Long Island City

Recently the NYC Urban Sketchers met to sketch the area around The Long Island City Courthouse by Court Square Park. It was a very windy, chilly day, but I was prepared with a winter jacket, several layers of clothes to keep me warm, a hat, and fingerless gloves if needed. I sat across the street to sketch the courthouse and tucked myself into a corner. It must have blocked a lot of the wind because after a while I was able to take off my jacket, and I wasn't cold.

We had sketched in this area last year and both Suzala and I remembered the pulled noodle restaurant where we ate then, Xi' an Famous Foods. Mark decided to join us, and we had a great lunch...but no sketching there, just talking.

One of the oddest things in the area was a sculpture from the 1960s titled, The Sunbather by Ohad Merome. Apparently it was a big thing when it was first put in place. I think it is probably one of the ugliest sculptures I've seen. Only a few of the sketchers thought it was worth sketching. It is Pepto Bismol pink and looks like a cross between the insulation that is put between walls and the Pink Panther. lol 

I had to sketch it.

Usk Sketchmas Day 5

The prompt for day 5 of Usk's Sketchmas was "statue." This wooden statue was sculpted by Todd Arnett and it overlooks Lake Ronkonkoma. Local legend says the Indian Princess of Lake Ronkonkoma fell in love with an Englishman who lived across the lake. Her father would not permit her to have a relationship with the Englishman. The heartbroken princess killed herself because she could not be with her true love. Folklore goes on to say that every year in a desperate search for her true love, the princess takes a young man's life by drowning in the lake. I sketched the statue on location in the town of Lake Ronkonkoma.