The high point of a very busy October was a trip I made to New York. I was commissioned by an old (she would shudder at me saying that) high school friend to paint the offices of the Henry Street Settlement, a fantastic charitable organization with ties to the Lower East Side in Manhattan. Sue wanted me to paint from some photos but I suggested that I fly up to visit my father in Trenton the same weekend and kill two birds with one stone. It worked out well and I was able to spend a few days in New York painting along with some time with my 89-year-old father. All the preparation with equipment and supplies, weather, driving, flying—it can be extensive, expensive, and exhausting. The pay off is having something real and meaningful—something hand made and human to record your travels and your wonders. I painted a picture of the East River and New York Bridges one morning from the window of a small apartment along the FDR. I spent an afternoon on a New York street with wonderful New Yorkers. Captured the afternoon light on the New Jersey farmhouse. All in all, a great trip.
