The Forum @ Colunbia University - Part 2

 Sunday's location at "The Forum" at Columbia University provided a lot of great views to sketch and paint. After tackling the view from under the #1 elevated train I decided to do something that wasn't so complex. One of the iconic things you see in the NY City skyline are water towers atop many of the buildings. Not all of the buildings have them, and I definitely don't understand how they work, but they are fun to see. From the same spot where I was sitting for the first sketch, I turned my chair less than 90 degrees to face some buildings and a water tower happened to be on top of one of them. Of course a city scene often has a bit of graffiiti too. This was my view directly across 125 Street in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan where Columbia University is located.

"Show and Tell" for the NYC Urban Sketchers usually takes place at 3:00pm. The Forum personnel told us we could relocate to another room so that we could gather and share our work without having to worry about disturbing other people that were there. I had about 40 minutes to sketch something else and headed over to the other side of the room where I had been figuring I would sketch some people inside with the outside view behind them. I saw my friend Laura had a table and sat down to sketch there. Of course we did a lot of talking instead of a lot of sketching because we hadn't seen each other in a while. I did manage to do a very quick (maybe 10-15 minute) sketch that included two of our sketchers as well as someone working on their computer. I liked the big plant, so that went in as well as a bit of the structure under the elevated train and the deli across the street. I used a brush pen to sketch directly in ink which helped it go faster and then I added some color quickly with my waterbrush. Laura couldn't believe I finished it as quickly as I did.

The Forum @ Columbia University - Part 1

 On Sunday, the NYC Urban Sketchers met at a new venue for us. "The Forum" at Columbia University is located at 125 St and Broadway. It is a public space with lots of tables and chairs that is used by the Columbia students as well as people in the neighborhood. With floor to ceiling windows looking out on the city views, it was a perfect place to be out of the cold and still feel like you were sitting outdoors. Some of the windows overlooked the corner where the #1 train was elevated above our heads. The structure of it was very complex, but fun to try to draw. I did the basic structure that I could see clearly and sort of winged the rest to make it look believable. I hope I succeeded.

Yacht Club

 Every once in a while I take a trip down to the area by the Mastic Beach Yacht Club. There are a few good views including their club house.

Railroad Crossing

This started as a simple sketch for the scavenger hunt for "something for safety," but I ended up adding the background too. 

Islip Charm

Sometimes I just drive around in areas that have older houses like this one in Islip. I find that they have a lot of character. 

Assorted Sketches

All of these sketches were done for a scavenger hunt over on Creative Spark.

This covered two items...a fence and something from nature.

 Last week I ended up going to one of those walk-in medical offices. My cough was really bad, I was wheezing, and I wasn't sleeping well. It turned out I had bronchitis. I was put on an antibiotic, something for the cough and an inhailer. I'm finally feeling much better. While in the medical office I only had a short time to sketch people.

Vehicles are a popular item on the scavenger hunt list. The VW called to me since that was my first car...but mine was bright red.

 

Snow Along the Canal

There are a few canals in Blue Point. This one runs through a small park near Flo's. I was able to park right along the side of it. There was a woman sitting next to her car and feeding the gulls so I quickly sketched a few of them into the scene while they were swooping down to grab what she was tossing.

Over on CreativeSpark there was an interesting item for the scavenger hunt. We had to find a playing card and sketch the numbered side as well as the back of the card. I dug out a very old deck of cards. From what I remember I got these the first time I flew anywhere. It was maybe 1968/1969 when I was all of 20 years old. A friend and I flew out to CA, stayed with her cousin and his family for a few days, and then drove up the CA coast. Neither of us could legally rent a car on our own and her dad rented one for us, but Suzanne had to do all the driving. The trip was a lot of fun and we met two sailors on a cable car in San Francisco. We hung out together all day and then the next day they took us on a tour of their aircraft carrier. We also went horseback riding and I was thrown off my horse. (And I have never climbed back on another one to this day.) At the time the airlines gave you all kinds of things when you were on board if you asked. I got the deck of cards. The box is really worn and I'm not sure if all the playing cards are still inside, but it was fun to sketch one of the cards.