Todd Stone is a neighbor around the corner from me.  He is a notable Tribeca artist (see his great website at www.toddstone.com) and I am a huge fan.  I think that is because in addition to his abstract work, he often paints the things I also obsess over, like our skyline and the Woolworth Building.  Something about his colors and media and attention to light conveys to me the same lightness and beauty I remember discovering in the quattrocentro frescos of Italy, especially those of Piero della Francesca (the landscapes and buildings, not the drapery).

From Todd’s studio he has great views of the Woolworth Building.   I am not much of a fan of the WTC construction site, but in Todd’s hands, it develops a strange beauty.  He wrote me this note when asked if it was okay to profile him here:  ”I have spent many hours observing and feeling our shared Downtown skyline. Attached is a pic of my 1995 watercolor Skyline, the view from my studio window on Thomas Street where Lori and I have lived since 1980.   I was doing the skyline paintings then as a studio practice as my main thrust was my abstract painting.   Over time, my focus has changed as our neighborhood has transformed.  ”My Witness” series interprets my Tribeca experience of 9/11/01.  I have since made scores of Tribeca streetscapes and skylines and was privileged to have a residency on the 48th floor of 7 WTC to paint the emerging World Trade Center.  But my chronicle of the changing roofscape of Tribeca continues as seen in Nocturne watercolor of 3012 and September Skyline oil 2012.”

Here are some photos of Todd’s works.  I begin though, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Woolworth Building with a piece on the upper left that Todd did a long time ago, before 9/11. (Click on thumbnails to view gallery.)