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Strasburg Studio Archives: Rediscovery in the Stacks
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C I T Y H A L L & B E Y O N D
SEPTEMBER SPOTLIGHT: "Side Street, NYC"
12 x 48", oil on birch panel, 1999? - 2024.
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Thank you for joining me on this monthly trip through the archives of my studio.
Side Street, NYC, 12 x 48”, oil on birch panel.
I’m presenting a unique landscape for the September spotlight: a view from New York City.
This painting carries with it a rich and somewhat tangled history, one marked by its persistent state of incompletion. The inspiration photo was taken with a small, plastic disposable panorama camera sometime in the 1990’s (honestly I can’t remember the date). Same goes for the painting, when I started it, I don’t know. I pull it out to work on between shows or when I’m waiting for that next spark of inspiration.
Side Street, NYC, detail
This year I decided it was time. Time to finish, if only for the auspicious occasion of my 20th wedding anniversary.
On the first day of Fall, twenty years ago, husband Bill and I eloped while vacationing in New York. We shared the news with only a couple friends before leaving town and waited to announce it until after we said “I do” at City Hall. Afterwards, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge calling family to share our news. It was perfection.
For me, Fall has always been a time of adventure. It’s my way of dispelling the melancholy that often accompanies the transition from summer to autumn, from the long, bright days to the encroaching darkness of winter. My solution has always been to travel—escaping when kids are back in school, before the holiday rush takes over, and while the tourists have retreated for the season.
As the days grow shorter and the light shifts, the studio becomes a place of reflection as I chase the dwindling sunlight, savoring each fleeting moment before the winter sets in. This painting, a culmination of countless returns to the easel, now stands as a testament to both my creative journey and the personal milestones that have marked my life.
So, as we embrace this new season, I’m reminded of the enduring connection between art, memory, and the passage of time. It’s a celebration of moments both big and small, and a reminder that every brushstroke is part of a larger, ever-unfolding story.
Side Street, NYC, detail
“Side Street, NYC” has lived in two studios over the past couple of decades. Being that it was always in transition, it never had an opportunity to be on the wall, in a gallery. It’s funny that I’ve made other paintings of New York, polished and living out in the world, yet this one remained incomplete. I have one other such painting of the Paris skyline that has eluded a finish. Perhaps it will be next on the easel. Stay tuned.
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