Long Island City

Recently the NYC Urban Sketchers met to sketch the area around The Long Island City Courthouse by Court Square Park. It was a very windy, chilly day, but I was prepared with a winter jacket, several layers of clothes to keep me warm, a hat, and fingerless gloves if needed. I sat across the street to sketch the courthouse and tucked myself into a corner. It must have blocked a lot of the wind because after a while I was able to take off my jacket, and I wasn't cold.

We had sketched in this area last year and both Suzala and I remembered the pulled noodle restaurant where we ate then, Xi' an Famous Foods. Mark decided to join us, and we had a great lunch...but no sketching there, just talking.

One of the oddest things in the area was a sculpture from the 1960s titled, The Sunbather by Ohad Merome. Apparently it was a big thing when it was first put in place. I think it is probably one of the ugliest sculptures I've seen. Only a few of the sketchers thought it was worth sketching. It is Pepto Bismol pink and looks like a cross between the insulation that is put between walls and the Pink Panther. lol 

I had to sketch it.

Takumen Ramen

Last Friday I joined a few friends for a trip into the city to go to the Winslow Homer exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We hit a lot of traffic going into the city so we got there late.  We saw the wonderful Homer exhibit and stayed a while to see a few more things, but then left to go to a Japanese stationary store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where we spent some time walking around. Our final stop was Takumen, a ramen restaurant in Long Island City. I had been there once before and we've been talking about going back for a long time. With the pandemic we hadn't been able to do that. 

We were there for an early dinner so there were no people blocking my view over the counter and into the kitchen...so I knew I had a good view to sketch. I started sketching before dinner but finished the ink part of the sketch after dinner. I did the watercolor at home.

The Homer exhibit had a lot of his wonderful watercolors. Here are a few.

 

Inktober 2020 Day 17 - Maritime Sheds and NYC Open House

My Inktober 2020 sketch was done of some sheds on the grounds of the Maritime Museum in Sayville. It was too windy to sit outside so my mobile studio came in very handy. This is the first of the sketches for Inktober this year where I only used hatching for shading. 

The NYC Urban Sketchers used a weekend celebration of architecture with NYC Open House as a way to virtually visit some different buildings and areas of the city. There were a variety of locations that gave virtual tours of their properties. As with all things that the group does, you don't really have to stick to the references that are provided. You can pretty much sketch anything that fits the theme. I used a link to The JAX, a new office space in Long Island City. The buildings are modern and airy and the development has an elevated park-like area with native plants that create a meadow for the tenants and their workers to enjoy. I think it must have wonderful views looking out over to NYC from those huge windows.

A Beautiful Noise

Today I was much more inspired than yesterday. The NYC Urban Sketchers had a theme for the morning of doing "poetry sketching." The idea was suggested by another of our sketchers, Suzanne Cleary, who wanted us to find a poem that spoke to us and illustrate it. It didn't really have to be a poem. It could be a verse, a lyric, or words that inspired us. Jerry and I had watched a Neil Diamond concert on PBS last week. The song, "A Beautiful Noise," has been in my head ever since. I could even see the image I wanted to sketch to go with it, so I searched the internet and found the image of the NYC #7 train heading around the curve from Manhattan into Long Island City, Queens. This is a very iconic view to those of us here in NYC with the back of the Silvercup sign. For the non-New Yorker's  the sign was part of the Silvercup Bakery that is now the Silvercup Studios where movies are produced.

Noguchi Museum Part 2

After lunch I found another indoor location to sketch at the Noguchi Museum. This was a big piece and again I think the windows help set it off. I should have paid closer attention and written down the titles of the sculptures. They had sheets with the titles when you entered the room but the titles weren't near the pieces.

Rather than sketch another sculpture I was attracted to the view out a low window in the corner. It gave a good view of the top of this birch tree with the electric wires and all.

Noguchi Museum Part I

The NYC Urban Sketchers visited the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City yesterday. The sketchers had been there before but I had missed that sketching opportunity. I didn't know much about the artist, so here is a bit of his bio from the museum website.

Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was one of the twentieth century’s most important and critically acclaimed sculptors. Through a lifetime of artistic experimentation, he created sculptures, gardens, furniture and lighting designs, ceramics, architecture, and set designs. His work, at once subtle and bold, traditional and modern, set a new standard for the reintegration of the arts.

The museum is in a huge, two-floor red industrial building and has meditation gardens outside and lots of Noguchi's sculptures all around the inside galleries as well as the outside gardens. I liked the way the sculptures looked against the big windows overlooking the gardens.

On the top floor there were a lot of smaller sculptures that almost looked like they were set into the floor.

While I was sketching there was a docent giving a tour. It was interesting to hear some of the details of his life. The complete bio on the museum website is an interesting read.

I also forgot to post this sketch of Toby, my sister's dog. I kept trying the whole time we were in Maine to sketch him but he moves too much. Finally I had part of him sketched and my nephew sat with him so he would stay and I could finish the rest of the sketch. He actually is Michael's dog.

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.

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.