At the outset, I had great plans for my "East Side Storeys" series. I'd have my preferred subjects – people – interact with features of actual old houses on my side of town. First, a house with enchanting rooflines; then, a house with beautiful stained-glass windows; then, an irresistible bay window: and mostly recently, a unique front porch.
Well, if you haven't lost the plot – and it's been easy enough to do – you'll know that each East Side street I've travelled has had a bump in the road. Do I dare try again, aiming for a house with lovely front steps occupied by step-sitters? The gorgeous title photo of a classy brownstone in Upper Manhattan urged me to rise to the challenge – thank you, Friend A!
Here's the house that started my original train of thought:
When I cruised back one day for a better photo, I wondered if its next-door neighbour might offer more possibilities.
If you've noticed a similarity in colours with previous houses in this series, it's probably due to the "True Colours" program – a catalog of heritage-inspired housepaint colours derived from the colours of actual old paint chips.
Somehow, these steps just didn't work with my would-be sitters and standers. And meanwhile, I'd again walked in a different direction and paused at this charmer with its wrap-around veranda. I was undeterred by the prominent tree in front. Hadn't we gleefully learned of "artistic license" in Grade 7 art class?
Yes – let's try this one. Here's the view I'll work with as I try to get both those side porches.
From this, I did a rough pencil drawing to scale, to be copied with a pastel stick onto a green painted underlayer.
I played around with this for several mornings' studio sessions. WHY hadn't I remembered the basic East Side lesson – that unless I worked on a very large canvas, I was unlikely to be able to combine plausible people with plausible housefronts. The step-sitters just wouldn't work!
Then, to the rescue -- A small figure I've had on my bulletin board for years.
Scaled up, she's going to help me get back to basics.
As we take this house "down to the studs" as they say, I'm going to begin again, working from the blueprint.
Paintbrush in hand, this gal works fast – choosing to start with that bay window that I couldn't resist.
And here's the final: "Working from the Blueprint" – East Side Storeys series, copyright 2025.
Just coincidentally, I walked into my Friend L's gallery (hers by virtue of several decades of expert volunteer labour) to find its current exhibit featuring an artist who works large-scale – with the architecture of vintage houses! How about that?!?
And meanwhile, we've all had the pleasure of Friend A's photographs – as beautifully composed as those of the plats du jour at her boutique restaurant. She comments, by the way, that the very idea of prohibiting step-sitting is "very un-New York."
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