Hotel Plaza from Central Park 1914

Rachael Robinson Elmer made this image of the Hotel Plaza from Central Park, and it's like a faded postcard, a little memory. It's got these soft greens and greys, the kind of colours that make you think of a rainy day in the city. You can almost feel the dampness in the air, see the reflections shimmering on the water. The brushstrokes are gentle, like she was trying to capture a feeling more than a photograph. I imagine her sitting there, maybe on a park bench, trying to capture the way the light hits the building through the trees. Did she labor over it, or did it just flow out of her? I see those swans gliding on the water. Maybe she paused and watched them, and it gave her an idea. Artists are always looking, always borrowing from each other, whether they know it or not. It's like a big, long conversation that never really ends. And in the end, it doesn't really matter what she meant to say. It's about what it makes you feel, what it makes you see.