North End, Boston - Mike's Pastry

"Going for some Pastry at Mike's #2 - North End" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $650)

Here's another version of the painting in my previous post: "Going for some Pastry at Mike's #1". It shows the same scene, but cropped and much closer. This time, the wooden doors with their oval windows and brass details open wide to admit the pastry seeker from the bright and reflected light into the cool interior. A father is seen sitting and talking at a table through the tall window on the left. He's holding his baby on his lap and lightly resting his chin on top of the baby's head. The square lights in the ceiling compete with the reflected street lamp and passing traffic for our attention.

The raking angle of the sun is what makes this painting interesting for me, along with expressing the cool reflected light as it makes it's way across the pink marble and stucco facade of the building. I also like the sharp opposing diagonal of the partially sunlit window above the sign, and the touch of tenement brick-and-fire escape that it includes.

This is truly a North End scene that most people can identify with, even those who only come into 'The Neighborhood' occasionally to pick up some pastry at Mike's.