Bubble Man

On Saturday I took a workshop from another urban sketcher at Columbus Circle. I haven't finished the piece of artwork from the workshop, so I will post that at another time. In the afternoon I met up with the rest of the NYC Urban Sketchers near the model boat basin in Central Park. Since I had been there over Labor Day Weekend, I focused on an entertaining scene of the bubble man busy at work. I'm lucky I can blow tiny bubbles. These huge ones always amaze me. He even blew bubbles inside bubbles.

Last week I had seen a post on the  Urban Sketchers Perth Facebook page by someone from Perth who was visiting NY and posted a photo from Brooklyn. I invited her to join our group if she was free on Saturday, telling her where the group would be but that I was taking a workshop in the morning but would be sketching with the group in the afternoon. I also said how I had enjoyed meeting some of the members of the Perth group when I was in Australia. So when I found the group in the afternoon I asked if anyone from Australia had met up with them. Jacqui had found them and sketched with them in the morning. She went off to sketch a bit away from the group in the afternoon but promised to come back for our "show and tell" at the end of the day. Here is Jacqui Masters sharing one of her sketches of a lamppost from Central Park. She was really sweet and so thankful that I had contacted her and let her know we would be sketching. 

We also had another visitor. Debo was in NYC from near Savannah, Georgia for a doctor's appointment for her husband. She has visited before but this was the first time I met her.

One of the nice things about the Urban Sketchers is meeting people from other places and having a common interest. You can meet great people that way!

Sketching at the Turnstyle

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Turnstyle, an underground shopping and eating establishment located near Columbus Circle in Manhattan two Saturday's ago. It was a bitterly cold day...only 16 degrees when my friend, Susan and I left Long Island. The Turnstyle is located just after you exit the turnstyles at the subway exit for Columbus Circle near 8th Ave and 59th St. Unfortunately since the staircases leading up to the street are wide open, it was a bit cold down below too. We wore our coats the entire time we were sketching.

I sat in front of Lush Cosmetics to do my first sketch. They weren't open yet, but the sales people were busy stocking the shelves. They noticed that we were sketching and asked us to stop by and show them the finished sketches. They loved it and asked if they could take a photo for their Facebook page. I'll have to check and see if they posted it.

Next I moved over to Casa Toscana an Italian eatery. Everything looked so delicious!

By Suzette made savory and sweet crepes and was a colorful spot to sketch too.

Due to the cold weather we didn't have a great turnout of sketchers, but those of us who showed up had a great time.

"THE TREE"

On Monday I went into NYC to meet two non-sketching good friends for a day of shopping, talking, and seeing "THE TREE." We were meeting at noon up by the Time Warner Center by Columbus Circle, but I went in early because I wanted to sketch the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. I had sketched it with the scaffolding around it a few weeks ago and needed to do it finished. It was very cold out but I stood leaning against one of the buildings and sketched. I finished most of the sketch before I had to go hop on the train to meet them but added the lights with gel pen when I got home.

I did a few sketches on the train going into the city. I think everyone I sketch on the train is connected to their cell phone. lol

The Time Warner Center had these fabulous star decorations that changed colors every few minutes. Which color do you like? My favorite is the purple.

We shopped at the Holiday Market at Columbus Circle and then headed back to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lit up at night. It looked great!

The statues of the soldiers were fun too.

Here I am (left) with Maureen (center) and Rhea (right).

On the way back to Penn Station we passed this display in front of one of the buildings.

The city is so great at this time of year!

Saturday Sketching in NYC

Even though I didn't get home until after 9 on Friday night and was exhausted, I wanted to go into the city and sketch with the NYC Urban Sketchers on Saturday. Because it gets so crazy in the city at this time of year, my friend and I decided to go by subway instead of the LIRR or by car...smart move. That gave us the opportunity to sketch on the subway.

We met the other sketchers at Columbus Circle. I think there were about 12 of us who showed up at various times during the day, which was surprising since it was the last Saturday before Christmas. Who knew so many people had time to come in and sketch? We even had someone from Melbourne, Australia join us for a while.

Here is my sketch of Columbus Circle which is on 59th Street.

We moved on to the Hurst Building on 56th Street.

Next we moved over by the Holiday Market at Columbus Circle.

We had lunch and continued sketching. Here are a few members of the group in action.

I sketched one of the booths before a few of us broke away and shopped a bit.

Who could resist shopping? But it was a madhouse especially in the aisles between the booths!!!

Later we ended up indoors at Whole Foods to get warm and continued sketching.

Mark and Svetlana were busy sketching people.

I sketched some people too.

At about 4 o'clock people started leaving. Susan and I decided that before we went home we wanted to go over near Radio City and sketch. For anyone who hasn't been to NYC at Christmas time, this area of the city is nearly wall to wall people, often pushing and shoving as they try to get where they are going or trying to line up a good shot of their family or friends with the colors behind them. Radio City was in front of us, and a colorful lit Christmas train (with a tooting horn) was behind us in the middle of a pool that is normally a fountain. People were coming over to take photos there too...right next to us on the wall. We were probably in half of the photos. lol Susan and I ignored everyone and set up our painting chairs across the street from Radio City Music Hall. Of course people were constantly blocking our view and the sun had gone down and it was getting dark. But we rose to the challenge and sketched anyway! I think this was the most crowded location I have ever sketched in. lol

This was the view we had.

I was able to get most of the view sketched on location and had started painting when I decided it was  getting too dark for me to see what I was doing. So I packed it in and finished painting this at home. In addition to watercolors and regular ink, I used some metallic gel pens to give it a shine.

We didn't sketch on the return trip on the subway since we weren't able to get seats and it was so crowded. I hope this view of Radio City brings you a little holiday cheer!

(I hope you saw my city sketches posted yesterday.)