Madison Square Park Fountain

 My second sketch on Saturday was done inside Madison Square Park. There is a fountain on the south end of the park and a small round pond on the north end of the park. The fountain was in a perfect sunlit spot and the bench I sat on was in the shade. A jazz group was playing nearby.

Another NYC Urban Sketcher came along when I was nearly done and we started talking and sharing stories. Then a photographer came along and told us he was doing a project on groups of people in the park and how they use the park. He asked if he could take some photos of us working. Later when we were doing our show-and-tell he took photos of everyone and their work to use in the project. 

It turned out to be a productive day for the group. Two of the sketchers actually sold the pieces they had done on site.

Grand Concourse at Grand Central

 The architecture and the assortment of people at Grand Central could keep me sketching for quite a while and it never gets old. I like sketching the view with the tunnels receding to the various tracks, subway lines, as well as the LIRR and Metro North trains. We had a good number of sketchers since it was a good location where we could sketch and stay dry. The guards had several rules including no sketching while sitting on the stairs and no sketchbooks could be on the floor while we were painting. Most of us bring along a stool to sit on and usually paint holding our sketchbooks in our laps. It works well.

Spring at the Met Cloisters - Part 1

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at The Met Cloisters in the Bronx. The good thing about this venue is that I can easily drive there if I am going alone. The trip took about 1 1/2 hrs by car and it was easy to park. I've been there with the Urban Sketchers before, but not when the gardens were open. This was so great! Flowers and trees were in bloom and although there were a lot of people, I was able to find a good view for each sketch. Like most museums The Met Cloisters only allows dry media for sketching, so I brought along my new set of colored pencils. They worked well but didn't give me the richness of my watercolors. Not being use to pencils as a medium, I forgot to pack a pencil sharpener. Luckily there were friendly sketchers who helped me out. 

This was the main courtyard garden surrounded by Medieval arches and porticos. It was beautiful. I tucked myself into a corner in the sunshine and it was warm enough to take off my jacket while I was sketching. By the time I finished this sketch there must have been at least 30 people in the garden and people (mostly sketchers) sitting on the walls.

Anime Characters

 On a frigid day the NYC Urban Sketchers met at Tangram Mall in Flushing. I was a bit skeptical that a mall would provide anything interesting to sketch...but I was wrong. I felt like I was in another world because it was filled with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean stores and restaurants. I could easily sketch there again without running out of subjects.

Along with my friend, Susan Toplitz, I sat in front of Akiba House, a shop that sells anime related items, Japanese snacks, etc. The window display for the shop was great with the anime characters and the backdrop with anime cartoons. Many people stopped to check out our sketches and the young kids gave us their seal of approval.

Apatosaurus

 The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the American Museum of Natural History last weekend. It was a cold, snowy day which I'm sure added to the number of people seeking a fun diversion for the day. I think we sketched there 2 years ago. Here is the version I did back then. I usually head right up to the dinosaurs before it gets super crowded. I tucked myself into a corner where I had a view of the entire apatosaurus. His tail was too long and didn't fit on the double-page spread. While I was painting a little boy came over and looked at my palette and then my painting and said, "You didn't paint that. It doesn't have the same colors." I guess he was looking at the brighter colors in my palette which just didn't go with the dinosaur. 

Several other sketchers ended up painting nearby and it was fun to see their versions when we all met up for show-and-tell later.

Greek Collection at the Met

 My tribe of sketchers visited the Metropolitan Museum on Saturday. The Greek collection was the suggested location. We had a visitor who joined us from Brunei named Irene. She is in my sketch on the right. That is one of the fun parts of Urban Sketching...meeting like-minded people from all over the world.

Sketchers at Work

 We had about 25 sketchers join us at The Forum on Saturday. As you can see from my sketch, it is a roomy area for meeting, and due to the huge windows I was easily able to sketch the view outside on 125th Street. I had some very cooperative models for this sketch.

Unusual Easel

 When I returned to the center of the town of Oyster Bay there were several artists near the gazebo. It was fun to sit and chat as well as find a scene to sketch. Melanie was standing and using the cannon as her easel. She had all of her supplies at the base of the cannon. I knew she would be there for a while because she was doing a large sketch of several storefronts. Perfect!

Bait for Sale

 Once a year the NYC Urban Sketchers come to Oyster Bay here on Long Island for a day of sketching. Sketchers came by train from Manhattan, others came by car from Westchester and New Jersey, and joined with the sketchers who live on Long Island. I looked for a view I hadn't sketched before and found these signs advertising "Bait for Sale." How could I resist?

Brooklyn Bridge

 A sketch trip to the South Street Seaport definitely needs the Brooklyn Bridge as a subject. I found a (fake) grassy area by Pier 17. People were lounging on the lawn and the bridge was right there! It was a perfect spot to sketch before we all met to share our sketches.

NYC Urban Sketchers Summer Event

Once upon a time the NYC Urban Sketchers had holiday parties, but the group got so large that we couldn't find an indoor location to host the event. Instead we have switched to a summer event that is held at the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing. The event includes raffles, sales, a garage sale, and assorted fun activities...and a wonderful chocolate and a wonderful vanilla cake. 

My friends and I decided to go outside the gates of the QBG and take to the streets for a while. It was a very hot day so finding shade was a must. We sat along the fence in the shade and had a great view of the restaurants that were across the street. Of course they were occasionally obscured by trucks and buses, but sketching was still possible.

There was a sketchwalk led by Mel Barranco which I missed while I was outside the garden.

I reentered the QBG and went inside the building where we were holding the indoor parts of the event. I had some raffle tickets to put into the cups for prizes. I cooled off a bit and then walked over to the storytelling/sketching event being led by Karen DiMauro. We sat pretty much in a half-circle while Karen told some fables. We were told to sketch whatever we wanted but my plan was to sketch the event itself.

This was my sketch of Karen and her audience.

The day ended with raffles, prizes, old friends, new friends, and a great feeling to be with people who have the same interest that I have. Let's do it again!

 

Off to the City

Recently I went into NYC to join the NYC Urban Sketchers for the day. I took the train into Penn Station and had a nice spot to sketch these ladies on the train ride in.

We met at The Vessel, a very unique structure that you can climb. I didn't. Sketching it was complicated enough. This is the second time I've sketched it. You can see my other sketch of it here. I believe it is the 3rd sketch in that post.

The Vessel is right by The Highline, a wonderful elevated walkway/park that residents and visitors enjoy.

The sketchers had visited the Highline a while ago to sketch the giant pigeon. I wasn't able to go to that event, but the pigeon is still in residence so I got my chance. He is super big!

Domino Park

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at Domino Park recently. Domino Park is located in Williamsburg along the East River.  It was built on the site of the former Domino Sugar Refinery. There is a great view of several of the bridges from there.

These tank were used for storing the sugar syrup produced as the sugar was refined. I sketched this area where several of my fellow sketchers were working.

Ace Hotel Lobby

After 3 sketches in the bar area I made my way back to the Ace Hotel Lobby. There were sketchers all over. I found a spot to sit in a comfy chair and a view of...you guessed it...sketchers sketching. My only problem with the lobby was that it wasn't well lit and it was hard to see the details of what I was sketching...which could be a good thing. lol 

 The staff at the hotel was really very nice. We monopolized their lobby and part of the restaurant from 10 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon when we had our show and tell.

Ace Hotel's Bar Area

 The NYC Urban Sketchers were scheduled to meet at a fashion exhibit at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology) for our sketching location last week. Unfortunately when we got there we found out that we couldn't use stools, backpacks had to be hand-held, and only dry media could be used in this very DARK exhibit. We are adaptable and the organizers offered another location...the Ace Hotel. A few of the sketchers stayed to sketch standing in the dark, but my travel buddy, Suzala and I checked out the exhibit and then headed to the Ace Hotel which was a few blocks away. Many members of our group were already there working.

There was a nice hotel lobby with comfy seating, but it was fairly dark. Off to the side was the entrance to Koloman, their lovely contemporary French restaurant that was very European in feeling. I went in to scope it out and found Leslie sitting at the bar with her coffee and pastry. She was busy sketching the bar area. As long as we ordered something they were fine with us staying in the front of the bar area which had a huge window that overlooked the street. It also had a ledge all across the window which provided a good space to work. 

I started sketching Leslie, who was now joined by Elaine. The waiter took my order and before I could finish my first sketch, my coffee and this delicious croissant with jam and butter was delivered. It made such a great subject that I had to sketch that too...but quickly so I could eat the croissant! So I switched and started sketching the croissant on another page leaving space for the rest of the presentation. As soon as I had the croissant sketched, I moved back to the sketch of the sketchers because I know people, even sketchers, tend to move after a while. They were now joined by a random person not affiliated with our group, but I included him too.

Then I moved back to the food setup and added in the plates, jam, butter, and cutlery.

While I had the street view in front of me I decided to paint the building right across from us...some sort of construction was going on there with workers going in and out, but that is the fun of sketching NYC.

Our group in the bar area changed as people joined us and left us for the lobby. This photo was taken by my friend, Suzala of some of us ladies that were sketching and chatting about all kinds of things. We had a great time together!

Left to right: Me, Leslie, Shawne, Elaine and Kim.

Venice 2024 - Part 1 - American Airlines Flight, Train Ride, View from Our Apartment, Sketching With a Friend

I think most urban sketchers begin their trips with a sketch either of the view of the airplane through the windows of the terminal or a sketch done on the plane. We arranged for a wheelchair at JFK for Jerry so we never sat at the gate waiting. Instead I sketched on the American Airlines plane. This man was across the aisle. The lights had already been dimmed on the plane after dinner. 

After our plane landed in Milan, we navigated our way from the airport to Milan's Central Station and then the fast train from Milan to Venice. The trip took about 2 1/2 hrs. I captured the couple across from us, the luggage, and a bit of the view out the window.

This is the beautiful view out one of our windows in the living room of our apartment in the San Polo area of Venice. This is the same apartment we stayed in last year. It was perfect for us...lots of room, an elevator, and walk-in shower that Jerry could use easily. We had a very rainy day, so I am glad we had a nice view.

A NYC Urban Sketcher friend was also in Venice for a few days. I met up with Marion for an afternoon of sketching and a nice lunch.

This was the view that I was sketching.

Riverside Park South

The NYC Urban Sketchers went to Riverside Park South last Saturday. This is the old gantry that allowed freight cars to roll from barges to the rail yard that used to be here. 

Next I went out on the pier to get a view looking back at the park. It started to rain lightly so most of us scurried to get underneath the umbrellas by the cafe. Mel was at the next table so I decided to sketch him while I waited for the weather to clear. I used a double page in my watercolor moleskin. It was perfect to fit Mel and include the green umbrella too.

When the rain finally stopped I went back out on the pier to continue the sketch I had started. This is looking back toward the West Side Highway. I was able to include a few people at tables as well as a few joggers.

I had a little time left before show and tell so I was able to do one more small, quick sketch.

Queens Botanic Garden

Last Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers had our annual "picnic" at the Queens Botanic Garden. We used to have a Christmas Party but the group got too large for us to find a venue where we could hold it. After Covid hit and we were able to gather again, it was decided to have it at the Queens Botanic Garden in the summer. There's lots of room for us and we also have an indoor room where we have our raffles, auctions, garage sale and refereshments. 

Here is the first sketch I did for the day of an area of flowers with the visitor's center behind them.

Here are two photos of Kim, myself, and Mark facing that view.

Outside the gates of the garden were some interesting buildings. Many residents of the community came by to see what I was painting and to compliment me. I alway worry about the signs and hope I've done a good enough job that I haven't written something inappropriate. lol

After lunch one of our members, Mel Barranco, led us on a sketchwalk. For most of our stops we were limited to a 2 minute sketch, although our last stop lasted 5 minutes. We were given the task of sketching anything that was in the area. I did a combination of people and plants.

 

Here are a few photos of the sketch walk. Not everyone participated.

The sketch walk was followed by the auction, raffles, etc. This event is part of our fundraising for the year. It was fun to see everyone!

30x30 Direct Watercolor #25 #26 #27 - Carl Schulz Park

 The destination for the NYC Urban Sketchers was Carl Schurz Park at 86th St and West End Avenue. The park had a bit of everything. I completed 3 direct watercolors there. One block away was a small, dead-end street called Henderson Place. It had homes that reminded me of Paris.

Back inside the park I found a tunnel under an overpass. You could see an area with flowers and a statue past the tunnel. From where I was sitting to sketch I couldn't see what it was a statue of, and later found out it was Peter Pan. (Who would have guessed?)

Then I moved to another shady spot where my friends, Anna & Jen were sketching. I did a third direct watercolor of them at work.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #24 - Herald Square Sketch

I went into the city recently to meet the NYC Urban Sketchers up at Carl Schulz Park near 86th St. The train time for Penn Station brought me into the city with about 45 minutes free before I had to get on the subway at Herald Square, by Macy's. So I stopped in Herald Square Park to do a direct watercolor sketch before I headed uptown.