Playmats Arch Central Park, New York, New York

Playmates Arch, Color Study, Oil on Canvas, 16x20

Here's a recent Plein Air painting I created. I visit Central Park several times a week to create paintings of the bridges and arches. This spot had its challenges. The first challenge was that I started painting on a cloudy day then, half way through the painting, the sun came out. So I had to make color changes. The forecast said cloudy all day and I wanted to study the light on a cloudy day.

The 2nd challenge was the perspective. There was an optical illusion that was driving me crazy. When I stood there, the angle of the path visually went from the tunnel up towards the right side because the path goes down hill. But optically, I had to do the opposite. It looked one way but I had to draw it the opposite way. You can kinda see it on this image.

Regardless of the challenges, I learned a lot. I'm looking forward to the next one.