Drawing Is Free

 Friends had told me about an online portrait group organized by Chloe Briggs called drawingisfree_org. The group meets on Zoom on Mondays at noon EST for an hour of portrait sketching. Chloe selects sketchers from the group to pose, and each pose lasts only as long as the song that is playing (3-5 minutes). Obviously you need to draw quite quickly. This was the first time I was able to join the group. I used Neocolor crayons and water for the portraits. It was a lot of fun, and I'm hoping to join in again.

Snow at Sayville Beach

 Since the bay is so nearby I ride down there quite often. This was the view at Sayville Beach the other day. A lot of the Great South Bay was frozen and there was still some snow remaining from the last storm.

The Met - Part 2

I didn't take a break for lunch. Instead I found another sculpture to sketch...bears this time. Again I used the colored pencils. Sorry but I didn't get the info about this sculpture. One of the fun things about the American Wing at the Met is seeing out into the park. It makes a great backdrop with that and the cafe.

Shawne Cooper was hosting our event at the Met. Those who were willing to participate moved over to the Greek & Roman sculptures where Shawne had us form into groups of three for an "Exquisite Corpse" game. We were given papers folded into 3. One person on each team did the head and shoulders from a sculpture in the room. Then we swapped with someone on our team and we each did a torso from one of the figures. Lastly we each did a sketch below the waist...being a bit naughty if we wished. It was fun to see all the different combinations that were made. Here is one from our team.

I had a little time before show-and-tell so I headed into another gallery.

 

The Met - Part 1

 The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Recently. Through the winter we have visited and will continue to visit the Met regularly. For each visit we attempt to sketch in a specific gallery. This particular visit our destination was the The American Wing. It is a great spot with lovely sculptures, a wide open area, a cafe, and views to the outside and Central Park.

Prior to the visit I purchased a set of Prismacolor Premium colored pencils. On their website the museum specifies that only dry materials should be used. Over the years I have used pen and watercolor, but it seems using other materials is often determined by the guards in that particular gallery. Some allow other materials, but I have been told by some guards not to use them. One friend had her paints confiscated. So I decided a nice set of colored pencils would be good to have.

I began the day with a sketch of the sculpture, "Artigon Pouring a Libation Over the Corpse of Her Brother Polyncos" by William Henry Rinehard. In the backgound is my friend, Sonia sketching the statue from the other side. Looking around the gallery there must have been at least 20 of us sketching the statues and Tiffany glass.

The Sayville Chocolatier

 Valentine's Day shopping caused a line outside the Sayville Chocolatier. I had been in Sayville the day before and there was a line outside. I couldn't stop then, but went back the following day. I sat across the street in my mobile studio to capture the store and some of the customers waiting outside.

Snow Piles and Boats

The boats at the marinas are mostly wrapped for the winter, but I did find this one in the lot by the Tiki Bar in Patchogue that was uncovered. I liked this scene with the melting snow piles and assorted marine materials around. I sketched from my mobile studio so the cold outside didn't phase me. I believe this is the Sunset Harbor Marina.

Sketch Club Sketches

Last Wednesday the sketch club met at the Patchogue Library and the theme was contour drawings of hands. I didn't have much interest in doing that, but I did one sketch of my hand. Instead I went around the table and sketched each of the sketchers.