Sunday in NYC

On Sunday I went into NYC with two other artist friends. We met at the Met Breuer which is a small museum that is part of the Metropolitan Museum. The exhibits here are more modern/contemporary than you would find at the Met itself. We viewed sketches that were in the exhibit Obsession: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele, and Picasso from the Scofield Thayer Collection. It was a great exhibit and you could easily see the influence of each on the work of the other.

Then we went to the Neue Galleri where we had lunch and then saw another exhibit of the works of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. These included some nudes, portraits and landscapes. It was wonderful. This was one of the paintings on exhibit by Klimt and the detail and amount of gold and silver in this was just so impressive. I had only seen this in books and it just amazed me.

We had a little time to walk through a bit of Central Park and stop by the boat pond to do a quick sketch. I did the ink on location and started to add the color with watercolor pencils but we had to leave to head to the next part of our day.

Our final stop was the Flute Bar for a Dr. Sketchy session. I have posted some sketches from their events before. Basically they have what is a burlesque model that poses in several outfits. Our model for the afternoon was Tiger Bay who I believe was Miss Coney Island 2017. Several other NYC Urban Sketchers happened to be there too. Costumes, music, a model, contests and friends. What more could you want? Here are a few somewhat risqué sketches from yesterday afternoon. Quick poses and longer poses. Tiger Bay posed in one costume made of tiny pom-poms, one made of feathers, and a final one of leather.

We left here on a 7:40 am train and  got back at nearly 10:00 pm. It was a full day!

Pre-Dr. Sketchy Sketches

I guess I did this sort of backwards. We got to the Dr. Sketchy venue a little early to make sure we got good seats. Of course everyone there was an artist, and typical of most artists they made the best of their time before the model came out and sketched each other...so did I.

These people were seated closer to the bar across from me. The good thing about sketching artists is that they usually aren't going anywhere so they stay put. lol

This guy had the right idea. He had a bottle of champagne in a bucket while he was sketching.

This artist was ready with her materials, but had to check her phone one last time. lol

Dr. Sketchy's Dior

After the Turnstyle location a few of us went to another event, Dr. Sketchy, at the Flute Bar. For those of you who don't know about Dr. Sketchy here is a blurb from their website or you can click on the link above:

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art school is the world's premier alt.drawing movement. Artists draw glamorous underground performers in an atmosphere of boozy conviviality. Found in 2005 in a dive bar in Brooklyn, Dr. Sketchy's has now spread to over 100 cities around the world.

The theme for the afternoon was Dior. Normally there are several models in various stages of dress/undress. We had one lovely model, Chantal, who started out posing in her vintage 60's bra and panties and proceeded to put on more clothing as the poses went on. They usually begin with several 1 minute poses, moving on to 5 minute poses, then longer poses, and back to short poses again. You really have to sketch quickly for many of the poses, and use a medium that you can use easily. I used either pencil or a water-soluble pencil for the beginning poses, adding watercolors and ink for the longer poses.

Chantal had some gorgeous clothes that are original Dior's. She said later that about 90% of the time she dresses in vintage clothing.

A Dr. Sketchy Event

After our day of sketching at the Fulton Street Terminal 6 of us decided to go and sketch at a Dr. Sketchy event down on Orchard Street. What is a Dr. Sketchy event you may ask. Well here is what is on their website.

"Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art school is the world's premier alt.drawing movement. Artists draw glamorous underground performers in an atmosphere of boozy conviviality. Found in 2005 in a dive bar in Brooklyn, Dr. Sketchy's has now spread to over 10 cities around the world."

Several of the women in our group had attended these events in the past few months, and they gave us a little info about what to expect art wise and model wise before we went. Artists sit on couches, ottomans, chairs, tables, and the floor while the models pose on stage.  The event lasts from 4 - 7 pm. On Saturday the theme was "Men Who Would Be Women and Women Who Would Be Men." The three models were dressed in costumes ala the early 1920's. One woman was dressed as "Sammy Tramp" although she was much too classy for a tramp. The other woman was dressed in rather ordinary clothes from that era. "Johnny Panic", a guy who had this svelte body was dressed in a long sequined red halter gown, long black gloves with red fringe, and heels. She/he looked striking. lol Some of the poses got a little risqué but it was all in fun. Was everyone drinking? Not really. I didn't have time. We were too busy trying to capture the poses which first started with 1, 2, 3, and then 5 minute poses. Here are my quick sketches. I was drawing with a Tombow marker which has a narrow tip on one end and a sort of brush tip at the other. The ink bleeds when you touch it with water, which is how I shaded the later sketches.

Johnny Panic had feather fans.

The poses got a little longer.

And as they got longer I could take time to shade a bit.

These were the 15 minute poses. Usually all 3 models were posing together but there was no way I could do 3 people in the time we had...or fit them on my paper.

Then the pose times got shorter again...back to 5, 3, and 1 minute poses.

If you look carefully you will see that the guy dressed as a woman has no dress on in the last sketch. He did a bit of a strip-tease at the end of the long poses right down to a g-string. lol Here are the rest of my sketches.

The crowd at the event included a lot of young sketchers in their 20s-30s. We were probably the only "seniors" in the group, but we didn't mind. Our plan is to go back again. The Dr. Sketchy events are held about once a month so we will be watching for them.

Needless to say my fingers were exhausted after sketching from before 9 am until 7 pm. lol

A Trip to the Fulton Transit Center

Since it takes me so long to get into the city from out here in Suffolk County, I usually get to sketch a few commuters on the ride in on the Long Island Railroad. 

Here are the victims/commuters that I drew yesterday.

The NYC Urban Sketchers were meeting at the Fulton Transit Center in lower Manhattan which just opened a few weeks ago. It is a very futuristic building and the architecture isn't easy to sketch.

When I arrived at the Fulton Transit Center I was early so I decided to venture out into the cold to do a view from outside. I finished this but I was really cold! It felt so good to walk back into the warm building when I was done.

I headed inside and tried to do the view looking up to the top of the dome. I used a Tombow marker for the first time and didn't realize that it bleeds until I started adding watercolors. It made the sketch look a little different than I wanted.

I could see the hotdog vendor from my next spot which was sitting over the wonderful heating vent. (It was such a cosy spot.) So this time I sketched a bit of the inside and the outside too. It was nice that one of the security people was hanging around.

Mark, Mark, and Mary were busy sketching. 

I always enjoy sketching some of the other sketchers.

After lunch Pat, Jeff and I headed underground to the subway. Each time a train came through the cast of characters across on the other platform changed. I kept adding new people as each train left and new people arrived. We sketched until we were too cold. There is no heat down in the subway and it was rather drafty. I had already put on my scarf and fingerless gloves so I decided it was time to head upstairs and get warm again.

Here are the sketches that the three of us did in one photo.

(Left to right...Pat's iPad sketch, my watercolor, and Jeff's watercolor.)

After sharing our sketches a group of us headed over to the "Dr. Sketchy" event on Orchard St.

I will tell you about that tomorrow...be sure to come back.