Lebanon Sketch 1

 Yesterday the NYC Urban Sketchers joined USk Lebanon for a joint virtual sketching event in Lebanon. One of our members is/was an economist who worked quite a bit in Lebanon and has often sketched there with their Urban Sketchers group. Joy spoke to Judy Abi Roustom from the Lebanon group and a plan for sketching together was put into action. We all met on Zoom in the big group to start and Judy told us a little about Lebanon and her favorite areas. She had provided a number of links to photos and references for us to use. After the introduction we split up into "breakout rooms" of anywhere from 5-6 people. Each group had a member of USk Lebanon to provide additional ideas and information. Arin was in my group and spoke about the areas that were damaged from the recent explosions and some of the other areas in Lebanon that she would recommend.

I usually try to get a head start on the reference otherwise I would spend the morning just trying to decide where and what to sketch. On Friday I downloaded about a dozen references that were possibilities. I have to say that I knew nothing about Lebanon except what I've seen in news reports, and those usually focus on damage or problems. Lebanon is a beautiful country and I focused on some of the lovely references I found of Beirut. I also found out that right outside of Beirut there is an area that has an incredible amount of ancient Roman ruins and the oldest continually inhabited city. It was quite impressive.

Here is the first sketch that I did of Gemmayze in Beirut. This area had some damage from the last explosion, but not as much as the center of Beirut. There are a lot of areas with big, steep staircases and wonderful textured buildings.

One of the nice things about zooming is meeting people from all over the world. You can join in from anywhere as long as the time difference works for you. This was my breakout group in the morning.

We had (left to right in the top row) Terri (NY), me, Nimal (NY), 

(second row) Ingrid (Germany), Marta (Spain), Arin (Lebanon)

(bottom row) Patricia (CA), and Karen (NY). 

View Toward the Bay

I recently did this sketch in Sayville while parked on River Road, where the ferry terminals and parking areas are located. There is usually a nice view of the boats but you can only park on the street during off season. Right now a lot of the boats are shrinkwrapped for the winter and the views aren't so great. I sketched this with one of the pens in my pen case assuming that the ink was waterproof, but when I added watercolor there was some bleeding. I decided to go with the flow anyway. 

Lefty Lucy & Zoom Sketches

 Tuesday night Lefty Lucy posed for us. I liked her outfit which seemed to have designs of big cats on it. So how to do such a pattern??? Simplify! I couldn't tell what she was wearing on her head until the last sketch. It was some sort of bandana.

These are 10 minute sketches.

This is her final pose which lasts 20 minutes.

Wednesday night the South Bay Art Association had their monthly general meeting on Zoom. That is also the night that the Patchogue Sketch Club meets and they usually join together since some people are members of both groups. During the meeting everyone got to talk about what they have been doing lately with their art and some of the attendees were working on art while listening. That's what I did, but I was busy sketching the participants. Things were going fine until there was some screen sharing and I couldn't focus on a close view of the people. Then my Zoom audio started crackling so I switched from my laptop to my iPad. That gave me really small images to work from, but I kept going. Here is what I was able to sketch.

Roadside America - Twistee Treat

 I like the idea of sketching roadside America. I only wish it didn't have to be done virtually. My next stop was this fun Twistee Treat stand in Hudson, Florida. Apparently there are quite a few around the country. I definitely plan on seeking out a few more interesting roadside locations.

Sky Views

It seems like I've been doing a few small sky paintings lately. I love looking at the patterns of the clouds over the beach grasses here. 

Roadside America - Coney Island Hotdog

 For the NYC Urban Sketchers theme on Saturday I continued sketching with this cute eatery in Bailey, Colorado. Being from NY when I think of Coney Island I expect Brooklyn, not Colorado. Apparently this stand has been in business quite a while since I've seen updated photos of it. I did a bit of a combination of several reference photos.  This was done in watercolors and ink.

Since I was enjoying this so much I continued with another roadside attraction that I will post soon.

Roadside America - Lucy the Elephant

The NYC Urban Sketchers theme on Saturday was Roadside America. Links were given to many places where we could find information and references, or you were free to use any references you had or found. For my first sketch I picked Lucy the Elephant, a national landmark in Margate City, NJ near Atlantic City. Lucy, who is 65 feet tall, was built by a real estate developer in 1881 to attract potential buyers to his properties. Lucy has survived hurricanes, mild rot and brushes with fame while standing in this location. Recently she was listed on AirB&B, so technically you could stay there and say you slept in an elephant. lol Apparently tours are given on most weekends. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing Lucy in person, but maybe that will happen some day.

Most of this was done in a grey toned Strathmore sketchbook with watercolors and ink and some white gouache for her tusks and the clouds. Of course this is not an urban sketch since it was not done on location.