Are you interested in commissioning a special painting for your home or office?

I am pleased to accept a limited number of commissions for custom artwork of various subjects and sizes, in watercolor, oil and charcoal. The price of unframed custom work depends on size and technique. After we discuss the subject, elements to be included, and format of the artwork you want, I submit compositional sketches for idea development, then a full-size sketch for comments. Upon your approval of the final sketch, I start the finished piece. While I prefer to see the subject personally, I am able to work from your photographs. Payments are in three parts: at the start, upon approval of the full-size sketch, and at completion.

While I cannot quote an exact price for a painting before knowing more about the project, the following can be used as a guide for pricing custom unframed work. Watercolors: small (11" x 15") $2,200; medium (15" x 22") $3,800; large (22" x 30") $4,800. Oils: (18" x 24") $7,500 to $9,500. Other sizes are available in watercolor, oil and charcoal. Sales tax and/or shipping are additional.– N.R.

Please email me at SeaportArtist [at] gmail.com or call 212–964–8465 for more information or to discuss your ideas.

With two requests this year for oil paintings of buildings, my interest in architectural portraits developed and quickly grew. It was such a pleasure getting to know the buildings, and studying them closely to better portray their appearance and their spirits on canvas. The two paintings shown below (Blatt Billiards and Late Spring on West 11th Street) are scenes in New York City. I took the opportunity of visiting the buildings several times, to see how they looked at various times of day, and in different light conditions. By the time the paintings were finished, these buildings felt like old friends.

Above: Six-panel watercolor mural: New York City Waterfront. Installed above wainscoting in the dining room of a pre-war apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, these panels ring the room. A long dining table is in the center. I supposed it to be Manhattan, and the watercolors are views as seen looking out from around the island. The panels are 30 inches high and from 60 to 181 inches wide.

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