Central Park Duck Pond

New York City Central Park Duck Pond

Here's a plein air painting that I painted of the Central Park Duck Pond looking southwest along Central Park South. This one is done in oils on a 16" x 20" panel.
This is avaiable at my Etsy store here:https://www.etsy.com/shop/gundersonstudio

In the Wake of the Ferry

In the Wake of the Ferry

When in Manhattan I try to take the Staten Island Ferry across and back which gives me great motifs to paint with my watercolors.

In the Wake of the Ferry

7" x 9" watercolor

by Keith Gunderson

Here are two versions of this scene painted by John Sloan around 1907, along with an intaglio etching. Sloan titled the two paintings "In the Wake of the Ferry".Version one  is in the Phillips collection in Philadelphia and version two is in Detroit.

This was an etching Sloan made around the same time.

Watercolors at Bowling Green

Bowling Green Manhattan Plein Air

Whenever I'm in lower Manhattan- which is not infrequently- I always manage to make a plein air watercolor or two in and around the Bowling Green, Whitehall, and the Staten Island Ferry.

Here's a few..

 Battery Park

watercolor by Keith Gunderson

 Bowling Green Station

watercolor by Keith Gunderson

View from the Ferry
watercolor by Keith Gunderson

Whitehall and the Ferry
watercolor by Keith Gunderson

New York City Art Studio

A watercolor painting I made in the studio of my friend Janet , which occupied the front parlor of the top floor of a nineteenth century five story walkup on the corner of 55th Street and 8th Ave. Amazing light but also a real sense of New York City when the windows were open and you could feel the energy of the throngs of people and activity below. Yet on a still gray day it could be quiet and serene.

Ucchia Marini carving a block

This is a painting of my dear friend Ucchia Marini, who along with her husband Mark are carvers and make beautiful stone sculptures. I painted this from life in the sculpture studios of the Art Students League of New York.

Poet "O" of Central Park

I was painting en Plein air one fall day in Central Park and ended up doing a scene near the bandshell. On this occasion, as I was painting, a homeless person ambled up to me with what I thought would be a request for money. Instead, this scruffy character recited a poem he had conjured that very moment in homage to all Plein air painters everywhere. I was flabbergasted! When you paint on the street in Manhattan you develop a bit of a thick skin as its hard to not be conspicuous with a tripod and a pochade in open view. My normal (cynical)reaction would be to
try to avoid this guy but to my amazement, he gave me a gift of great eloquence. As I would later find out this fellow held degrees from NYU but had crashed and burned along the way of life and here he was and there I was.

Old St. Patrick's Cathedral

​Here's a nocturne I painted of Old St. Patrick's church in Manhattan. I was standing on the corner of Prince and Lafayette and had a little thumb box with me - very stealthy.

In Central Park

A path in Central Park.. a moment in time that is captured by light and thought.

Art Students League Sculpture Atelier

I painted this painting of the sculpture studios at the Art Students League of New York. I was making clay sculptures and learning casting for a time in the mornings there and was always fascinated by the skylit windows that face onto 58th Street. These northlight windows face onto the street and once had unobstructed light when the American Fine Arts building was built in 1892. Since then, Manhattan has grown up all around and I'll always remember the effect of working on my sculptures on a rainy day and seeing the New Yorkers with their umbrellas silhouetted against the dirty milk glass of these windows scurrying by- sort of like some painting that Manet or Degas would paint.

Central Park West and the Natural History Museum

On a blustery day in November, I painted this view of the Natural History Museum in Manhattan, The late afternoon light made the blue shadows really sing with color and I tried to get the feeling of motion/wind in the brushstrokes.

New York public library lions

This is a little plein air sketch of the lions which dominate the entrance of the new york public library on 42nd street and fifth ave.The crowds in front of the library are insane so I painted this with my little hand held pochade box.

Ice skating in Central Park

Looking toward the Plaza, I painted this scene of skaters at Wollman rink.

The Carousel in Central Park

Couldn't resist this .. plein air at the Carousel on a 20 degree February afternoon. A little cold but I had my fingerless gloves and a little bottle of Schnapps- Perfect!

The Bow Bridge

Mid-park at 74th street is the Bow Bridge. This was a quick plein air sketch from along the promenade on a cold blustery day in November.

The Bridge itself was designed during the mid 19th century by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould.

Central Park Gazebo

This was painted plein air from a Central Park gazebo which is perched on a rocky knoll  just off Sixth Ave. looking east.

Winter on Sixth Ave.

I painted this little thumb box sketch at the foot of Sixth Ave. at Central Park on a winter;s day in January..

Central Park Bandshell

Here's a sketch I completed while out painting plein air in Central Park. This is a view of the bandshell.

Painting every day

I've recently uploaded some new work, or to be more accurate, work that I have "refreshed", to my website. I'm new to  Daily Paint Works and have started uploading images of paintings to the daily forum of work that appears on my screen every morning. It's very inspiring and I have learned a lot from what the other participating artists are doing regarding the promotion and sale of their work. It's really a very focused and serious enterprise, selling one's paintings, and the benefits of learning from many other pairs of eyes is invaluable.
Here's what I got today...
This went up this morning.

Broadway Nocturne
oil on paper
8" x 10"
A nocturne I painted from the traffic island in the center of Broadway adjacent to Lincoln Center in NYC. http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/keith-gunderson/broadway-nocturne/543903


My previous day's upload is here:

Greenwich Village scene
oil on paper
 5" x 7"
This is a little scene that I painted from my hand-held pochade box that artist and friend Bill Darling made for me.Little flower shop off of Christopher Street on a sunny day in May.

Jefferson Market

I'm on a cityscape kick lately so here's another one. This is the Jefferson Market library in Greenwich village at night. I love the Manhattan night-time painting experience; the lights and reflections do things to the colors that are surprising. They also tend to be moodier than daylight paintings. Cityscape and especially nightime scenes have a contemporary feeling - a bit less derivative and "scenic" than pastoral scenes.