30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 15 & Sketching on 10th Street

Today I had someone ask me how I can be working on such large paintings all the time (30 x 30), so I guess more people than I realize aren't aware that in this case the 30 x 30 stands for "30 paintings in 30 days" not the size of the paintings.
#30x30directwatercolor #directwatercolor2019

Today's NYC Urban Sketching location was 10th Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue, a street of many lovely brownstone apartments. I started with the one at 27 10th Street. The homeowner came out and looked at it when I was just starting and did get to see it finished when he returned. 

After lunch I came back to reality and did my Day 15 30 x 30 painting. Alan was sitting in front of me working on his sketch. I liked the touches of the brick building as well as the typical things seen on the NYC street like the dumpster and parked cars. lol I joked later that I painted Alan from behind so that I didn't have to do two portraits of Van Gogh. Alan was waring artist socks with portraits of Van Gogh on the front.

I had a little bit of time before we were meeting for show and tell, so I sketched another view along 10th Street. This was done directly in ink and then I added the watercolor.

We had a pretty good group. Here are some of us in a group photo taken after lunch.

For our "show and tell" we went to Washington Square Park which was a few blocks away. We had enough room to share our work. So nice person on the lawn offered to take the photo for us.

Sketching in the City

My friend, Susan, and I joined the NYC Urban Sketchers again on Saturday. This time they were meeting in Manhattan. I drove us into midtown Manhattan, which was quite an adventure for me. We all met in front of the NY Public Library.Several sketchers were already there working when we arrived. There are two stone lions that flank the steps of the library and their names are Patience and Fortitude. I must say I'm not quite sure which one I sketched. lol As you can see, autumn is in full swing in the city.

 

After about 1 1/2 hrs of sketching we packed up and moved around the corner and down the street. People sketched where they liked, and some of us went into Bryant Park to scope things out. From now until Christmas there are market stalls filled with all kinds of things to buy, as well as a skating rink. I focused on one of the market stalls and some of the people enjoying the park.

 

Then we moved to 6th Avenue and 43rd Street. We were sketching from the inside of a building that had an open public space with tables...perfect for us to sit and sketch. I did some of the buildings across from us and had to include a few taxi cabs.

 

After these sketches we all got together (there were about 9 of us, including Jane who came up from Baltimore to meet us) and shared our sketches. Most of the group left at this point but Susan, Mia, and I went to grab lunch. After lunch the three of us decided to go back to Bryant Park and do another sketch before it got too dark. We found this wonderful caroussel to sketch. I am assuming it is something special that they added for this time of year since I never saw it there before.

 

It was a fun day of sketching, and Susan and I managed a little bit of shopping in the market stalls before we left.