47th World Wide SketchCrawl

Last Saturday was the 47th World Wide SketchCrawl, the day when sketchers all over the world go out and sketch wherever they are. Then the artists or groups post their work on sketchcrawl.com for everyone else to see.

My friend, Susan and I started our day sketching on the E Train going into the city. The sketching was fine until it got too crowded to see anything but the person right smack in front of you. Here are a few train sketches that I did.

When we got to 14th St in the city we met up with the NYC Urban Sketchers by the new Whitney Museum that is opening downtown on Gansevoort Street. It was a cold morning, so I looked for a spot to block the wind where I could still see part of the new Whitney Museum. I personally think the building looks out of place in the area...the outside design is too modern to fit in with the warehouses, brick, and cobblestones that give the Meatpacking District so much charm. I am sure it is gorgeous on the inside, but that will be another day. Here is my sketch of part of the building.

I found the Gansevoort Street entrance to Highline Park more to my liking...and I was sitting in the warm sunshine in a spot where the wind was blocked. Yay! Several other NYC Urban Sketchers had the same idea so there were several of us sketching from that same warm spot.

After lunch a number of us ended up in a lovely, sunny square with an assortment of views in every direction. It even felt warm enough for me to take off my winter coat and scarf and enjoy the day. In this sketch the restaurant was the star. They had a nice crowd of people eating there so I guess the food was pretty good at Serafina.

This next sketch was done from the same location. I just pivoted my chair 90 degrees to my left.  Mark, Michael, and Michael were the stars. They were all engrossed in their sketches too.

I don't know why I only took one photo of the day, but here it is.

Usually about 3:30 we all meet at a restaurant or bar to have a drink, share our sketches from the day, and often continue sketching. Sometimes we get to see sketchers we didn't even know were sketch crawling with us. We didnt ge't to do a big group show and tell at the end as planned because all the places in the Meatpacking District were much too crowded for our group and slowly people started leaving as we searched for a spot to gather. About 10 us that were still around gathered in a nice park to share our work and stories of the day and opinions about the new museum building. I got to see a few sketchers I hadn't seen all day so I was glad that quite a few people stayed around. It was a busy day!

Yes, my fake blog, "Floral Fantasy" has a new post...only 1 more day and it will end. Check it out at floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com