Before and After

Yesterday I decided to go into the city and join the NYC Urban Sketchers. My usual partner on these trips wasn't going in, so I took the train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station. It is usually a pretty nice trip because I get on at the first stop and can pick my seat to give me a sketching view. I sat where the center seats of the train car face each other, but I felt it was too close to sketch the people in the other center seats. Instead I focused on a man 2 rows back and across the aisle. He was seated with a woman but I could only get a glimpse of her thru the seats. This was my "before" sketch...meaning before I met the group at the American Museum of the Native American. Those sketches will be in tomorrow's post.

It had been a fairly cold day and we were happy to be inside. When we came out after our show and tell the sun was shining and it felt rather mild. I started walking toward the subway station and turned to see the autumn colors against the tall downtown buildings along Battery Park. So I stopped, pulled on my hat, took out my small sketchbook and materials and painted the view. This was painted quickly because I was standing up and trying to balance my equipment without dropping anything. It is a direct watercolor done "after" our time at the museum.