The NYBG - Part 2 The Azalea Garden

 The Azalea Garden at the New York Botanical Gardens is another great area for sketching. We took the tram to the area and walked back to this location we had seen in passing.

Show and Tell was starting at 3:00 so we raced from our location back over to the Conservancy where it was being held. Several people were nice enough to take photos of everyone. I think about 30 people were at the Show and Tell. It is always great to see what everyone else has sketched or painted during the day.

The NYBG: Part 1 - The Lilac Garden

 On Saturday the New York Botanical Garden held their Plein Air Invitational. Featured artists are invited to paint all over the 250+ acres of the garden. There are artist demos, music and dance performances, and guided tours. The NYC Urban Sketchers picked the NYBG for their sketch location and due to the fact that our organizer was doing an art project with the public in the lilac garden, so all our members who signed up ahead of time were allowed free admission (a $30 savings per person). I heard that 900 sketchers signed up to join in. I didn't see that many sketchers, but I was too busy to really notice.

After socializing a bit with friends we hadn't seen in a long time my friend, Suzala and I headed over to the lilac garden and picked our spot before it got too crowded. Yes, there were artists sketching everywhere! I focused on a view of the lilacs behind rocks with a distant hill behind them. Imagine sitting amid a garden full of lilac trees where you could smell them the whole time.

I stayed in the garden and did another sketch including another sketcher, Suzanne who was sitting on her chair on the rocks.

I had lunch in the lilac garden with a friend I hadn't seen since before the pandemic and it was so nice to catch up in person. After lunch I moved on to Part 2.

New York Botanical Garden

I was meeting friends in the Bronx for dinner today so I decided that since I was going all the way there I might as well make a day of it. I have a membership to the New York Botanical Gardens which has a special Holiday Train Show which I've never seen. Although it is considered a "train show" I think the trains take a back stage to the artistic mini versions of all the NY landmarks and and tourist attractions. The show is designed by Paul Busse and his team who constructed the 175 replicas out of bark, leaves, and other natural materials. The buildings are amazing! I believe they are created in Tennessee and then put together amid all the botanical plants at the gardens in two weeks. Of course I sketched one of the buildings in its setting. This is St Patrick's Cathedral.

Here are some photos of the displays. I still can't believe they are created from all natural materials.

A Day at the New York Botanical Garden

On Sunday I went with two friends to the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx. We planned to sketch but there were several things going on there. First there was an exhibit of impressionist paintings, then an impressionist garden, and a Plein Air Invitational Paint Out. Several artists whose blogs I follow were going to be there and I was hoping to see them.

After viewing the impressionist paintings in the library we walked and found several of the plein air artists. I talked to a few and then found a spot along the Bronx River where there was some shade.

Then I moved over by the rose garden and painted the view looking in through on of the gates.

Someone told us that James Gurney (http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca) was a little further up the hill so we went to check. Not only was he there but Shari Blaukopf too (https://shariblaukopf.com). Shari gave a workshop in NY recently and I would have loved to take it but I couldn't work it out. We spent most of the rest of the day watching both of them paint. They were so gracious and informative too. They were right next to each other and we kept going back and forth to watch.

Here is the piece that James Gurney was working on. He had two models in period costume posing for him.

James Gurney at work.

Shari Blaukopf with her first painting done earlier in the day.

Shari painting flowers in the garden.

The models that posed for James.

Left to right: James Gurney, Me, Suzala, Arthur, Shari Blaukopf

The day was also filled with lots of beautiful flowers. Here are a few.