Sunday, January 26, 2014

World Wide SketchCrawl #42 in Brooklyn

Yesterday was the 42nd World Wide SketchCrawl. The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum. During the two sessions we had about 12 sketchers participate. Some came for the morning session and some for the afternoon session.

 Susan and I got to the location early, and sat in her van in the parking lot of the Brooklyn Museum to sketch this replica of the Statue of Liberty. It was created by an unknown artist and maker
c. 1900, American, Akron, Ohio.


We headed over to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and ran into Mark and Pat at the entrance. The first thing we passed was the Japanese pond, which looked great with all the snow and ice contrasted against the red pagoda....much different from when we were there in the Spring to sketch the cherry blossoms.


The gardens are home to some wonderful greenhouses where we sketched indoors. Luckily, since it was such a cold day they are all connected underground. I sketched in the bonsai room first.


Then I met a few of the other sketchers in the desert pavilion.


Some of the sketchers were in the tropical pavilion.
Here are Mark, Pat, Louis, Svetlana and Joy.


Susan was busy sketching an area right near them.


I did a quick sketch of a musa 'brazilian" from the banana family.


In addition to good food, lunchtime is always a sketching opportunity. I did a sketch of Joy while she was sketching someone else.


After lunch we headed across the parking lot to the Brooklyn Museum and went up to the Egyptian exhibits. The museum guards were great and allowed us a lot of freedom. They didn't mind sketchers sitting on the floor and let us sketch with pretty much any materials. I wasn't sure what we would be able to use since their website did say no ink or watercolors...so I brought along my watercolor pencils and my water brush and left my regular watercolors in the van.

Here is a statue of a cloaked official from the Middle Kingdom (1759 - 1675 BC).


Some of the other sketchers were working in the same area sketching the same statue. Mark found a spot on the floor and Pat stood and sketched on her iPad.


Shawne joined us for the first time. She was sketching a small Egyptian head.


Mary also joined us for the first time. Here she is sketching near Mark.


There were a few Egyptian cats on exhibit. This one was from 305BCE - 1st century CE and was made of wood. He looks very regal.



Some of us headed downstairs and found a view of the lobby that we sketched from above.


On the first floor we found a great statue to sketch. Here are Susan, Shawne, Joan (me) and Joy.


This is the statue we were sketching. She definitely made all of us feel small.


I also found a baleen whale mask from the 19th century.


My final sketch was a Ndeemba Mask for N-Khanda Initiation by an unidentified artist from the early 20th century, Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.


It was great meeting new sketchers and seeing our regular members. 
By the time we left the museum at around 5pm there was a fresh inch of snow on the ground which made our trip home even longer than usual.











13 comments:

  1. Wow! I can't believe how many sketches you did! And they are super as usual. I miss doing the sketchcrawls with you though.

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  2. How brilliant to have had a sketch crawl and meet up with friends especially for the Worldwide Sketchcrawl.

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  3. OMGosh, Joan.... you've been busy ...these sketches are all amazing.. very well done.. I love the sketches in the tropical pavilion.. and your previous painting is wonderful as well!!

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  4. Mickey - Thanks. I'll have to come and get you for a day with the NYC Urban Sketchers at some point. They have discussed going to Liberty Park some Saturday.

    Ann - Thank you. It is fun to have a group to sketch with.

    Hilda - Thanks. It was a bit of a marathon sketching day.

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  5. Good for you for going. I should have emailed you earlier and maybe that would have gotten me out of my apartment to meet you!

    I love all your sketches. Particularly the banana leaf, the seated Egyptian cat and especially that voluptuous woman! Wonderful job as usual and it looks like you had a great time.

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  6. This is so cool. I've never gone out with a big group to sketch together...well, I did a plien air drawing contest once but we were not "a together group" and were spread out all over town and countryside. I didn't feel connected to the other artists even when I WAS standing close to them. I love all your sketches.

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  7. You group is an inspiration! Beautiful Joan and I love to see how you spent your day through your sketches!

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  8. Joan, it is beyond me how you manage so many wonderful sketches in a day. I really love the tropical one; the blues in the fronds are exquisite! What an awesome day you had. I wish I could sketch well but I just cannot seem to get my lines right.

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  9. Wow! That was one busy day! I love the plant sketches, some great colours and wonderful tangled roots on the bonsia, you've really captured the character of these unique plants!

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  10. Joan - I want to come to sketch with all of you. What inspiration and how much fun. Joan your sketches are so amazing. The Akron, Ohio artist unknown really caught my eye - I live about 60 miles from Akron. Thanks for sharing. Hope you are staying warm and survive the next two cold days coming.

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  11. Carol - Thanks. You should have come. It was cold outside but since we were inside we didn't care! And we should have all posed in front of the voluptuous woman statue with our sketches of her. lol

    Celia - Thanks!! I love getting out with a group and then seeing what everyone sketches.

    Sherry - LOL We were there from 10am to 4pm which gave us lots of time to sketch. You should just sketch and not worry about the lines. Sketches like that have a lot of character.

    Kevin - Thank you. It was a marathon sketching day.

    Debbie - Thanks. We had temps around 42 today and they say it will drop down to 12 tonight. lol The weather is crazy.

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  12. Wow Joan! Your output is impressive! I love getting such a great insight into your day and to see you and your fellow sketchers. I particularly love the way you did your botanical sketches. Just beautiful! You have inspired me to try some sketching myself. I just need to get around to doing it!

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