Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Yesterday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for sketching. There are several big greenhouses that are partly underground and will keep you warm (a bit too warm) while it is frosty outside. The weather report was for a fairly mild day so I was hoping to get to sketch outdoors too.

I began in the Desert greenhouse which has some wonderful varieties of cacti. That is my favorite of the rooms for sketching because it is dry and comfortable...as long as you are not wearing a heavy sweater. I was prepared with a flannel shirt and a t-shirt underneath...so I was comfortable. I included the windows so this wouldn't be mistaken for a sketch from Arizona.

Then we walked over to the cafe for lunch. I brought my own lunch due to my experience the last time we were there in the winter and the concession stand was so underwhelming. This one was too. Coffee was made one cup at a time with pods...so you know how long that took with about 15 sketchers waiting. They had soup, wraps (that were premade and cold) or scones and cookies. Not very exciting fare for sure!  How difficult is it to provide something a bit better? Yes, there is a regular restaurant but lunch runs around $20 and takes far too much time.

After lunch we headed back to the greenhouses. I went in the tropical room and it was just too hot. The temperate room wasn't much better, so I opted to go outside. It wasn't as windy as earlier in the day but I needed my warm coat, hat, scarf, and fingerless gloves. After a while I was wishing I had my tights on under my jeans...and covered the tips of my fingers. All this to be able to sketch the conservatory. 

Around 3 we met to walk over to Tooker's Alley for drinks and "show and tell." I didn't sketch there because I was busy talking to a couple that were visiting from San Francisco and a guy visiting from Copenhagen. We also had a guy from somewhere in South America but he didn't join us for show and tell. It was a good day of sketching and meeting new people.