Draw-a-Thon

On Saturday after sketching in Union Square I headed uptown to the High School of Art & Design which was having a Draw-a-Thon fundraiser. Several of the NYC Urban Sketchers were already there since it had started at 10 am. I didn't get  there until about 3:30. I did a few warmup sketches and then did two of the models in their setting in the room. This was the second Draw-a-Thon I've gone to and I didn't get a chance to sketch any of the costumed models since the event winds down at 6 pm when pizza is served and raffles are drawn. It was a fun event!

New York Botanical Gardens Part II

Like I said, it was hot on Sunday at the Botanical Gardens, so most of what I did depended on where the shade was at a given time. After finishing the first painting, I wandered around to see some of the invited painters at work. Of course I appreciate all the artwork, but I gravitate toward the watercolor artists. Marc Taro Holmes was painting in the back of the conservancy near the water lily pond. I went over to see him and introduced myself. I will be taking a workshop with him at the Urban Sketching Symposium in Chicago in July. His work is just amazing. I chatted with him and watched his process for a while until his shade started shrinking. Then I was off to see Shari Blaukopf who was in front of the conservancy. I met her last year when she was in NY. All of the artists were so gracious with their time and didn't seem to mind answering questions and having lots of people stop and watch.

I walked a little bit and found a shady spot not too far away. Thank goodness there are a lot of big trees around. Another of the "uninvited" artists was painting there, and while I was painting another artist sat down to paint in that same area. Here is my second painting of the day.

Armor Sketches from the Met

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We were sketching in the room that contains the armor. I've sketched there before and enjoy sketching the displays. The museum policy is that you can draw with dry media but they usually let us use water brushes. I sketched this in watercolor pencils.

The above sketch took quite a while and I had just a little while before we were meeting for lunch. Two of our fellow sketchers were busy in the same room, so I sketched them.

More from the Met tomorrow.

A Divine Cathedral

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers headed to the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine on Amsterdam Ave and 110th Street in Manhattan. Of course the snow from Friday night was supposed to have stopped before morning, but it definitely hadn't stopped here on Long Island. My friend, Susan, and I decided that even though it was snowing lightly the roads seemed to be really clear so we headed into the city in Susan's van. It had stopped snowing in Manhattan and they didn't have as much snow as we did out here. Susan had about 7 inches and there was about 3 inches by me. (A 10 minute drive can make a big difference in snow accumulations.)

These were some of the views outside the cathedral with snow all over.

I loved this sign about "Spring at the Cathedral" that was covered with snow. lol

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine is an Episcopal Church which is actually also an interfaith center. The building was started in 1892 and is still under construction. It is supposed to be the largest cathedral in the world, but that is disputed depending on if you are talking width or height. For sure it is one of the 4 largest in the world.

Having lived in the NYC area all of my life, this was still my first time visiting the cathedral. I must say it is very impressive, and you couldn't ask for a better location to be sketching. All day long there are choral groups from all over coming in and performing for whoever is there. I think there were at least 8 groups that we heard hailing from all over the United States. With the wonderful acoustics at the cathedral you felt like you were close to heaven.

My first sketch had to be of a choir. I used artistic license and only did part of the group which I believe numbered about 50 students dressed in black gowns or tuxedos. Each group performed about 8 selections to the delight of everyone. They really had wonderful voices.

Next I tried to do some of the architecture. I was sitting in about the center of the cathedral and did the view towards the front door and the rose windows. All those arches were a nightmare to sketch.

I had a few minutes left before we went to lunch and sketched a young girl in another group. She reminded me of the Degas ballerina. She was standing so straight. I sketched her with a blue watercolor pencil, but I liked how it looked so I didn't add any water or other color.

After lunch I wanted to sketch part of an art exhibit that had been hanging at the cathedral for the last year. Our timing was a little off. It was taken down on Friday. The exhibit was by a Chinese artist Xu Bing. Here is a little about the exhibit.

Phoenix: Xu Bing at the Cathedral - January 2014 – March 2015

Over the course of two years, pioneering Chinese contemporary artist Xu Bing culled detritus from construction sites across the rapidly changing urban landscape of Beijing, and transformed it into his most monumental project to date: Phoenix (2008-10). A feat of engineering and ingenuity, Phoenix is composed of two birds, a male called Feng and a female called Huang, together weighing 12 tons and measuring 90 and 100 feet long, respectively. At once fierce and strangely beautiful, Xu Bing's mythic birds bear witness to the complex interconnection between labor, history, commercial development, and the rapid accumulation of wealth in today's China.

The birds that were part of the exhibit were resting on platforms on the floor of the cathedral. They were huge and I can just imagine what the exhibit looked like with them suspended from the ceiling.

My last sketch was one of the archways looking from one of the side rooms through the hallways across the cathedral. It is so hard to decide how much to include because there was so much detail to everything.

We had about 9/10 urban sketchers in total during the course of the day. I think it was the first time we went to lunch and then met again in the late afternoon to share our sketches over drinks where nobody sketched at the table either time. lol I think we were just too overwhelmed by the day.

We are hoping to return again when the weather is warmer to sketch some of the other buildings and statues on the property.

Bryant Park - Part 2

After lunch we continued sketching in Bryant Park. There was a sketch in every direction you looked. This woman was sitting right in front of me...a perfect spot for a model.

I turned about 180 degrees from above and sketched a view of the umbrellas and sandwich kiosk.

This is one of my favorite sketches of the day. It shows the scope across the lawn in the middle of Bryant Park. The building behind the trees is the NY Public Library, an impressive spot on its own.

Around 3:30 those of us who were left gathered around for a "throw down" of one of our sketches. 

Here is the collection...just one sketch per person showing.

And finally a group photo.

Most of the group dispersed at that point but a few of us headed down the street to have a drink. That was followed by a shopping trip to Kinokuniya, a great Japanese store that has a nice collection of art supplies...something none of us can resist.

Friday in the City

On Friday I met two friends in NYC to see the decorations. I went in early so I could sketch a bit. I sketched on the LIRR on the way into the city. This is a young girl that was with her parents. It doesn't look very much like her.

I walked up 34th Street and came to a small park in Herald Square that was decorated.

Next I headed to the NYC Public Library on 42nd Street. This was what I wanted to sketch. Outside the library are two massive stone lions. I believe this one is named Fortitude (the other one is named Patience). At Christmas they usually decorate them both with wreaths around their necks.I only had time to do the sketch before my friends, Maureen and Rhea arrived.

But I did finish it at home.

Around the corner from the Library is Bryant Park which has a tree and a skating rink, but what we wanted were the small stores that are set up for holiday shopping.

Here is a photo of the tree there.

We had lunch, shopped some more and then headed over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

It was so crowded and crazy...and it wasn't even dark yet. 

We really wanted to see the tree at night, so we went to have coffee and dessert.

The tree and the lights around Rockefeller Center are just amazing...and the crowds are too!

Here we are in front of the tree.

Maureen and I walked back to Penn Station to catch our respective trains. I had a bit of a wait so I sketched someone buying tickets.

I did one final sketch of a woman on the train going home.

This ends another long, exhausting day in the city!

Vanderzalm Christmas Trees

On Sunday I had to go to Bellport to drop off a painting for a show. I figured I would find a tree lot to sketch. This was done sitting outside the Vanderzalm Nursery in Bellport. They looked like they were pretty busy, but this lady spent a lot of time checking out just one tree. lol

I'm glad I had a few extra sketches done that weren't posted yet. I didn't get to sketch outside at all yesterday or today. Yesterday I put up my Christmas tree and assorted decorations inside. That exhausted me!

Today we had some snow. Luckily it didn't really accumulate much but there were some big snowflakes coming down for a while. I didn't venture out until late in the afternoon and spent most of the morning getting paintings matted and framed for my plain air group's holiday show this weekend.
I'm still not completely ready and am supposed to be meeting friends in NYC tomorrow. I will try to sketch before I meet them. It is supposed to be very cold tomorrow so I am hoping to sketch inside Grand Central terminal and on the train into the city. Wish me luck!

Sketchcrawl #39 - NYC

Yesterday was the World Wide Sketchcrawl #39. My friend, Susan, and I went into NYC to meet with the NYC Urban Sketchers who had organized a sketching day for us. We met at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. This was my biggest sketch of the day and is about 5 x 8.

Because everyone was enjoying the location so much, we stayed in that area for a few hours instead of moving as originally planned. There were people singing in the Bethesda Pavillion so we had entertainment too. There was also music down by the fountain which made it really nice.

I did a sketch of the railing of the staircase that came down to where the fountain is located.

This sketch and most of the others below were done directly in ink (yeah!).

By the time I finished this sketch above some of us headed off to lunch. Everyone sketched at the table before the food arrived. I sketched Richard who was at the other end of the table.

After lunch we headed over to the Lincoln Center area. On the way we passed a street market and a few of us topped to sketch there. I loved this colorful truck. The waffles they were cooking smelled so good.

Next we met the afternoon group in front of Lincoln Center. Many of them were sitting on the edge of the dancing fountain. I decided on sketching the sketchers with the fountain view behind them instead of doing Lincoln Center itself. I sketched it in pen and before I could add color a security guard came to warn them that in a few minutes the fountains were scheduled to shoot really high, and they would get wet if they were anywhere near them. He was so right. The whole area around the fountain got drenched. I added the color from memory.

As much as it is spring, the temperatures were pretty cold yesterday and most of us were too cold to continue sketching outside. We found a cafe inside that wasn't open yet and it had tables and big glass windows facing the Lincoln Center plaza. I sketched Mia while she was sketching.

I sketched a few of the other sketchers too.

I took a few photos of some of the sketchers either sketching or sharing tips on materials.

Here's my friend, Susan hard at work.

Here are Melanie and another sketcher.

Mia was showing the sketcher from India all the wonderful pens and inks she had with her.

Finally we shared our sketchbooks and work. This is just a small sample of the work done yesterday. Through the course of the day we probably had about 28 people participate in the NYC Sketchcrawl. One woman lives in India, and a couple that took part were from Minnesota.

I hope you enjoyed sharing our day!

City Sketching

My husband and I had tickets to a show on Broadway yesterday, and we went in early so I could sketch a bit before we had dinner. I started with a sketch of some people on the train. The motion of the train made me sketch in pencil and the trip is fairly short so I didn't bother with color. As you can see everyone is dressed for our NYC cold weather.

It was much too cold to sketch outdoors so I went into St. Patrick's Cathedral. Much of the cathedral is being renovated, but the altars were fine. This is the altar to Our Lady of Guadaloupe

I had a little more time so I did a sketch of the altar of St. John the Evangelist.

We saw the Broadway show "Once" which is about musicians in Ireland. The stage set is of an Irish pub. Before the show actually starts the musicians are on the stage jamming.

We took the subway back to Kew Gardens where we had parked the car. I got a seat going home so I was able to do two more sketches in my moleskin journal...again in pencil.