5th Ave & 77th St.
I am often asked about the diversity of the commissions which I received and in in truth it is a question I often wonder about myself. My only answer is that each one of us creates a unique world of people and experiences and when they invite me into it, I watch and join in and portray it. But during this painting I met so many fascinating people and learned about so many celebrated lives and found them so welcoming. Charlie Moss had seen my work and asked me to paint one for his wife, Susan Calhoun, but not to let her know about it.
So I would come when she was at work and hide near the large tree seen in the painting. I met so many people whom I had only known of through TV, and so many remain in my mind to this day. Remember Steve Karmen who wrote the "I Love New York" jingle, and Candice Bergen and Elaine Kaufman? It seems as if Charlie and Susan's friends who fill this painting were the very spirit of why I love New York itself. When Mary and Sam lay in their cribs and I could see them as babies, I did not know the joy I would have every year when I would see them on the wonderful holiday cards which I still receive.
This was one of the most interesting groups of people which inhabit my paintings and as we do our website, so many years later, in the year 2020, I am looking at their latest holiday card and smiling.