Queens Botanical Garden

 On Sunday the NYC Urban Sketchers had our First Annual Picnic Summer Celebration at the Queens Botanical Garden. Due to Covid we were unable to have a holiday celebration indoors so this was our way of celebrating together. The day included sketching as well as raffles, free art supplies, a silent auction, and some desserts. The best part was spending time with the 80+ members who came to celebrate. Some of the members hadn't been together in person since pre-Covid. I also got to meet several of the members who I had met only on Zoom during our indoor events. We had an indoor space at the gardens but since the weather was so beautiful outdoors, we mostly enjoyed being outside.

By the main building I found Leslie Sim and some koi posing for me.

Pat Gaignat stopped by while I was painting. We hadn't seen each other since the pandemic started.

Facing the gift shop was a great circular gate surrounded by beautiful flowers.

The Queens Botanical Garden is located in part of Flushing that is filled with Oriental businesses and is the second largest Chinatown in New York City. I wanted to include that in one of my sketches so I looked for a scenic spot that gave a glimpse of what was outside the park, like this Oriental market.

It was so great to be back together as a big group again. My thanks to all the members who volunteered and helped organize the event.