I’m delighted to share my first completed painting of 2014: a commission of 55 West 11th Street in Manhattan. Ironically enough, I painted this in Minnesota.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x19l1nc_55-west-11th-street-painting-by-borbay_creation

Here is the entire process in just over a minute… delicious sound track courtesy of MH the Verb… keep an eye out for his album ‘The Balloon Guide’ dropping soon… cover painted by yours truly.

This painting was a surprise Birthday gift, commissioned by Sandy for his love Melanie. The composition is of the street where they once lived. In real life, the street sign isn’t there, but it was important to the picture, so I Photoshopped it in.

Kicking things off with big shapes, and an orange under painting for the sky.

A large, dark swatch to the left.

Oh cadmium red, how I love you so.

If I ever get down to a minimalist phase, this will be a final product…

Under painting completed… now, it’s time to lay out the first light beams.

Cutting into the composition, establishing the vanishing point, painting gradients.

Painting the facade of 55 West 11th, with the canopy formed by negative space.

Painting the building across the street, beginning to establish structure.

Town houses roughly painted in… throwing down some oranges on the left for good measure.

Brightest building in the distance.

Starting to come together, the canopy was huge. Incidentally, since I’m currently working on a portrait of Walter White back in NYC, I watched the first four seasons of Breaking Bad while I created this.

Now it’s getting real… turning on the lights.

The sky required more balance, so I added the blue swatch firing off to the upper right.

On go the lights… I wanted to create a warm, inviting feel, something you might experience on an early Fall evening. And, the street sign has come to life.

Tightening things up, varying the light tonality, adding some visual flavor to the sidewalk…

All of my paintings must be up to code, hence, the fire escape.

Voila! Completed. Happy Birthday Melanie. Thank you for the commission Sanford. I enjoyed painting this immensely, and I hope you love living with it.

Finally, here is an amazing shot of Melanie and Sandy in front of 55 West 11th.