Every street has a story

Every street has a story. Walking the City, I seem drawn to certain streets. Each street has a past. Memories. A history. Its own history commingling with my history to the street. I return to favorite streets where I somehow feel at home. A street can anchor you, place you, remind you, make you feel. It can speak to you. Every street has a soul. There is a mood to a street. The sky, the weather interacting with a street, an emotional dance, an unveiling. Sometimes dramatic, but often quiet and subtle, the streets I paint demand I notice them. I feel this way about New York City more than any other place. The curve of that street, the remembered buildings still standing to mark my own history to them. Within my paintings there is often a glimpse of my husband Joe, as he has wandered most of these streets with me over the years. These streets I paint in oil will never look quite the same way again. I am recording a history, a passing moment in time with every street. A very personal journey with NYC. My story is here. Ellen Bradshaw’s work was influenced by the realism of the Ashcan painters, as well as the sense of color and atmosphere explored by the Impressionists. Ellen’s usual subject is New York City. “I’m drawn to the common everydayness of life in the city, and perhaps what is hidden just beneath the surface of the ordinary. The reflective moody quirky streets of Lower Manhattan are my usual subjects – the neighborhoods, the personalities of her buildings, the majesty of her bridges, the streets transformed by snow or the colors of night, the lone figures of daily routine, the everyday intensity of the simple passing of moments against that in-your-face reality that is New York City.” Ellen has shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is the recipient of several awards. She has been President of Pleiades Gallery since 2000.