I may live in Idaho, but New York City still courses through my veins. So, you can imagine my immense pleasure when I was commissioned to paint Zabar’s — an Upper West Side icon. I can still taste the coffee and black-and-white’s in my mind (and thanks to Goldbelly, literally)…

Having spent thirteen years in NYC, I met some incredible people — one of those being Christos Olympios Katsiaouni. We met through a dear mutual friend, Rob, and have stayed in touch. As it happens, Christos is a professional photographer… and he was kind enough to get some Zabar’s snaps for me, on-location. Be sure to check this amazing article featuring Stos’… on none other than Cool Hunting (appropriate for a cool guy).

And, of course, I also want to thank my brother Dan and his lady Kathleen for snapping more source images for reference.

When speaking with my collectors about the work… we decided on twilight… so I created this digital comp to establish the general look-and-feel. From here? It was off to the races.

It always begins with a basic outline and a dream.

The under-painting is an important facet of each painting… I like to get the feel for the composition, while creating a solid base.

From there, it’s about establishing form… I began with the Tudor style woodwork on the buildings facade… and, got to work on the sky.

With the sky established, I began working shadows throughout, and applied the first of several tones to the building itself.

Next? I got into the background buildings, and brought the tree into play… who, as you will see, plays an important role in the work… Richard Burbage in any given Shakespeare production, if you will.

In the background… the building has been brought to life with windows… and, I say this literally, a thousand or so bricks. On the building itself, the Zabar’s sign is alive… as are the windows. And, of course, the olive tone really hit the spot…

Now we are making progress… I got down hard with the windows…

Now, the Zabar’s arched marquee’s are glowing… and, I spent some serious time drawing the street-level windows (all adorned with subtle hidden messages, of course).

Is it Arbor Day? Because I see a glorious tree… I’ve painted some tree’s in my day, but this might be my favorite. No offense Bob Ross.

This was the “it’s almost there, let’s take a proper snap” moment… all that remained was a few bit of details. And?

Boom! Zabar’s… a wonderful legend, thriving to this day at 2245 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. To my collectors, I thank you deeply for this commission. Here’s hoping you love living with this, as much as I loved painting it! I’ll be sure to bring some Zabar’s goodies for delivery and installation.

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