Sketching in Washington Heights.

I met up with the NYC Urban Sketchers on Saturday. Svetlana organized a wonderful day for us in Washington Heights. We met at Bennett Park which is on the former site of Ft. Washington. Inside the park are some cannons which were fun to sketch...or climb on like the little kids did.

Next we headed down the hill to Plaza Lafayette which overlooks the river and the George Washington Bridge. I wanted to try to catch the height of the bridge down to the bike path down at the bottom so I used a vertical format.

We had some regular members of the group show up to sketch and welcomed a few new sketchers. We have members from France, Germany, Russia, and China sketching with us. Most of them work here in NYC or are finishing their education. It is an interesting group.

Here are John and Mark sketching the view.

Svetlana 

Jimmy 

Lucy

Michael

And the whole group from the morning.

Our next stop was lunch. Some of us sketched a bit. I did a woman at the next table. I used my ink pen and the crayons that were on the table. That waxy smell of crayons always takes me back to beijng a kid. I usually sketch directly on the table covering, but decided I wanted it in my sketchbook...just in case it came out good. 

After lunch we went down to the park by "The Little Red Lighthouse" also known as the Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse. It is right at the bottom of the George Washington Bridge. It is no longer operating but is a popular spot, especially since a children's book had been written about it. I liked seeing this 40 ft structure contrasted against the huge bridge. I sketched the lighthouse with a view of the workings underneath the bottom of the bridge.

There was a group having a picnic nearby so I included them in a second sketch. I did this one directly in ink...no pencil lines first.

My thanks to Svetlana for organizing a great day of sketching and to all the sketchers who showed up today to make the day such fun!

I reposted most of this from the NYC Urban Sketchers blog...I don't know how/why it came out with a colored background and frames around the sketches. I wish I knew. lol