Arboretum Blooms

Since I was not at the rehab facility all day I had some time to sketch outdoors. I dropped off laundry for Jerry and was near the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. I had about an hour before it closed so I looked for something in bloom. This pink tree (I don't know the species.) had lovely little flowers and right around it there were hellebores in bloom too. It was a mild day so I sat there comfortably sketching until closing time. I did the sketches all on the same page which makes the hellebores look bigger than the blooms on the tree. I cropped it into two sections so it looks a bit better.

The corona virus is affecting other things here too. My sketch group that meets on Wednesday evening decided to cancel tonight and the NYC Urban Sketchers (as well as most of the Urban Sketching groups) are canceling their weekend sketch events. Luckily I don't mind sketching solo and often sketch from my mobile studio. I hope that you aren't affected too much. The virus seems to be spreading rather quickly so I guess curtailing exposure in groups is a sensible thing. Be careful out there!

Susan's Studio

Last week I went over to my friend, Susan's house with the intention of painting some of her crocuses and hellebores that were sprouting. Susan's business is creating designer custom window treatments and bedding. She has a large studio at the back of her property where she does all her work. I went in the studio and we started talking and talking while she was hemming some drapes. So instead of going out and sketching flowers I pulled out my sketchbook and sketched her at work. She's been telling me I could come and sketch her studio but this was the first time I took her up on the invitation. I think she enjoyed having company while she worked, since it is such a solitary type of work most of the time. She has huge bolts of fabric, a huge worktable, and lots of work literally hanging from the rafters. It was a fun challenge to narrow down my focus and only sketch some of what was there. Some day I'll sketch a few of her sewing machines too.

Welcome to Spring & The Final Part of the Urban Sketching Day

Happy First Day of Spring!!!
 In the spirit of the day I wanted to paint some outdoor flowers today. My good friend and fellow sketcher, Susan, who lives nearby is always ready to share her garden treasures with me. I called her this morning to check that something was in bloom in her garden and she told me to come on over. She works from home, so we chatted for a little while and then she went inside to work while I painted her crocuses, hellebores, and heather. Luckily it was sunny and warm enough to spend some time in the garden without freezing. Thanks, Susan!

On most occasions when the NYC Urban Sketchers gather, we meet at the end of our sketching day to share our work over drinks. I think we had about 20 people with us at the Brooklyn Museum and we headed out at about 4 to Tooker's Alley, a bar nearby. They open at 4 so we didn't worry about it being too crowded for us...and Mark always lets them know we are coming. Once everyone has a drink or whatever they order we start sharing our sketches from the day. It is always fun to see how everyone else captures the same or almost the same views. Some people do a lot of quick sketches and some people complete one longer piece. We have 2 rules when we share...you can't say anything negative about someone's sketches and you can't say anything negative about your own. The second rule is the hard one. LOL

In addition to sharing our sketches, almost everyone immediately whips out a sketchbook and starts sketching the other sketchers at the table or the other patrons where we are. It is good because the other sketchers usually don't get up and move...although they move around some talking to people to their right or left. I was able to get two sketches each with several people seated opposite me.

As you can see from the three days of posting...it was quite a busy day!