Shop The Soft City Collection

“The Soft City Collection is a small series of studio paintings done using oil paints and mediums, on various stretched canvas and birch panels. This small but impactful collection was imagined and planned months before it was started. I wanted to capture New Orleans in a unique way, showcasing a few landmarks during quiet, peaceful times of day.

View the three larger pieces as a sequence, experiencing a day in New Orleans: a solitary stroll through the French quarter at dawn, before the lamps automatically turn off, then peeking through the trees at the St. Louis cathedral at midday, and winding down the tour by stepping off the street car, and turning back just as the sun sets behind St. Charles Avenue.

The smaller pieces in the collections are studies of the larger works and experiments with varying palettes and chromatic shifts. The Bead Tree is an ode to Carnival, as this collection was created during the Mardi Gras celebrations of 2022.

Here is a portion of my journal from Mardi Gras day: “A “bead tree” is a popular sight in New Orleans that remains adorned for months after carnival season: when you walk past one, you can can almost hear the fading sounds of a brass ensemble as they make their way around the corner. The beads sparkle in the sun as if they had just been thrown that day… just like the water drops shimmer in the sun right after it rains. To visitors, it may seem trashy to leave the beads where they landed, but to us, they’re a daily reminder of a helluva good time. ‘Til next time…”

– XO Stephanie