4th of July

 Today's painting for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge is a patriotic one for the 4th of July.

Wishing those of you who are celebrating today a

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

Statue of Liberty

 On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers and Urban Sketchers Paris held a joint sketching event on Zoom. It was hosted by a member from each country. Each member sketched the other country's Statue of Liberty. When we split up into smaller groups each had a member or two from the Paris sketchers. Our group had one member and then the organizer from Paris joined us. There was a lot of great conversation and sharing. The NYC members were lucky because Paris actually has six versions of the Statue of Liberty. I decided to sketch the one that is at the Musee' d'Orsay in Paris. I liked being able to see the wonderful windows behind the statue. The Musee' d'Orsay has wonderful architectural designs that just set off the statue so well!

The Lady in the Harbor

The NYC Urban Sketchers have been holding Saturday Zoom gatherings with a theme. This week it was to sketch our hometown, NYC. For the morning we were asked to select places that we loved best.  One of the places I love but still haven't really had the opportunity to sketch is The Statue of Liberty. I've included her in sketches as part of the background out in the harbor. I looked for a reference where she was in the foreground, and in this case the background is Ellis Island.

I visited the Statue of Liberty many times, especially with my students when I was teaching. I don't miss the days of having to accompany the students as they climbed inside the statue. In those days I didn't do urban sketching so it was a treat to do this sketch. Maybe some day in the future I'll actually go to Liberty Island just for the purpose of sketching.