Usk Sketchmas Day 14

 The prompt for yesterday's Sketchmas was "tall building" and I had timed it perfectly with my trip into NYC. I was meeting friends for dinner and a Broadway show (Neil Diamond's, It's a Beautiful Noise) so I planned my day so that I could go to Bryant Park before meeting up with them. I sat near the skating rink and painted the view in front of me.

I didn't get to see the tree in Rockefeller Center since it meant walking another 6 city blocks and I had already walked from Penn Station (32 St) to the park on 42 St...and I would still have to walk back later.

There is a Christmas tree in Bryant Park but it pales in comparison to the one in Rockefeller Center.

Here are a few photos of my day in Bryant Park.

The view across the skating rink.

A line in front of the Stroopwaffle booth.

The yummy fresh stroopwaffles dipped in chocolate and covered with toppings. Yes, I did indulge and thought about having them in Amsterdam when I was there.

Bell decorations on the tree.

Inktober Day 2 & 3

While I was in Bryant Park on Saturday I did my Day 2 Inktober sketch with my Lamy Safari pen and Platinum Carbon Ink. That is such a great park for sketching...so many good views. 

The sketch below was done down by the bay in Sayville. I used a black Uniball Signo gel pen for this sketch. It skipped a bit which ended up working well for all those bare branches and the beach grasses.

Bryant Park Workshop and More

 Yesterday the NYC Urban Sketchers offered a workshop called "Discover Painting with Acrylic Inks." It was taught by the talented Missy Dunaway from Maine. Bryant Park in NYC was our location for the workshop. There were about 15 people in the group and we pulled together some tables and chairs from the assortment that are always in the park, to make a spot where Missy could do her demos and we could use as a location to paint. The workshop was great!

I've never worked with acrylic inks before. I purchased a basic set of 6 primary colors and a bottle of white. The closest comparison of how we worked was it was sort of like using gouache because you go from dark to light. There was no presketching and everything was done directly in acrylic inks.

Although Missy works with the acrylic inks on location I am not sure if I would be able to work with them without a table to hold the supplies I need. I am used to painting mostly on my lap and holding a small watercolor palette in my left hand. We worked mostly straight out of the bottles and I had 7 of them to balance somewhere. I can easily envision them spilling everywhere. But I will try this on my own a few times before I really pass judgement on this.

Here is the two page spread I did in my Stillman and Birn Beta Sketchbook during the workshop.

Here is what our main table looked like. Everyone had a lot of materials and needed a section of a table to work. I ended up sitting at a small table by myself so I could face the Bryant Park Fountain.

I tried a second piece with the acrylic inks after the workshop was over. A few of us stayed for the afternoon and sketched on our own. I had a hard time working on the figures. I should have used a smaller brush.

Bryant Park Carousel

After the workshop with Katie in Bryant Park was over, a few of us had lunch in the park and then continued sketching. I wanted to do a larger version of the carousel so my friend Mia and I went to the other side of the park to get a closer view. I tried not to add a lot of detail but I couldn't help myself. I wanted to sketch at least on child on an animal and it morphed into many animals. lol

Tiny Sketches: Big Impact

On Sunday the NYC Urban Sketchers had another of their 10 x 10 workshops, this time with Katie Woodward. Katie is a set designer, but recently has been doing very tiny sketches...some as small as postage stamps. She did several demonstrations beginning with a sketch of the front of the NY Public Library. If you would like to see some of Katie's work here is a link to her blog.

She gave us a few hints as to how she scales down her view to fit on her small surfaces as she did a demo sketch. Then we got to practice sketching the view. I was using paper that was about  3 x 5 inches. Katie says that as long as you focus on getting the elements that make your object recognizable, your sketch will be believable. Here we needed the columns and the arches which are a big part of the front of the library. (Sorry these are so light, but we were working in pencil and stopped at that point.)  

The group then moved into Bryant Park where we were going to sketch the back of the library.

Everyone wanted to know how she make the detail so small. Katie says that the secret is to use "visual noise," lots of dots, dashes and squiggles to give the illusion of more specific shapes. She did a demo of the carousel in the park with the trees and the building behind it. She did it as about a 2 x 3 vertical. She simplified a lot of the detail and then used a lot of visual noise, making the strongest contrast and the most detail around the center of interest in the sketch.

She asked us to sketch a section of the back of the library which has recognizable windows and lots of umbrellas. I liked the section where there were two layers of umbrellas and tables as well as the windows and a statue. I used a piece of watercolor paper that was about 3 x 5 inches.

 

I finished early so I also did a sketch of the carousel with the trees and building behind it. This one is 2 x 5 1/4 inches.

Bryant Park Part 2 & Beach Sketch

Bryant Park has a lot of different views. I decided to stay put in the shade but had a nice view across their lawn to the back of the NY Public Library. These two people were sitting and cooling off in my line of site, so I included them too.

Here are some of the sketchers who were with us on Saturday. A few had already left by this time.

Here I am with one of my sketches at show and tell.

It has been a long time since I sat on the beach and sketched people, but I was able to do that today at Robert Moses.

Bryant Park Part 1

The weather forecast was for sunny and hot in the city, so as soon as we got to Bryant Park, Suzala and I found the shadiest spot that had a good view of the Bryant Park Fountain. We pulled over a table and a few chairs and set up to sketch. Other NYC Urban Sketchers joined us and we ended up with a big crowd of sketchers under the shady trees. Typical of urban sketching something often happens to change your view. All of a sudden the water in the fountain stopped! Who expected that? It turned out that they were cleaning out the water at the base of the fountain. It took them about 20 minutes and then the water was turned back on.

Here I am working on my sketch surrounded by just a few of the other sketchers.

Since it was a comfortable, shady spot I just turned a little and did a sketch of the Bryant Park Cafe which was right across from us. Both of these sketches were done on 5 x 7 loose papers.

People Here and There

Today I took the Long Island Railroad into the city. That always gives me some time for sketching on the train. I did two this morning.

Later in Bryant Park I sketched some of the men playing bocce.

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.

Anne Watkins Workshop

If sketching at Governors Island wasn't enough, several of us were scheduled to take a workshop sponsored by the NYC Urban Sketchers with Anne Watkins starting at 6pm in Bryant Park. My friend, Suzala's husband, Rick, was a prince and had driven us into the city in the morning and spent the day with us at Governors Island. Then he drove us uptown for the workshop. The workshop was on doing fast gestures of people with watercolors. Anne works with flat brushes, something that I generally don't use. She wanted us to paint our subject in large blocks of color softening with water where the shoulder or back turned away. We used very little detail and she wanted us to use mass not line. I had a very hard time not using line, but I did my best. Here are a few that I thought were successful, although Anne thought I still used too much line. Since we didn't start until 6 it was really getting dark by the time the workshop was nearly over. We wrapped up about 7:45.

A woman in a colorful sari was sitting near a man who was on his cell phone.

My friend, Rayle was working nearby.

Paula was close by painting too.

Suzala was working on her gesture sketches.

A man on his cell phone was nearby...a good model.

Olivia was painting near the wall overlooking the park.

Here is a photo of Anne Watkins doing her demo.

All in all, it was an interesting method, but since I don't want to paint exactly like someone else, I will use some of her ideas, but I'm happy using line to show the shape too.

12 Days of Ornaments - Day 3 & Bryant Park

My 12 Ornaments of Christmas – Ornament #3 – My niece, Karen Robertiello, made two ornaments that I have on my tree. I think she made them in Girl Scouts eons ago. One is a reindeer made from a clothespin and has those googly eyes. The other is a needlepoint ornament made from 3 squares and also has googly eyes. If you squeeze the two opposite corners it opens to reveal a Hershey’s kiss inside. It has a tag on it that says “Squeeze my cheeks and I’ll give you a kiss.” For those of you who know me know that I’m a chocoholic, but the kiss inside is the same kiss that was in it when she gave it to me. LOL I never ate it.

Last week I met two good friends for the day in the city. They aren't sketchers so I made sure I went in early enough to do a sketch before I met them. This was done at the skating rink at Bryant Park.

Bryant Park - Part 2

After lunch we continued sketching in Bryant Park. There was a sketch in every direction you looked. This woman was sitting right in front of me...a perfect spot for a model.

I turned about 180 degrees from above and sketched a view of the umbrellas and sandwich kiosk.

This is one of my favorite sketches of the day. It shows the scope across the lawn in the middle of Bryant Park. The building behind the trees is the NY Public Library, an impressive spot on its own.

Around 3:30 those of us who were left gathered around for a "throw down" of one of our sketches. 

Here is the collection...just one sketch per person showing.

And finally a group photo.

Most of the group dispersed at that point but a few of us headed down the street to have a drink. That was followed by a shopping trip to Kinokuniya, a great Japanese store that has a nice collection of art supplies...something none of us can resist.

Bryant Park - Part I

Yesterday my friend, Susan and I joined the NYC Urban Sketchers in the city. We parked and took the subway in to meet everyone, so we had the opportunity to do a few subway sketches on the way.

Bryant Park was our location for sketching. Mark proposed a "pivot party" where you sit in one location and sketch, then turn or pivot your chair to get another view. I did that for a few sketches, but it was just easier to put my chair where the view caught my eye. We had a good turnout of sketchers...about 24 people were there at some point.

My first sketch was of the Bryant Park Fountain. I sketched this in watercolor pencil and then added regular watercolors and more watercolor pencil.

Next I did a sketch of the carousel with the green areas in front.

Then it was time for a lunch break and sharing some of our work. One of the sketchers, Santi, was visiting from Barcelona. He has been sketching all over the city and did a wonderful accordion sketchbook that he shared with us.

It is always great to see the sketches that other people have done!

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!