Sunday, May 25, 2014

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...



9 comments:

  1. You evoke such a powerful atmosphere. Love the photo and love the words still more.

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  2. Your images tell so many stories, and your friend's painting makes we wish to see it beyond the beginning stages.

    I was drawn to your words, though, and the last sentence here expresses a universal truth beautifully
    "So much depends on the lens one is looking at life through..." Lately I thought a lot about Kant's words, Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination".

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  3. What a wonderful post.
    I think the Hipstamatic black and white does make photos mysterious... I think it is because it removes all the noise.
    I so enjoyed your comments on the photos.

    cheers, parsnip

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  4. Elizabeth, I like your Hipstamatic take on Greenpoint. There's poetry in the Greenpoint air.

    The bunny with the frog would have looked very, very different in black and white! David Lynch or something akin?

    Hope to see you soon. xo

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  5. The Brownstone steps would be difficult to navigate through all of the potted plants, Love the kitche rabbit, only in the photo, mind you, do not send one to me for real!!

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  6. Great observations, both in pictures and words and such an excellent summary...about the lenses through which we look at life. Your friend's paintings inspire me as an artist! Give me the urge to push colour around...but I do love those b&w Instamatic fx you get, too.

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  7. I said to my nephew just yesterday, when he was poking fun at me for taking photos of what he described as an ordinary looking tree, how things look so different when you look at them thru the lens of a camera. : ) Wonderful photos!!! xo

    ~ Wendy

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  8. This post through your lens was fabulous elizabeth!

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I look forward to hearing from you!