Roosevelt Island Colors

Last weekend the NYC Urban Sketchers met on Roosevelt Island which is located in the East River between Manhattan and Queens. The plan was to sketch the cherry trees there. After having a few days of very mild temperatures, things changed. It was windy and cold on Roosevelt Island. Luckily I was prepared for the cold, but the wind was a problem. I did my first sketch trying to sit where the wind was locked a bit, but not really enough.

You can reach Roosevelt Island several ways. The one that is the most fun is by the tram from Manhattan. There is also a ferry and a small bridge that connects the island to Queens. I wanted to sketch the tram but it didn't stay close enough for long enouh.

For my second sketch I decided to join some of the other sketchers in a courtyard area where most of the wind was blocked. The earlier sketchers were lucky enough to get a large table were a big group of us were able to sit and sketch...and we were pretty much sheltered from the wind.

Show and tell was back over by the tram where I met up with a few other sketchers who were there early. I sketched two of them in a tiny sketchbook I had with me.

It was a full day of sketching.

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.

Gantry Plaza State Park

Today the NYC Urban Sketchers met at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City. The park houses these structures called gantries. They were built in 1925 and are actually huge cranes that picked up boxcars from barges on the East River. Then they were transferred onto train tracks that once ran up to the edge of the water. From there the boxcars could go on to further points on Long Island, or upstate and on to New England. They could transfer 100 ton cars and were very quick and efficient. The train tracks are gone but it is nice to see that the gantries themselves were restored and kept to mark this time in NY history. 

#momentsketchers

The weather forecast was for scattered thunderstorms but we decided to take a chance and go anyway. It was hot and humid and rather uncomfortable unless you were sitting in the shade. I wanted to capture the Long Island logo on this gantry which meant sitting out on the walkway in the sun.

I moved over to the shade  to finish the sketch above and then do the sketch below. I used the Elegant Writer pen for parts of this and I think its bleeding effect worked well with the added watercolors.

We took a break for lunch in the shade and then one of my friends and I headed to a market to get something cold to drink and cool off in the air conditioning. As we were walking down to the water again to sketch the Pepsi sign we felt a few drops. There really wasn't any place to sit and sketch this view that was protected. We lucked out and the rain held off.

We did gather at the end of the day for our "show and tell." We got about 2/3 of the way through showing our work when the raindrops started to fall. We finished up quickly and all headed home. Luckily my friend's husband had driven us there and was waiting up on the main street for us with the car.

Carl Schurz Park

Today the NYC Urban Sketchers met at Gracie Mansion and Carl Schurz Park at 88th Street and East End Avenue. I took the subway into the city which ended up being quite a long trip (over 2 hrs) due to construction delays on the lines. I did get to do one sketch on the train ride in.

Our group of sketchers headed to see the views along the East River first. I sketched a view looking down the path with a few joggers and the river view. The park is really nicely landscaped and it was great to see that here in NYC the leaves are finally starting to appear on the trees.

We took a break for lunch, but that didn't stop our sketching. These men at the counter were interesting subjects.

Back at the park I sketched this view of a rocky area that kids were climbing on.

The only disappointment of the day was that we couldn't sketch Gracie Mansion, which is the official home of the mayor of NYC. The entire house is behind a big security fence that blocks the entire view. They do tours of the house, but not on Saturday. One of our members tried to convince the security guard to let us in, but there was no way we would be allowed in. 

So we moved on to the dog run. Of course because it was a dog run that's exactly what they did in the fenced in area. They were very hard to sketch. The owners stayed still and once in a while the dogs would come over to their owners...but mostly they just ran.

I also sketched the small lighthouse that was in the East River and the view of Queens across the water.

At the end of the day we did a "throw-down" of our sketchbooks. It is always fun to share our work, talk about our supplies and methods of sketching, and talk to the other sketchers. Here are a few of the sketches that were done today.

And a few close-ups.

That's a sketch of me on the left.

It was a great day!