The statue was drawn for panel 4 on page 3 and the background image was drawn for panel 4 on page 23 of my 2009 comic Flying Solo. This comic combined blind-contour drawing with photography. I ended up using straight photography for the panel on page 23, and the drawing of the building’s exterior went into this 2011 collage. I also added some black paint to the drawing of the statue for the collage. Similar shading was added digitally for the comic panel.
This statue is a bronze equestrian portrait of George Washington by Henry Kirke Brown that resides in the south end of Union Square Park in Manhattan. For many years, I would pass this statue during my daily commute, first to graduate school and then to a number of agencies I worked for in the city. It is also a few blocks north of a great comic book shop, Forbidden Planet.