Sutton Street Parks

 On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at one of the wealthier areas of NYC by Sutton Place on the east side of Manhattan. Our destination was a series of small Sutton Place Parks starting at E 55 Street and moving north. The 59th Street Bridge (aka Queensboro Bridge) immortalized in Simon & Garfield's well-known song, "The 59th Street Bridge Song" or "Feeling Groovy," was our view.

My first sketch was done in direct watercolor from the view in the park at 55th Street. Like most bridges the structure is a bit overwhelming but I dove right in. The buildings are across the river on the Queens side of the bridge in Astoria.

We then moved on to another small Sutton Place Park on 57 St. The view of the bridge was very similar but the park itself was more interesting with streetlamps, planted areas, and buildings set against the view of the bridge. The string of parks are slowly being connected so that you can walk along a prominade from one little park to the next. Here I captured some of the park elements and another sketcher set in front of the bridge.

There were posters hanging up advertising a free performance of "Twelfth Night" by the Condensed Shakespeare Company in the park starting at 2:00 and as they were setting up a few of us decided we would sketch at the performance. There were two actors who switched back and forth between all of the roles in the play, and an accordionist for the music and a little singing. Since the characters didn't venture far from their mics it wasn't too difficult to capture them, so I did a sketch of each of them and then added the bridge as a backdrop to the performance. When the show was over I went over and shared the sketch with each of the performers, who all asked if they could take a photo of it. They loved that they had been sketched!

I'll post two Inktober sketches tomorrow so I don't fall too far behind.

Groovin' At the 59th Street Bridge

I can't even imagine how many times I've driven across the 59th Street Bridge in my lifetime (aka the Queensboro Bridge), but this was the first time I've ever stood on it. This was where the NYC Urban Sketchers met on Saturday. My thanks to Joy for all her organizing and research. 

I drove from home in Holbrook to Kew Gardens and took the F train to Lexington and 63rd St. I was amazed to find myself there in 1 hour and 20 minutes. I think I set a record for getting in so fast. I did a few subway sketches of people while riding the subway.

We met at in the area where the bridge meets the water on the Manhattan side of the 59th Street Bridge.

There was a lot going on with the two bike lanes, bikes whizzing by, and pedestrians walking. It was not the safest location to be but we sketched anyway.There was also bridge traffic close by zipping along. It was noisy, crazy and fun. I sketched the view looking back towards the city.

It was windy on the bridge but we all made the best of it.

Here are a few sketches of some of the others at work.

I sketched some of the traffic that was crossing the bridge right next to us.

And part of the structure of the bridge.

Finally we headed down off the bridge to street level. It was fun to sketch the arches under the bridge and the view through them.

After lunch we headed over to the promenade along the river. It was sunny for a while but then started drizzling, so we took cover under an overhang for a bit. When it stopped drizzling around 3 everyone else decided to leave. I wanted to finish my sketch and sat back down, but it started drizzling again. I finished it from under the overhang, but then it started to pour.

I stayed dry watching the rain from under the overhang. When it finally stopped I headed back to the subway for my return home.