landscape painting

The Cultural Landscape Foundation 22nd Annual Silent Auction 2026

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

The 2026 annual silent auction began this week! We are in a moment when historic and cultural landscapes need our help, and your donation through this auction is a great way to give support and gain a new work of art or collectible.

Have a look and share with others -

https://www.tclf.org/twenty-second-annual-silent-auction

This year I donated the watercolor painting “Summer Garden: Paeonia,” which is part of a body of work that focuses on elements of the natural world within urban environments. The work seeks to evoke a sense of quiet and serenity, and embrace the importance of nature in providing peace, beauty and cultural meaning through storytelling. The peony flower, by name, originates from the myth of an herbal healer; and the flower can be understood to possess an inherent duality symbolizing both strength and fragility.

 

2026 New Forest Oil Painting Series - Color and Seasonal change

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

Excited to share this new Forest oil painting series, using color and abstraction to continue my exploration around ideas of the urban forest, in this set of three focusing on seasonal change. These three paintings were developed simultaneously over about 10 months, beginning with a geometric gridded framework. Layers of transparent color were applied to create an abstracted visual field reminiscent of a 3D space.

The composition and color palette for each painting was developed with reference to photographs taken during walks in the forest. I also worked in directly in response to the developing works while reflecting on the sensory experience of being in the forest.

The natural elements overlaying an abstracted woven background are meant to reflect nature and the forest in a condition of urbanism.

Works shown (left to right): Forest in Yellow, Forest in Green, Forest in Gold and Grey

tclf annual auction 2025!

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

This week marks the opening of The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s 21st Annual Silent Auction.

Have a look at the many works donated by a wide spectrum of creative professionals!

This year I donated the watercolor painting “Cityscape in Grey and Blue,” which is part of a body of work exploring the transitional textures and shifting identity of cities, including Long Island City, NY where many creatives continue to work despite the changes taking place.

www.tclf.org/twenty-first-annual-silent-auction

Industrial nocturne, new watercolor painting

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

I am captivated by the experience of looking across the urban landscape during that brief time, just as daylight breaks or before darkness sets in.

The hours of dawn and dusk are a special time which allows us to see the world in a different way. Understandable objects of everyday life fade, and instead the subtle or contrasting shifts of light and dark define abstracted forms. A line is drawn by the division between silhouetted shapes below and the colorful glow above.

This painting captures the legacy of an industrial waterfront. A place which contains remnants from the past, preserved as layers, and revealed in our present experience of a waterfront park.

industrial nocturne (2023) watercolor, 10in x 10in

LIC-A @ Atlantic 2023 - Opening Reception for Member Show at the Atlantic Gallery in Chelsea, NYC

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

A great turn out for the opening reception for this year’s LIC-A member show at the Atlantic Gallery! During gallery preparation the weekend before, it was fun spending the afternoon with other artists to assist in hanging the show. My recently completed oil painting “Compositional Change” was selected for the show, hope you made it!

@AtlanticGalleryNYC / AtlanticGallery.org

@LICArtists / LICArtists.org

Manhattanhenge 2020 - oil painting completed March 2022

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

This painting was completed in memory of an extra special afternoon on the Long Island City, NY waterfront. One of the first days in summer of 2020, traveling beyond our immediate neighborhood after months of isolation at home. Hunter’s Point Park, like many parks across the country, allowed us to exist again in public life safely and experience the beauty and magic of the living in New York City.

Ghost Forest - oil painting completed Sept. 2021 - SOLD!

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

The painting ‘Ghost Forest” is based both on a real and an imaged forest. It is part of a body of work that explores the forest as a metaphor for human experience and provides abstracted impressions of the character, beauty and tragedy of real forests. This painting developed over a 2-year period, with intervals of rest in between the layers of paint, as the work evolved. It began as a character study of a local urban forest in Queens, NY, and during the last year the image of the forest developed to convey both a sense of loss and transformation. The twisting ghost-like trunks hover in a vibrant yet empty environment. The distant forest appears alive with layers of green vegetation.

Ghost Forest, oil painting on wood panel, 18in x 18in

The painting process

Ghost Forest was started of Sept. 2018 and the painting was completed Sept. 2021. Below is a series of images showing the process of the painting over the three years.

Exhibition: LiC-A @Atlantic Spring 2021

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

Please visit (digitally or schedule in person!) the current LiC-A member show at the Atlantic Gallery, NYC. My recently completed oil painting “Water Under the Bridge” will be on display in the annual LIC-Artists member show.

ShowFlyer_AtlanticGalleryNYC_21-0422.jpg

A Virtual Opening Reception will be held via Zoom on Saturday May 1st, at 3pm. A direct link with details to join are below, so you can tune in and see/hear about new works by local NYC artists, created during the past year. See you there!

Please use ID below to join the zoom meeting:

Meeting ID: 861 5878 3434

Passcode: LICA2021

zoom link: opening reception
atlanticgallery.org/exhibitions/
LICA-Atlantic.JPG
 

The Waters of Venice, Italy

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

The City of Venice is one of the tourism capitals of Italy, with a rich history of art, architecture, and engineering feats. Every street you walk contains a story. Along the charming canals one can think about a city built on water where there once was a marshy lagoon (https://venezialines.com/blog/venices-canals-built-city-built-water/). The buildings share distinct architectural styles of Gothic, Byzantine, and Ottoman influences from over a thousand years ago (http://imaginingvenice.com/2013/04/16/venetian-architecture/). The city also contains many tales of folk lore and myth, identified by statues, bridges, and other relics of love, loss, terror, and spirits that remain, to remind us of the city’s rich and sometimes dark history.

Canals of Venice, 11in x 15in, pen+ink with watercolor (2020)

Canals of Venice, 11in x 15in, pen+ink with watercolor (2020)

The drawing “Canals of Venice” began as a pencil sketch drawing meant to capture the breathtaking architecture and character of the city streets. As the drawing developed, I began laying on hatches of ink to define and give character to the scene. The image I used as a reference was taken at night, and had an incredible feeling of calm and mystery. The stories of noir and myths of the city encouraged me to incorporate some intentional areas of muted color over the pen and ink drawing, to bring focus to the murky waters of the canal, and bring a sense of contrast between the buildings and the canal.

blog_PROCESS_canals-of-venice_WEB.jpg

The Ephemeral Glow of Manhattanhenge

Added on by rebecca kanfer.

I have now seen Manhattanhenge three times while living in Queens, NY. For those who have also witnessed this truly magical event understand the excitement, anticipation, and buzz on the streets as people crowd on street corners… or just block traffic by standing in the street, to see the minutes of yellow, orange, red glow of the sun setting between NYC sky scrapers. Almost as soon as you see it, it has disappeared. Perhaps this is what keeps bringing us back!

Manhattanhenge, 18in x 18in, oil painting (2020)

Manhattanhenge, 18in x 18in, oil painting (2020)

No one knows how long New Yorkers have observed Manhattanhenge, though the name was officially given in 1997 by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Read more from the “Science Man” in his BLOG here. We can thank this bi-annual phenomenon to the rectilinear grid streets laid out in the “Commissioners’ Plan of 1811,” which gave us straight streets aligned at a slight angle to the island of Manhattan.

For those interested in seeing for themselves - the phenomenal sunset happens twice per year, typically towards the end of May and in early July; the exact dates are different every year and are typically posted by national and local news sites online. I have seen it both from 41st street in Manhattan and the Long Island City waterfront where the memory for this painting was captured.

The sunrises are a bit more elusive because it happens EARLY in the morning. I for one am not an early bird, but someday will make the early AM trip to the westside of Manhattan. It is also hard to predict viewing the sunrise Manhattanhenge because to the east are the lovely developed skylines of Queens and Brooklyn, which may block the view.

Either way, the experience of Manhattanhenge is truly memorable and a powerful sight to see.