Greenpoint

Last Thursday was a very gray day. I went with the artist Patty Bouley to visit her studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Greenpoint is very near Queens  - a wonderful neighborhood becoming very cool and trendy - and full of filmmakers and artists and people who need the sort of space that's hideously expensive in Manhattan.

There are, however, holdovers from the old, Polish, Greenpoint, and lovely, well-maintained houses. This cheerful chap, maybe left over from Easter, has a frog on his head.

 The steps of brownstones.

We head down towards the East River and pass The American Deli

heading to the huge industrial building where Patty has her studio.

Here a sketch for a painting Patty is working on.

Here are some of her colorist paintings...

So bold and wonderful. You can see more of them here.

They quite altered the gray day.

Patty's shared studio is wonderful - but not nearly as grand as the huge room you can rent for events. I mentally start thinking what could possibly take place there...

On the way back to the subway station, I pass a shuttered restaurant - almost deco in feel.

On the way back to Manhattan, I amuse myself observing people on the subway. It's weird how the Hipstamatic black and white filter automatically renders things mysterious and romantic. So much depends on the lens one is looking at life through...