Portrait Party

 The NYC Urban Sketchers has a portrait party every year on the first Saturday in February. Of course due to Covid 19 this year had to be held differently. It was fun, but the camaraderie of being in a huge room with everyone while sketching and then seeing all the sketches laid out on the floor for display was sorely missed. We used Zoom as our platform and we were divided into groups of 5/6 members. This was done twice in the morning and then again in the afternoon. You could attend as many sessions as you wanted, and the participants changed each time. Your group of 5/6 had an hour and 10 minutes to complete the portrait which worked out to 10 minutes per sketch.

I could only participate in the first group in the morning, We started with 5 people but after starting an additional person was added in. By the time we were ready to sketch the last two people we ended up with 7 minutes for one and 5 minutes for the last person. Talk about pressure! lol Here are the sketches I completed during my session.

I looked through the posts on Facebook later in the day and was able to find this sketch done of me.

Portrait Party & Digital Sketch

For today's NYC Urban Sketchers event we had a portrait party. We've done them quite a few times IRL but today's event was organized on Zoom. Anyone who wanted to attend who didn't know how to use it was tutored by someone who did so that everyone was ready. We all met in the Zoom "auditorium" where Mark welcomed everyone and explained what we would be doing. There was a morning sketch event and an afternoon event. We were split up into random groups of anywhere between 6-8 sketchers and sent off to our meeting room. Each person in the group posed for a 10 minute sketch. My morning group only had 6 people so we finished a bit early. That gave us time to chat with each other and share the sketches we had done. A few of our group were people I am friendly with but some were new to me. One woman was from Calgary. I sketched out each portrait with a water-soluble graphite pencil, and then went over that with permanent ink. Then I added watercolor on top. Here are my sketches from the morning.

At 11:55 we all went back to the "auditorium." Some people went and had lunch, some posted their sketches, and some of us just hung out there talking because it was the first time many of us had seen each other since social isolation began. It was fun to catch up with everyone.

After the lunch break those of us who stayed for the afternoon session or who had just joined for the afternoon session were assigned to another breakaway group meeting to sketch. This time there were 7 people in my group so I got to sketch a total of 11 people. Here are my afternoon sketches...remember each of these was created in 10 minutes.

Of course we were indoor sketching on one of the nicest days we've had in nearly 2 weeks. As soon as we were done with the portraits I headed out for a ride down to Hecksher State Park in Islip. I sat facing the water and sketched with ArtRage on my iPad. Some people were on the sand enjoying the sunshine on one of those orange inflatable cushions. There were a lot of people down by the bay, but for the most part they were in small groups and keeping distant from other people. I didn't get out of my car...just sat with the window open and let the sun shine in.

Portraits Galore

At the beginning of next month the NYC Urban Sketchers will be having our annual Portrait Party. Here's a link to last year's event. We divide up the members into groups and each person in your group takes a turn posing...for 10 minutes only. You have to capture them in 10 minutes on a 8 x 10 piece of watercolor paper in a medium that will stand out from far away so when they are displayed on the floor in a grid everyone can see them. I started practicing last night and did a few practice sketches of Gerri our model this morning at portraits. Then I did a longer pose of her.

These were done last night using a Tombow marker and my watercolors. I think that is what I will use because the Tombow bleeds in a bit with the watercolors. I did a very quick sketch in pencil first to sort of place the features. Except for the one of me, these were all done from photos...mostly mine, but MLK was done from one on the internet.

MLK

Me

My nephew, Joe

My friend, Jeanne

I forgot to bring the Tombow with me to portraits this morning so I used a black brush pen, but it didn't work as well as the brown Tombow. I wish the person who organizes the models didn't let them read while they are sitting. I hate sketching people with their eyes closed. I'll have to suggest that we have a certain amount of time to sketch them looking up before they start reading. 

Here is Gerri's longer pose.

30 Day Challenge - Day 6 - Boat Building

Today for Day 6 of the 30 Day Painting Challenge I returned to Weeks Boatyard in Patchogue. Most of the boats are wrapped for the winter so I didn't want to make them my focus. I looked for a spot that had a building that wasn't completely blocked by buildings in storage. I liked the front of this building and I couldn't resist those red doors. This was done with gouache.

Check out some of the other artwork for the 30 Day Challenge on Leslie Saeta's blog.

I thought I would post some of the sketches done of me at the portrait party. Not all of the 13 other people in my group have posted their sketches, but here is a sampling. Notice the completely different styles.

by Jerome Shafer

by Katie Woodward

by Marie Roberts

by Susan Greenstein

30 Day Challenge - Day 4 - Fishing Boat & Portrait Party

Today is Day 4 of Leslie Saeta's "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge. This gouache painting was done by the canal in Islip. 

If you are interested in seeing some of the other paintings that have been done for the challenge you can check Leslie's blog here: 30 Paintings in 30 Days

Yesterday was the NYC Urban Sketchers Portrait Party. The group was divided into 4 groups of 14-17 people per group. Each person in your group posed for 10 minutes while the other artists frantically scrambled to complete the sketch. My group had 14 people, so I did 13 portraits. Wow...it was exhausting! Here are the portrait sketches I did. #13 is missing because I was model #13.

Of course I started of the day with a sketch on the Long Island Railroad. This group of people was going into NYC for some sort of races being held at the Armory.