Making Chowder

Like many artists who are practicing social distancing, I decided to sketch something around my home today. I decided to make some soup...New England Clam Chowder to be specific. Before I started cooking it, I got all the ingredients together for a sketch of them. 

My sketches for this weekend will also meet the theme for Moment Sketchers which takes place on the first weekend of the month. This month Candace Rardon gave us a theme of "Moments From Home."

#momentsketchers #uskathome

Visitors & Exhibit

Down the hall from Jerry's room is a small library. I think it is used more for little gatherings with family than as a place to read. There are about 5 tables. This group was gathered for quite a while, so I was able to sketch all of them except one young man who was sitting in the empty chair. He went off to get lunch for the group. 

#momentsketchers

Today was the reception for the South Bay Art Association's "Women in the Arts" exhibit in Patchogue at The Cheese Patch. We timed it perfectly by having the reception on International Women's Day. Here are a few photos from the reception.

Some of the talented ladies who were part of the exhibit.

Gisella Scogland, Me & Laurie Fosmire

Senator Monica R. Martinez (center) with our SBAA President Krystle DiNicola. The Senator gave out certificates of appreciation to all the women who participated in the exhibit.

Sketching Party

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers met for our holiday party. It was held in the penthouse party room in the building of one of our members. The room was on the 8th floor with floor to ceiling windows and an unobstructed view of downtown Manhattan from Jersey City, NJ. Yeah!!! We had about 60 people show up...most of them sketchers or spouses, but a few guests too. Our chapter has a group that meets on weekends as well as a group that meets during the week, so it was nice to meet some of the people who don't join us on weekends. We also did an art swap where everyone brought a wrapped sketch. Of course everyone brought their sketch materials and either sketched the view or the other sketchers at the party. It is hard to keep sketchers from sketching. lol

This was the view we had. The party began at 3 so we did have enough time to do a daylight sketch.

I've always wanted to do a nocturne of the city...so when it got dark this was my chance. I used gouache for this small, fairly quick sketch.

One of my friends brought along his mom who he takes care of. She is in a wheelchair and a bit unaware of what is going on, but she was a good sport about posing for us. I think she enjoyed the attention. I did a quick sketch of Mary Jane before she and Andrew went home. It came out looking so much like her! I was really pleased with it.

I stopped sketching for a while so that I could socialize too. It is hard to sketch and talk to anyone except the people sketching next to you. lol We had good food, conversation, music and a bit of dancing. Here is a group photo that was taken at the end of the night. I think some of the sketchers were missing by then. Many of these people have become a good part of my sketching family.

You'll notice someone in the middle with a big sheet of sketching paper. Those pages were passed out to all of us. Everyone was asked to do one or two sketches either using a single page or the double page that is going to be made into an accordion book. I did a sketch later of some of the sketchers sitting at the tables, but forgot to take a photo of it before handing it in so you can't get to see that one. #nycurbansketchers #momentsketchers

I know this was a lot of work for the party committee, but they did an outstanding job! Everyone seemed to have a good time, even if some of them nearly froze getting there. The temperature yesterday was in the teens and very windy with lots of snow on the ground from our storm the other day. A group of us from Long Island carpooled so it wasn't too bad traveling.

Bond Street Views

Today the NYC Urban Sketchers met at Bond Street in Manhattan. This cobblestone street is only a few blocks long but is filled with interesting views of the buildings, both old and new, restaurants, water towers, skyscrapers...and a branch of the Dick Blick art store. It was our first cold outing in a very long time, so I'm glad I was prepared with layers of clothing, fingerless gloves, and a hat just in case. I didn't wear the gloves or the hat, but when I got cold it was nice to take a break and shop in the cosy warmth of Dick Blick.

#momentsketchers

For those of you who haven't heard of Moment Sketchers, the group was started by Candace Rose Rardon, who has organized an opportunity for artists to share sketches of moments that show what we have seen or done on the first weekend of each month. She collects all the posts that have the #momentsketchers and posts them together on her blog when the weekend is over. People from all over the world take part.

There is really a contrast of old and new on Bond Street. There are some businesses that look closed alongside new shops and restaurants in the old buildings.

This little spot was a below-ground cafe.

Water towers on the tops of buildings in NYC are great contrasted against some of the new construction that has gone up recently.

Bond Street had a lot of treasures to sketch today.