Queens Museum

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Queens Museum in Corona. The museum and some of the buildings in the park are part of what had been the 1964 NY World's Fair. At the time it was held my family and I visited the World's Fair quite a few times because it wasn't far from where we lived as kids. When the fair was over they kept a few of the structures and they remained in Flushing Meadows Park. 

The Queens Museum building had been part of the New York World's Fair. It was the New York City Building which was the City's official pavilion during both the 1939-40 and the 1964-65 World's Fairs. It was also used from 1946 until 1950 as the headquarters of the United Nations General Assembly. It is a vast space with some interesting and unique exhibits. What attracted me first was an exhibit by Emilie L. Gossiaux called "White Cane Maypole Dance."

One of my favorite parts of the park is the Unisphere which features representations of the continents and major mountain ranges in relief and is encircled by three giant orbital rings that represent the tracks of early satelites. It was designed by landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke. It was sunny but cold on Saturday so I didn't want to sketch outside, but luckily the Queens Museum has some floor to ceiling windows with excellent views of the Unisphere. There was a group of boys outside playing soccer which added to the charm of the scene.

This is the view that I had.

Upstairs there was a room with quite a lot of memorabilia from the New York World's Fairs. I remember these characters were mascots of the fair. These are bobble-head dolls.

After our show and tell I stayed a little longer to sketch in the room that held the Tiffany lamps. The Queens Museum has a permanent Tiffany gallery and educational program. Tiffany's glass furnaces, metal foundry and workshops were located in Corona, Queens, less than two miles from the Museum. I was happy with the way the shade came out on this dragonfly lamp, but the base of the lamp is incorrect and should be over to the left. I didn't realize it soon enough.

30 in 30 - Day 20 - Barney

It is hard to believe that we are on Day 20 of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" Challenge. This is Barney who recently left this world. He was the pet of my friend, Rhea's friend, Steve. Doing a white dog wasn't easy. This was one with watercolors, watercolor pencils, and touches of white oil pastel.

Feel free to hop over to Leslie Saeta's blog and check out the great paintings the other artists have been painting for the challenge. https://www.saetastudio.com/30-in-30-blog

Here is another sketch done at the Queens Museum last Sunday. This is the view looking out of the cafe toward the Unisphere located in Flushing Meadow Park which surrounds the museum. The Unisphere was part of the 1963-64 World's Fair in NY.

I did a sketch of a few people sitting in the cafe too. The little girl barely stayed still for me to sketch her.

30 in 30 - Day 19 - Summer

Summer is the name of the dog I painted for Day 19 of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" Challenge. This lovely dog belonged to my friend, Louise. Apparently Summer had a bad heart and was only with her family for 5 years. I loved her color!

Check out some of the other artists participating in the challenge here:
https://www.saetastudio.com/30-in-30-blog

This is an unusual sculpture sketched at the Queens Museum on Sunday. The sculpture was part of an exhibit about the sanitation department and was made from discarded work gloves, walkie talkies, brushes and assorted materials.