.





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