Sunday Morning

On Sunday I went into the city.  Taking the Long Island Railroad gave me a little time to do a pencil sketch of one of my fellow riders.

When I got to Penn Station I stopped for a cup of coffee in Au Bon Pain. The customers were perfect for a sketch. This was done with a Lamy Safari pen filled with a water-soluble brown ink that bleeds nicely for shading.

Grand Central Sketches

On Saturday my friend, Susan and I were meeting the NYC Urban Sketchers, but not until 1. Since it is such a long trip to Manhattan from out here on Long Island, we almost always go in so we are in the city by 9am. We took the subway from Penn Station to Grand Central Terminal to sketch there. 

My first sketch was done in the main concourse where the famous clock is located. I've sketched from this same spot several times. It is a good spot to sit on the floor against the wall and not get into anyone's way. There is always a flurry of active people passing by since the clock is a meeting place for so many people. lol

Next we headed downstairs to the food court. We sat facing the Irving Farm Coffee Roasters, which also had a good amount of business. 

By the time we finished sketching there it was time to take the subway to our main sketching location. Watch for those sketches tomorrow.

Ink Sketches

Here are a few ink sketches done recently....by the water...

...and two while I was having breakfast in Penn Station. 

Penn Station

After getting off the train in NYC I was in Penn Station. I went in early so I would have time to do a sketch before I met my friends (non-sketchers). It was cold outside so I looked for something inside Penn Station that looked festive. I found a spot to stand where I could see the violinist playing down at the end of the hall and could also see the wreaths that were hanging. Penn Station is normally pretty crowded, but everyone must have rushed up to the street to see the holiday decorations because there weren't too many people walking around inside. This is a tiny sketch...done in my small moleskin.

Commuters on the Train

Heading into NYC last Saturday on the Long Island Railroad I had a few models for the ride.

This lady slept almost the entire way into the city.

This group of people was diagonally across from where I was sitting mostly in the seats facing me. From their conversation I knew they were related and two of the ladies were visiting from out of state. One was from Atlanta. One of the ladies was blocked by the man in the red striped shirt. I knew they were headed to Penn Station and the World Trade Center so I had plenty of time to sketch them. Three of their kids were sitting across the aisle to my right and the older boy kept looking over to see what I was doing & kept  smiling at what he saw. I'm sure he whispered through the seats that I was sketching them. When I finished I passed the sketch over to him and he passed it to the group to see it. They loved it and asked if they could take photos of it. 

To the City and Back

Last Saturday I joined the NYC Urban Sketchers in the city. We weren't meeting until 11, but I wanted to go in early and sketch somewhere. I took the LIRR from Ronkonkoma and had a view of this man and his son/grandson.

This sketch I did in pen but I find that there is a bad vibration on the LIRR as we travel, and it makes it difficult to get smooth ink lines. It doesn't seem to matter so much with pencil.

Once I got to Penn Station I stopped for breakfast at Central Market. My friend, Pat, always eats there and there is a great view if you sit all the way in the back. I sketched the people in front and behind the counter.

This man came and sat down between me and the counter. I had a little more time so I sketched him on my iPad using Art Rage.

 I'll save the sketches from the day for tomorrow's post. Before I caught the train back home I stopped in Penn Station and had coffee. Of course I couldn't resist sketching the people.

 My final sketch of the day was a woman on the train.

City Ink Sketches

I am taking an online mixed media class with one of my urban sketching favorites, Mark Taro Holmes. His first lesson in the course was on single-line and 5-7 line sketches. They are mostly continuous line drawings done with a fine line pen and then adding dark tones with a brush pen.

Here is a link to Mark's workshop in case you are interested. This is a short video that gives you an overview of his class. Since it was offered at such a discount I couldn't pass it up.

http://citizensketcher.com/2015/08/25/video-trailer-for-travel-sketching-in-mixed-media/

On Saturday when I got into the city I had about an hour to walk from Penn Station on 32nd St to where the NYC Urban Sketchers were meeting at 5th and 23rd St. On the way I saw a view that looked perfect for the first lesson, so I stopped to sketch. The goal of the single line sketch is to be able to capture a scene quickly, which is perfect for sketching when traveling or when you are somewhere with "non-sketchers." This probably took me about 10 minutes. 

When I was done I headed down to Madison Park to meet the group. I still had a little time to sit outside the park and sketch the iconic Flatiron Building. It has an incredible number of windows, but I left out most of them. Although this was not a single-line sketch I did use the idea of the brush pen for some darks to make it pop.

Tomorrow I will show you what was in the park!!!

Sketching in Hoboken

To get to Hoboken where the NYC Urban Sketchers were meeting I had to first take the LIRR into Penn Station and then take the PATH train to New Jersey. I left on the 7:40 am train and arrived in Hoboken at 9:45...yes, it was a long trip, but sketching on the train (see yesterday's post) makes the time seem shorter.

After meeting up with everyone I decided the Hoboken Terminal was a perfect spot to sketch. I've sketched it before but like it enough to redo it. Here is a link to my post from the last time I sketched in Hoboken. http://watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com/2014/07/44th-worldwide-sketchcrawl.html

There are a lot of great views of the city, so how could I pass that up?

After lunch I decided to try a panoramic view of the city. I always have a hard time with city scenes because I get lost in the buildings. This time I sketched a few at a time and painted those before I moved on to the next group. I find the color helps identify where I am in the scene.

I had a half hour left before we were heading over to "show and tell" so I used it for a few small sketches. This man looked very comfortable, but I think that bench is a little hard.

Nora was right in front of me and I couldn't resist sketching her in action.

Battery Park City Promenade - Part 2

Continued from yesterday....

With our lunches in hand we headed down to our next stop along the promenade and were joined by Kay, Amy, and Jane. Our location was the North Cove Yacht Basin. Who knew there was a NYC Sailing School. We found it. There were lots of sailboats and yachts, but I wanted to sketch the view with the red Colgate sign under the clock.

Everyone was very busy sketching.

Around 3:30 we did a throw down of our sketchbooks. I always love seeing what everyone has created during the day.

Here is our group...left to right we have Mark, Jane, Jim, Amy, and myself.

Mike, Jane, and I decided to continue our day and walked down to the Robert F. Wagner, Jr Park. It had some interesting views. You could see the Statue of Liberty from where we were.

Instead of sketching a water view I concentrated on the buildings on our side of the river.

Around 5 Jane led us to the train station so we could head back to Penn Station and home.

It was a fun and productive day.

Grand Central Terminal Sketch

As I said yesterday, I went into NYC to meet friends. I took the train to Penn Station and then walked across town to Grand Central Terminal where their train was arriving. Grand Central is such an iconic  location. I had about 35 minutes to sketch so I walked up one of the many sets of stairs and sketched the view looking down into the main room of the terminal where the clock sits on top of the booth in the center. There were crowds of people everywhere. I didn't sketch all of them. LOL Who could.

I did the drawing and most of the color before they arrived, and finished the rest last night after I got home.

Then we went off shopping through all the Christmas booths in Grand Central, then to a very nice lunch, and then shopping at the holiday booths in Bryant Park. It was freezing out! Once the sun went down we were able to stay outside for a while but then it got too cold and we went for coffee so we could be inside. This was my last sketch for the day. I didn't sketch on the train coming home because it was crowded and I didn't want to be that obvious in a crowded car. I like being able to sketch on the train mostly hidden by the high seats.

Sketching in the West Village

Yesterday I decided to join the NYC Urban Sketchers in the city. The best bet for me was to take the LIRR to get there so I took the 7:40 train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station. It is fun sketching on the train if you can get a good view. At first I only had a view of a woman through the opening between the seats. I used my wc pencils and ink for these sketches.

But then a woman sat across the aisle and one row ahead of me.

Finally someone got on and I got a good view of him...and finished 

just before we pulled into Penn Station.

Mark scheduled us for a walking tour of locations related to writers.

We met at 1 Washington Square North to sketch the former home of Henry James and Edith Wharton.

It is a lovely red brick building.

Here is my sketch of it.

I also did a quick sketch of the view down Washington Square North.

This was done directly in watercolors with no pencil lines.

Next we headed off to 130 Macdougal Street which was the home of Louisa May Alcott.

No luck there. Either the building is gone or it was turned into part of the college.

By this time we were freezing and spied the Tea Spot just across the street at 127 Macdougal Street.

What a find! It was warm and cozy with an interesting interior perfect for sketching.

And the woman behind the counter (and the other customers) couldn't have been nicer.

I did a view of the counter with Angela working behind the counter.

Of course when she brought over our assorted teas and a teapot of extra hot water it made a still life that none of us seemed to be able to ignore.

Part of the fun of sketching with other artists is seeing what they find interesting to sketch, talking about sketching and supplies, and just enjoying the day...and often the food we eat.

Here are Mark and Mia who were sketching across from me.

Suma was sketching to my left.

Marie was trying to help Svetlana with a problem she was having loading ink into her new pen.

We were there for quite a while so I also had time to do some sketches of people...some look a bit like the person I was sketching but some not so much. 

Here is the whole group at the table...from the left are Svetlana, Marie, Me, Suma, Mia and Mark.

We noticed the sun was finally out so after a bit of lunch we bundled up again and headed outside.

There were several places related to writers along Grove Street. We stopped at 10 Grove Street which is where O'Henry lived when he wrote the short story "Last Leaf." It must be a popular spot on tours because big groups of people would stop to see the garden behind the gate.

Here is Mark sketching the building.

And Svetlana sketching.

Here is my sketch from that location.

By this time some of the artists were ready to call it a day. Mark, Mia and I headed off to the White Horse Tavern for something to warm up and have something warm to drink before we headed to our trains/buses. I didn't sketch inside (Mark did. He sketches everything.)

We walked back to the subway while the sun was going down. It was a great day of sketching. My thanks to Mark who did so much research and organizing for our day. I didn't get to sketch on the train going back home because my car was very empty and I didn't have a view of anyone near me.

All in all I think it was a productive day!

A Trip to Manhattan

Yesterday I was meeting two friends in Manhattan to see the Christmas decorations. I took the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) into the city. The ride takes about 1 hr 15 min so I had a bit of time to sketch one of the commuters.

 

Once I got into the city I had about an hour before I was meeting my friends so I walked as quickly as I could from Penn Station on 33rd Street up to 48th St and Sixth Ave where these huge red balls caught my eye. So I found a spot and sat and sketched.

 

By the time I was nearly done my friends had arrived and the rest of the day was spent walking around Manhattan, especially the shops in Bryant Park and the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. Here are a few photos from my day.

The skaters in Bryant Park.

The tree in Bryant Park.

Decorations along Sixth Avenue.

 

 

The angels in Rockefeller Center.

 

And the Rockefeller Center tree.