Brookfield Place - Part I

On Sunday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Winter Garden Atrium at Brookfield Place in downtown Manhattan. It is a beautiful 10 story glass pavilion with views towards New Jersey. As a special treat there was an art installation that was inspired by the Festival of Lights in Thailand. 650 lanterns were suspended overhead, scattered between the palm trees. The lanterns changed color throughout the day as people put their hands on the touch-sensitive podiums. It was beautiful!

We arrived a little late due to subway route changes and found that several of the sketchers had been stopped by security. We were told that we could sketch but couldn't sketch the structure of the building. lol People were taking photos of the building, but we couldn't sketch it? That didn't make much sense.

I took my chances and for my first sketch I included the arched windows looking out towards NJ. This sketch was done directly in watercolors.

We had quite a few sketchers including some board members from Urban Sketchers who were in NYC for meetings. Here are a few photos of the other sketchers. Wasn't it nice of them to provide tables and chairs for us?

 My second sketch also included the luminaries which had changed color. I sketched directly in ink and then added the watercolors for this one.

At 12:15 we gathered together for a quick "show and tell" because the board members had to leave for a meeting. We each showed our work from the morning and then posed for a group photo.

By that time we were ready for lunch...more tomorrow.