World Wide Sketchcrawl & Earth Day

Last Saturday was the World Wide Sketchcrawl as well as Earth Day. I wanted to combine both of them. I went to an Eco-Carnival in Islip which was held at Seatuck.

I started with a sketch of some of the booths that were set up with the Seatuck building behind them.

There were all kinds of activities for kids, like face painting and crafts.

For lunch there was a BBQ company set up doing burgers, pulled pork and other assorted options. I started the sketch on site, but it started to rain...and that isn't good for watercolors or ink, so I left and finished the ink and color when I got home.

Today is the last day for "Tracy at the Ranch." You can follow the link to find out the end of Tracy's story.

http://tracyattheranch.blogspot.com

SketchCrawl #48

Saturday was the 48th World Wide SketchCrawl. My friend, Susan and I decided to stay local and headed over to the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank. My first sketch was of a calf, but after coming over to greet us he turned and sat with his back to us.

The red barn is where they sometimes feed the cows if they are not out in the pasture. I like when they bring them in because they eat at a trough and you can get real close. They were nowhere to be found...just our luck.

This is one of the silos on the farm. I'm not sure what is inside...and I should have checked since the door was open.

There was a kid's birthday party going on, so there were moms and their kids over by the animals. I sketched these two little girls and their mom who were checking out one of the horses.

Over in the fenced area were a few other animals...a piglet

and a rooster and a goat.

45th World Wide SketchCrawl

The 45th World Wide SketchCrawl took place on Oct 18th, two Saturdays ago.

My friend and I went in on the NYC Subway so I had time to do a few people in pencil before the train got too crowded and we couldn't see across to the seats on the other side.

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the new section of the High Line Park in Manhattan which now goes up to 34 St. For those who do not know about the High Line it is a park that has been built above ground on a former rail line. The newest section overlooks among other things, the rail yards where most of the trains come into Penn Station and Grand Central. There are views across the Hudson River to NJ and of course the skyline.

Through the course of the day we probably had close to 20 sketchers join for all or part of the day.

Here are some of the sketchers and the tourists enjoying the cloudy morning, sitting on the "bleachers."

My first sketch was of all the converging train lines in the rail yard. There were a few cranes thrown in for good measure. Rumor has it that eventually the rail yard will become a park, but I think it just adds to the city look and I hope it stays.

I began sketching the view across to NJ and a helicopter came in for a landing at the heliport. I started sketching it and of course it didn't stay close enough for me to get many details, but I figured at some point it would take off again and I could add a bit more. I must have waited nearly an hour before I was able to add anything. Jim and Pat managed to sneak into the sketch too.

Then I sketched some of the people on the bleachers...some busy sketching and some just enjoying the views or taking photos.

After lunch we returned to the High Line and I did another view. This time I put Denise into the sketch.

At the end of the day we went to a "dive" of a bar and shared our work.

It was a fun day and a good location for sketching. My thanks to Susan for organizing the day, finding a place for lunch, and a great "local" bar with a lot of character. I should have sketched that too.

44th Worldwide Sketchcrawl

Saturday was the 44th Worldwide Sketchcrawl. The NYC Urban Sketchers picked Hoboken, NJ as our sketching location. It is right across the river from Manhattan.

On my way to Hoboken this morning I managed to do a bit of sketching on the LIRR since the ride is a little over an hour. The high backed seats really make it hard to get good views of people...unlike the subway where everyone is facing you head on. Mostly I get side views of people.

Our day in Hoboken was great, and we had a pretty good turnout. Here are a few photos from over by Piers A & C of everyone working.

My first sketch was of the historic Hoboken Ferry Terminal.

And then I did the Vietnam Memorial by the splashing fountains.

At Pier C I sketched the view toward the island park. That is one of my fellow sketchers standing at the railing and sketching the view too. I rarely stand when I sketch...I bring along my own painting chair.

My mind must have been on food since I sketched a cafe next. LOL I guess others were feeling the same way because we headed to lunch soon after.

Before we headed off for lunch everyone shared their work from the morning. It was great seeing everyone's work and meeting the newcomers!

Then it was off to lunch. There was a bit of sketching done at the table. 

Even food and drink doesn't stop some of the sketchers.

I did sketches of a few people and the sketches sort of resemble them.

Luckily we moved on to sketching buildings which I am much more successful with. LOL

These were done down at the corner of First Street & Garden Street. There was a possible sketch in every direction from the corner I sat on. I only had time to do two of them.

Around 4:30 we went back to the terminal and shared our sketchbooks again.

We had an amazing array of great sketches. This is just a part of what was created today.

A few sketchers had already left for the day but we did a few group photos before leaving.

Richard was taking the photos so he is missing from them. You can see how they restored the interior of the waiting room in the terminal, so Richard included that too.

I think everyone had a great time...even the newcomers that joined us.

It was a sad day for us because Jimmy (in the center top row) was sketching with us for the last time.

He is returning home to Paris to live. I guess we will all be visiting him there!

World Wide Sketch Crawl #43 - The Gowanus Canal

The NYC Urban Sketchers picked the Gowanus Canal area in Brooklyn for our sketch crawl on Saturday. For those of you outside of NYC, the Gowanus Canal for a long time has been known as one of the most polluted waterways in the country. Recently environmental projects have been done to try and improve the conditions. It is making a slow comeback, and they are trying to get it declared a national historic area. Most of you know that I tend to paint attractive landscapes that are "pretty." Well, this was gritty and dirty and just so much fun to sketch. I was really pleasantly surprised. Just to give you an idea of the area here is a photo of the Union Street Bridge. This was one of the prettier spots.

Anyway plans were made for the group to meet in Manhattan and take the ferry across to Brooklyn and do a walk with some participants that are actually working on improving the canal. My friend, Susan and I were already on the Brooklyn side so the plan was to meet along one of the bridges. One other sketcher did meet up with us, but we didn't ever link up with the rest of the group.

Susan and I started at the Union Street Bridge (pictured above). While we were sketching an instructor came along with two kids and their parents. He was giving them a perspective lesson and it was great to see what they had sketched. I did one of most of the bridge and then one of the bridge house.

Next we drove over to the Ninth Street Bridge. Sunil found us sketching there. He is one of those people who has an easy time sketching standing up...not me. LOL

I sketched the Ninth Street Bridge with the oil tanks and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway with the traffic on it. Then I sketched an interesting jumble of "stuff" alongside the canal.

At this point we heard voices calling to us. The other sketchers that we were supposed to meet were up on the elevated subway platform to take the train to the next location they planned to sketch. We decided we would rather stay where we were. There was a small fleet of cement mixers with colorful polka dots that I just had to sketch. LOL

Susan and I headed over to the Whole Foods Market by the 3rd Street Bridge. They had a wonderful park-like path around the parking lot that had views of the canal. I did one final (double page) sketch of the 3rd Street Bridge. I sketched it on location and started painting it, but it was getting late so I decided to finish it at home. It was really fun to sketch things so different from what I normally do.