My friend found an interesting location in Melville. I met her at the BPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu temple. It is a beautifully designed building and so different from what we usually sketch.
I had checked their website before we went and it said they were open for the afternoon from 4-8. We wanted to see if we could sketch inside. We checked at the front desk and were asked to remove our shoes. We enterd the area of worship through the woman's entrance. A gentleman met us inside and we asked if it was possible to sketch. We were told that the this is a sacred Hindu place of worship and visitors are asked to be peaceful, pray, and meditate. He agreed that quiet sketching would meet with their values. Their leader came and prayed, as well as several other visitors.
The sanctum of the Mandir has images and statues of the diety. The statues are surrounded by pinnacles adorned with beautiful carvings and sculptures. I hadn't brought my paints inside, so I sketched in ink. I would love to have painted in watercolors to show the beautiful costume on the statue and the beautiful carved golden pinnacles. We sat and sketched for about 40 minuted until we were told that there would be about a 20 minute period when the area would be closed. A curtain was closed in front and we left the area. As we were leaving we were told that we were welcome to come back and sketch any time.
