Queens Clock

Queens Clock

oil 70 x 99 2014

This painting has been lying around the studio for around four years, so it is a young chicken compared with some of the paintings I have occupied myself with. These have inceptions way back in the later 20th Century!

In any case, Queens Clock deals with time figuratively and literally (it has a working clock embedded into it.) The sky has a craquelure that I consciously developed (I would not recommend this technique as it requires ridiculous patience.)

It was inspired by a NY trip where we stayed in a Long Island City hotel near the Seven line. This part of Queens is one of my favourite parts of the city, which looks magical when one rides the high-up, elevated train, the spires of Manhattan ahead.

The Rail Not Taken

Last spring during a visit to NY I overshot my stop on a subway train in Queens. Since it was only one stop I decided not to bother with taking another train in the opposite direction, but rather just exit the station and walk back to my destination above ground. Before I left the platform, accidentally arrived at, I glimpsed this interesting view of intersecting rails, glinting under lightbulbs receding into the distance of the large, Manhattan-bound tunnel.

Small mistakes, such as not getting off the train in time, give new opportunities if you remain open to them.