New York

Whether you love it or hate it, there's no denying that New York can be a bit of an assault on the senses.  Times Square, in particular, is noisy and chaotic.  There's an interesting array of smells, some nicer than others and it's impossible to walk from one side of the square to the other without bumping into hundreds of people and photo bombing many more.

I have to admit that after a week I'm usually quite pleased to return to the relative quiet of home - even with a hotel room on the 27th floor I could hear the car horns at night.  That doesn't in any way take away from the fact that it's an incredible city to visit.  I have a feeling that one painting of Times Square is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding inspiration here.  It's such an iconic place that we're so use to seeing on TV and in movies and the first time you visit you get a strange sense of deja vu.

I've been twice this year, both times for work (you can see our office in this picture).  After my first visit in June, I wanted to do a painting that captured the vibrant nature of the place but I wasn't quite sure how to approach it.  Then I read an article in a magazine which showed a painting of a night scene in Bangkok and how it was built up.  I decided that this was the way to represent New York so on my next visit I went out after work one evening and took some photos to work from.  Pastels seemed the obvious choice to get those bold colours and once I got going, this picture actually progressed pretty quickly. The whole thing was done in an afternoon and I made very few finishing touches when I came back the next week to look at it.