City Park Pigeonnier

City Park in New Orleans has a house for pigeons called Colombier de Carol. What a nice name!

Colombier de Carol
oil on canvas, 18"x14"

To be honest, I didn't know what the structure was for when I was painting it. The human-sized door was open and some park workers were mowing the grass behind me, so I assumed it was a really fancy storage. Then I realized that this brick hexagon building had 10 small holes on each wall, with tiny wooden balconies for birds to sit on. There was also a plaque that explained how this pigeonnier was donated to the City Park in 1928 by Felix Dreyfous, and was named after his granddaughter Carol. It is located behind the Casino building (where Morning Call coffee stand is) on a small island called, what else, the Pigeon Island.

Although there weren't any pigeons around at that time, I can't imagine how many pigeons might come home to this when the sun goes down. Or maybe they aren't fond of this house and never come home - it looks too clean, doesn't it?

Hot Dog Stand at City Park

Once upon a time, there was a place where people gathered to play and have fun; young and old, rich and poor, people with different backgrounds. Then a hurricane named Katrina came and this magical place was filled with water. Trees died, structures sat in the mud for days, if not for weeks. After a while the residents were allowed back into the city, and they cleared the debris and overgrown weeds.

The golf courses at City Park is one of the four public courses in Orleans Parish, and there are only two courses in the East Bank. This is an abandoned hot dog stand that used to serve drinks and snacks to golfers who couldn't, or didn't want to play at any of the private courses in this region.

Hot Dog Stand, City Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 16"x22"

The golf complex at City Park used to have three 18-hole courses before the hurricane. They made a lot of money for the city who is notoriously underfunded, even before the hurricane. If your neighborhood is dark at night, or your street has many potholes, wouldn't you want your city to have enough funding to take care of them?

Flying Horses and New Orleans City Park

They are called carousels in the rest of the world, but in New Orleans they are the Flying Horses. They live in City Park, and according to their website, the carousel dates back to 1906. Some of the animal figures date back to 1885. They are hand-carved, hand-painted, and horses have real horse hair tails!

Flying Horses of City Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 24"x36"

New Orleans City Park holds the oldest grove of mature live oaks in the world. Some are between 600 and 800 years old. There are 20,000 trees in this park.

Peristyle at the bottom was built in 1906 for parties and dances, and still is popular for birthday parties and weddings.

Three of my City Park paintings below will be at the 20th Annual Poydras Home Art Show & Patron Party at 5354 Magazine St. in uptown New Orleans.
Paton Party is on Thursday, October 30, 6-8pm.
Art Show is free and open to the public, on Saturday, November 1, 9am-5pm.
For more information including the Patron Party tickets, visit the Poydras Home website.

Near Diagonal Dr., City Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 14"x18"

Wildflowers in City Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 14"x18"

Peristyle, City Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 14"x18"