Monday, October 1, 2018

Gowanus 1 & Inktober 2018 Day 1

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the gritty, industrial area around the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. We have sketched there before and it is such a fun place. It was (IS?) one of the most polluted areas of our country and they have been working hard to clean up the area. As they do clean it up, new buildings are sprouting up and a lot of the graffitied buildings are slowly coming down. The essence of the place is slowly being lost as the area is changing. The toxic waste area is slowly becoming a lovely residential area. I haven't been there in a few years and the changes are very noticable.
One of our members, Jessica is part of an organization called the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club. On Saturday they were offering free canoe rides on the canal. I thought about it but with my poor sense of balance I didn't want to end up in the canal or to have my art supplies in the canal. So I stayed on shore. Several of our sketchers did go out in the canoes and a few even managed to sketch while they were in the canoes. Here is the first of my sketches. It includes a composite sketch of the people in the canoe. They passed by too quickly so I included a bit of what I saw in each of the canoes.


Today is October 1st and you know what that means...INKTOBER!!! Started by Jake Parker, Inktober has become very popular. I have participated in it since 2015 and always look forward to it. If you click on this link you can find out more about it...or just grab a pen and sketch in ink. This was sketched from the parking lot at Smith Point Beach.
#inktober #inktober2018


10 comments:

  1. Yay for InkTober! This is my 4th year, too!

    - Tina

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay! All three of us fourth years are back! Love those alternating textures, Joan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love both of these....the first one is amazing, Joan!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL Sketching people in a moving canoe wasn't easy. lol Thank you.

      Delete
  4. Really good sketches and a nice “remembering” journal entry. I looked at Intober .. that is all I ever do is look. Oh well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a hard time leaving color off my Inktober sketches. lol Thanks so much.

      Delete
  5. A lovely painting and sketch Joan. It is nice to hear they are cleaning up the area. Have fun with Inktober!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice double entry - a color sketch and ink entry. I can only think of how hard to resist coloring the nekkid one. LOL

    ReplyDelete