New York City: Gray’s Papaya
DECEMBER 2010 | Acrylic on Canvas | 12″ x 16″ | View Larger »
My first non-Toronto painting shows the Gray’s Papaya restaurant on the corner of Eighth Ave. and 37th St. West in New York City. I took the photo for this one back in October when my wife and I visited for a weekend getaway over Canadian Thanksgiving, which this year coincided with US Columbus Day.
After three full days of perfect clear weather, the skies suddenly opened up on our last night and poured down hail and rain so severe that the gutters overflowed within minutes. I thought this was an interesting image with the many coloured lights reflecting off all the glistening wet surfaces. The glare obscured many of the usual details and was fun to paint because I was able to focus on capturing the energy of the city instead of the brickwork. This area of Manhattan is especially chaotic, a sea of gridlock, pedestrians and honking horns that is hard to get used to even though I live downtown in another large city. Everything in NYC operates on a different intensity level. [map]
Gray’s Papaya itself is a NYC fast food institution. There are three bare-bones takeout locations in Manhattan, selling only hot dogs and creamy fruit drinks of various flavours including the namesake papaya. Gray’s is also famous for their “Recession Special” combo of two small hot dogs and a drink. Oddly enough, even though we ate at many great places in NYC it is these cheap little hot dogs with sauerkraut my wife and I have craved most since we returned home.