The City

Yesterday I went into Manhattan to meet friends and see the Christmas decorations. The two friends I met are not sketchers so I needed to sneak in some sketching before I met them. I took the Long Island Railroad into the city, so that gave me the opportunity to sketch people on the train. So this sketch will be added to the ones I have for the project for the military unit.

I also went into the city earlier than we were meeting so that I would have about 40 minutes to sketch before they arrived. We were meeting in Bryant Park on 42nd St to shop at the Holiday Market. Bryant Park also has a great free skating rink in the winter. It was a mild day so I found a seat near the rink and sketched until they called and said they were at the park. The rest of the sketch I finished this morning. This will also be for the project. I will have to fix this because the man only seems to have one leg...and I'm sure he had two. lol

We took a photo in front of the tree in Bryant Park but it hadn't been lit yet for the season.

From there we went up to Rockefeller Center. We had to take our annual photo in front of the Christmas tree.

We sort of blocked most of the tree in our selfie, so here is a better view of it.

NY Public Library & Bryant Park

Last weekend the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the NY Public Library on 42nd St and Fifth Ave.

This was sketched in the Rose Reading Room on the 3rd floor. I hope I didn't miss any books. lol That's one of our sketchers, Louis at the table.

Next I headed outside, hoping that it was warm enough to sit and sketch by the skating rink.  I used artistic license to eliminate about 200 people from this sketch. 

Bryant Park has a wonderful Holiday Market at this time of year with small booths filled with wonderful vendors. I stood up on an elevated section so I could draw the booth as well as some of the crowd.

Friday in the City

On Friday I met two friends in NYC to see the decorations. I went in early so I could sketch a bit. I sketched on the LIRR on the way into the city. This is a young girl that was with her parents. It doesn't look very much like her.

I walked up 34th Street and came to a small park in Herald Square that was decorated.

Next I headed to the NYC Public Library on 42nd Street. This was what I wanted to sketch. Outside the library are two massive stone lions. I believe this one is named Fortitude (the other one is named Patience). At Christmas they usually decorate them both with wreaths around their necks.I only had time to do the sketch before my friends, Maureen and Rhea arrived.

But I did finish it at home.

Around the corner from the Library is Bryant Park which has a tree and a skating rink, but what we wanted were the small stores that are set up for holiday shopping.

Here is a photo of the tree there.

We had lunch, shopped some more and then headed over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

It was so crowded and crazy...and it wasn't even dark yet. 

We really wanted to see the tree at night, so we went to have coffee and dessert.

The tree and the lights around Rockefeller Center are just amazing...and the crowds are too!

Here we are in front of the tree.

Maureen and I walked back to Penn Station to catch our respective trains. I had a bit of a wait so I sketched someone buying tickets.

I did one final sketch of a woman on the train going home.

This ends another long, exhausting day in the city!

Painting in Manhattan

Yesterday my husband and I had tickets to see "Billy Elliot" in the city. We decided to go in early. Unfortunately it was cold and still drizzling when we got there so we stopped into St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Ave. We sat in a pew in The Lady Chapel while I painted this. There were a number of art students all over the church sketching in their sketchbooks. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought of St. Patricks for rainy day sketching. This is about 4 x 6.

From there we walked down Fifth Avenue to the New York Public Library. It had stopped raining and I wanted to paint outdoors. I sat outside the library and sketched the view of the corner of Fifth Ave and 42nd St. I had to finish it indoors because by 4:30 it was already dark and I couldn't see what I was doing on the paper. lol This is also about 4 x 6.