79th & B’way, 1979. Oil on canvas, 38 x 62 inches.
Private Collection.
For this painting I first laid out a rough pencil figure composition sketch. I particularly liked the idea of the newsstand and the subway exit as the backdrop. The west side of Broadway in the shade enabled the light newsstand and the figures to project more strongly. I drew an inch grid on my sketch and a grid to scale on my 38 x 62" stretched canvas for the placement of the figures from the sketch to the larger canvas. Then I had each model come to my studio and pose individually. The guy coming out of the subway is me at age 48.