Madison Park Sketches

On Saturday I spent most of the day in Madison Park at 23rd St and Fifth Avenue with the NYC Urban Sketches. Mark, our fearless leader finds some really interesting art exhibits for us to sketch. 

Here is what he posted on our blog about this particular art installation.

"Teresita Fernandez's installation, Fata Morgana (an Italian phrase meaning mirage) is the Park Conservancy's largest and most ambitious outdoor sculpture to date. The outdoor sculpture consists of one and a half football fields worth of golden, mirror-polished discs that create canopies above the pathways around the park's central oval lawn. The metal forms, perforated with intricate patterns reminiscent of foliage, will create abstract flickering effects as sunlight filters through the canopy, casting a golden glow across the expanse of the work, paths, and passersby." 

(LOL I couldn't have explained it better myself.)

It was interesting but not so easy to sketch...but I gave it a try.

Of course it was a beautiful day and people were really enjoying the park. I loved this group having a picnic on the lawn.

This couple was enjoying the sun.

City Ink Sketches

I am taking an online mixed media class with one of my urban sketching favorites, Mark Taro Holmes. His first lesson in the course was on single-line and 5-7 line sketches. They are mostly continuous line drawings done with a fine line pen and then adding dark tones with a brush pen.

Here is a link to Mark's workshop in case you are interested. This is a short video that gives you an overview of his class. Since it was offered at such a discount I couldn't pass it up.

http://citizensketcher.com/2015/08/25/video-trailer-for-travel-sketching-in-mixed-media/

On Saturday when I got into the city I had about an hour to walk from Penn Station on 32nd St to where the NYC Urban Sketchers were meeting at 5th and 23rd St. On the way I saw a view that looked perfect for the first lesson, so I stopped to sketch. The goal of the single line sketch is to be able to capture a scene quickly, which is perfect for sketching when traveling or when you are somewhere with "non-sketchers." This probably took me about 10 minutes. 

When I was done I headed down to Madison Park to meet the group. I still had a little time to sit outside the park and sketch the iconic Flatiron Building. It has an incredible number of windows, but I left out most of them. Although this was not a single-line sketch I did use the idea of the brush pen for some darks to make it pop.

Tomorrow I will show you what was in the park!!!