Restaurant Near the Grand Canal

 I like finding a scene that has a bit of a different view. This was sketched along the Grand Canal past the entrance to St Mark's Square. A small canal juts through between where I was seated and where this restaurant is located. I smiled when I saw the red checkered tablecloths.

 I had one small section left in my Hahnemuhle concertina sketchbook and found a great scene to finish the book. There is an area with covered arches near the Rialto Market. One of the arches opens to the Grand Canal. The gondolas kept going down the small river across from it so I was able to to sketch the gondola activity based on a few boats that turned into that canal. I am hoping to take photos of all the paintings in this sketchbook and maybe make an iMovie. If I get it done and don't have major problems with it, I will post it here on the blog.

Along the Canal

 Many restaurants that are along the canals here have seating outside. It is a nice way to dine and watch the world go by.

Yellow and Blue Poles

 I don’t know how or why some entrances along the canals have colorful poles outside. I will have to check that out. 

Venice 2024 - Part 8 - Arched View, Squero di San Trovaso, Ferrovia

 There are a lot of views hidden at the end of meandering streets like this one.

While I was in Venice I tried my best to post to creativespark.art and do the scavenger hunts. 

This sketch was done for one of the hunts. It is the stove in our apartment and was done on my iPad with Procreate.

The next sketch is one of my favorite places in Venice. It is the Squero di San Trovaso, a landmark 17th century boatyard that builds and services wooden gondolas. There is usually some activity going on that is fun to watch. Of course the gondola I started to sketch first (the prominent one nearly in the center) was finished. The work had been done and they carefully put in into the canal and it was gone! Luckily I had enough of the details and a photo to help me finish that gondola.

A few days before we were leaving I went over to Ferrovia (the train station) to get our tickets for the trip back from Venice to Milan. After booking the tickets I came outside and was attracted to the view across the Grand Canal and the people sitting and standing on the steps of the train station. One lady must have been really tired from her commute. She was leaning against her suitcase resting her head.

Along the Water

 We have a lot of locations that have small rivers/streams that lead out into the Great South Bay. Most of the boats are docked along these waterways and many of the ferries that run over to Fire Island are located inland a bit on these waterways too. This was sketched from a boat launching area in Sayville.

Bits of Amsterdam

The last sketch walk was up near the Nemo Science Center. I sat outside along the wharf and there were some interesting boats like this one.

One night we went to Vatten Ramen, a restaurant which was overlooking one of the canals. Of course it was a sketching opportunity.

Here is Suzala busy sketching the view.

Gowanus 1 & Inktober 2018 Day 1

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the gritty, industrial area around the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. We have sketched there before and it is such a fun place. It was (IS?) one of the most polluted areas of our country and they have been working hard to clean up the area. As they do clean it up, new buildings are sprouting up and a lot of the graffitied buildings are slowly coming down. The essence of the place is slowly being lost as the area is changing. The toxic waste area is slowly becoming a lovely residential area. I haven't been there in a few years and the changes are very noticable.

One of our members, Jessica is part of an organization called the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club. On Saturday they were offering free canoe rides on the canal. I thought about it but with my poor sense of balance I didn't want to end up in the canal or to have my art supplies in the canal. So I stayed on shore. Several of our sketchers did go out in the canoes and a few even managed to sketch while they were in the canoes. Here is the first of my sketches. It includes a composite sketch of the people in the canoe. They passed by too quickly so I included a bit of what I saw in each of the canoes.

Today is October 1st and you know what that means...INKTOBER!!! Started by Jake Parker, Inktober has become very popular. I have participated in it since 2015 and always look forward to it. If you click on this link you can find out more about it...or just grab a pen and sketch in ink. This was sketched from the parking lot at Smith Point Beach.

#inktober #inktober2018

I was looking for a place to sketch from the car yesterday seeing how our "spring" isn't warm enough to sit out yet. I drove over to Blue Point right near Flo's Luncheonette. Across Middle Road is a little park near one of the canals. I decided to sketch this boathouse...it looks like it needs a bit of love.
This is about 4 x 6 and was done in my Stillman & Birn Alpha Journal.

Scrolled Doorway

As I have said before, each entrance is unique in Venice...they make good subjects.

Boat on the Canal

The boats in Venice are a big part of the lives of the people, and they are so interesting.

Interesting Spots

There is an interesting spot to paint around every corner in Venice.

I don't know if the actual Venetians love the crumbling walls as much as I do, but I can't get enough of them.

Venetian Doorways

Most of the paintings that I did on my trip to Venice are 4 x 6 or 5 x 7. I did manage to do a few that were 8 x 10 like these two doorways. I love the fact that every entrance off the canals is different.