Part of the NYC Cocktails & Curiosities Series

Many people consider Washington Square Park the heart of Greenwich Village.  There are so many things to share about this park, from history to pop culture to architecture, but here are a few tidbits that are referenced in the artwork.

The chessboard sky references the park’s famous outdoor chess tables, which are featured in many films, such as Searching for Bobby Fischer.  The Washington Square Arch was erected to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration which happened nearby on Wall Street in 1789 when New York City was the capital of the United States.  Originally made out of wood, the permanent marble arch was designed by renowned architect Stanford White.  The arch is 77 feet tall and is patterned after Paris’s Arch de Triomphe (which is 164 feet tall).

Initially, I was going to include the Hanging Elm in this piece, but felt that the park is so vibrant and full of life that I decided to change it to an homage to Edward Hopper and one of his pieces, Summertime, which is full of hope and possibility.  The woman from Hopper’s piece is leaning on a decorative lamp post from the park's fountain area.  Hopper lived for over 50 years in #3 Washington Square Park in the famous row of Greek Revival townhomes shown in the background of this piece.

About the NYC Cocktails & Curiosities Series of mixed media paintings

The debut gallery show of the paintings in this series coincided with the launch of the Cocktails and Curiosities Walking Tour Apps coded by the Artist Christi Scofield.  These tours feature famed spots in NYC with historical or pop-culture panache.  Cocktails & Curiosities is now part of the Carpe City brand.