Hells Gate Bridge

The great thing about sketching in Astoria Park is that you have a choice of bridges to sketch. Yesterday I posted my painting of the Triborough Bridge. Today you can see my version of Hells Gate Bridge. It was completed in 1916 and spans a stretch of the East River known as Hell Gate. Today the bridge is owned by and used primarily by Amtrak.

In the early 1990's the bridge was recoated for the first time in over 80 years. The color selected for the was know as Hell Gate Red and the coating system required 4 coats... one of the red color, 2 of epoxy and a clear topcoat to preserve the red color of the bridge. Unfortunately the bridge began to change color even before the repainting was finished. Each time they tried, the new paint faded again. You can see sections of the red paint as it looks today...with many areas not covered. I think that is part of its charm to tell you the truth. lol

 

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.

Astoria Park - Part I

 On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers were meeting in person at Astoria Park in Astoria, Queens. With all that had happened with Jerry and then the restrictions from Covid 19 I haven't been able to join the sketchers in person since some time in December of 2019. This was an opportunity that I really wanted to take advantage of because it is a location that we can drive to easily and there is parking. Also it would be a somewhat shorter day of sketching and I could leave Jerry for part of the day. I texted my friend, Suzala to see if she was going and she volunteered to drive if I came to her house. My only hesitancy was the amount of walking it might involve. I had been there before to sketch and knew what the park was like.

It was so great to see the other sketchers! There were probably about 20 of us that showed up and for quite a few of us this was our first meeting since Covid. We've seen each other at Zoom events but not in person. My feeling is that there is a possibility that if the Covid cases start rising again we may be restricted again, so I definitely wanted to do this now while we could. Several of us picked a spot that was along the East River which has views of two bridges, the Triborough Bridge (which I didn't sketch this time) and Hell's Gate Bridge which is below.

We took a break for lunch and some catching up...but I had to walk back up the hill to our meeting location which was worth the hike.

Astoria Park - Part 3

Urban sketching definitely has its challenges. I had seen two NYC fire engines parked along the river while I was doing the previous sketch. I've been wanting to paint a firetruck for a while but they are usually in the firehouse or racing past. These were sitting still and there were firemen hanging out around them. Of course I sketched out the truck in pencil and started to add a little color when I noticed there were no firemen sitting there any longer. Oh, no!!! You guessed it. They were leaving! I didn't have my phone out and by the time I got it ready for a photo reference they were gone. That is one of the things about urban sketching that makes me crazy...along with a big truck coming and parking between me and my subject. I think I got enough to make it look like a realistic firetruck, unless you are an actual fireman. lol

Astoria Park - Part 2

One of the bridges visible from Astoria Park is Hells Gate Bridge. It is owned by Amtrak and the train tracks go across from Queens to the Bronx. I love the unusual color pink on parts of the bridge.

Here is my painting done in the same location back in 2013.

Astoria Park - Part i

The destination for the NYC Urban Sketchers this past weekend was Astoria Park. We've sketched there a few times before. At this park there are views of two bridges, lots of fun activities, and great water views. On Sunday it was the end of Ramadan and there was some sort of service in the park in the morning, so there were a lot of Muslim families enjoying the day. Rather than sketch the whole RFK Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge) I did a small section looking under it with a Muslim woman who was watching her kids playing on the grass nearby.

Just in case you're curious, here is a sketch I did in Oct 2013 almost in the same spot.

And another sketch done of the entire bridge last year.

Long Island City

On Saturday when we were going to the Museum of the Moving Image (see below) Susan and I left early to do a sketch in the area. The museum is on the border of Astoria and Long Island City. There is a spot that we pass in LIC on the way to the Queensboro Bridge that Susan always says, "We should sketch this view some day." LIC is a mostly industrial area and being a Saturday we were able to park fairly easily. This is about 5 x 8.

The Museum of the Moving Image

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria yesterday. I wasn't sure it would be a good spot for sketching, but it ended up having more things to sketch than I expected...it was just different than sketching outdoors.

The museum has all sorts of old artifacts of anything related to movies or television.

I found an old projector. I should have copied down the date it was manufactured but I didn't think of it at the time. It was one of the older ones in the room.

In another room they had all sort of memorabilia from movies.

There was a reproduction of Yoda.

I am not a fan of horror movies but there was a razor glove from "Nightmare on Elm Street" as well as an oversized sweater from "A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Dream Master." In my sketch it doesn't look very oversized because I stuck it next to the glove which I made mighty big.

Another room had costumes, but my favorite room had all these toys, puppets, lunch boxes, games, and anything you could think of that went with some very early televisions shows. Some of the shows I hadn't thought about in years!

I sketched the Howdy Doody puppet c. 1955. I loved that show as a kid.

There were also some mutoscopes from 1899 which were movie viewers where you turned a crank and it flipped book inside to make the picture move like a movie.

At this point we left the museum and went to lunch. I sketched a few people at another table.

When we went back I headed for the same room. 

This time I sketched the Pebbles Flintstone doll, c. 1963.

They had a fun theater called the Jungle Theater. Right inside the entrance they had a fake candy counter. For some reason they had it decorated in Egyptian motif not a jungle motif. 

It was fun to sketch.

I think we all enjoyed sketching there and it was a good winter location.

Astoria Park Views

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at Astoria Park today. We had a good turnout with 9 of us sketching for most of the day. The park is in Astoria which is in the borough of Queens. 

Our first sketching location was right at the entrance to the park, just along the RFK Bridge, formerly called the Triborough Bridge. 

Here are Susan, Ben, and Mark hard at work.

I sketched the bridge from below.

This is about 4 x 7.

I also sketched Mark working at his easel.

Next we moved closer into the park. Susan and Gene were busy talking 

with a wonderful view behind them..

I painted a view of the RFK Bridge.

We also had a good view of Hells Gate Bridge...and yes, it actually was

pink and fuchsia.

Here is a photo of the view with my sketch in front of it.

We took a break for lunch at a wonderful Greek restaurant in the neighborhood called 

Agnani located at 19-06 Ditmars Blvd. We talked, shared our sketches, and swapped some sketching information about materials. Then a few of us went back to the park to sketch.

I did this small one which is about 4 x 6.