The NYC Sketchcrawl

THE VIDEO:
My first attempt to post a video.  If successful it should show us at the morning sketch at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and the afternoon sketch at the Brooklyn Museum.  If it shows nothing, well, I've got a lot to learn about video.


THE MORNING SKETCH:
We met at the hot house at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.  I wanted to make sure I positioned myself so people could find me as they arrived.  The location l selected had more to do with the proximity to the main entrance than it did with finding the most beautiful view.  That's just as well since I've got a theory about this.

I believe that there is a potentially a beautiful picture everywhere you are.  The limitations are not in the subject matter.  For me the limitation in my ability to be inspired by the view and skill required to  capture that potentially beautiful scene.  The point is "the view" is never at fault.

Mixed Vegetation

The spot where I sat had mixed vegetation and rocks.  The darks were rich.  I eliminated the building's distracting support columns and moved the plants around to make a composition that I liked better.

Potted Plant

My daughter gave me a beautiful hand-made sketch book.  The paper isn't like anything I've used before.  It has the surface of a paper towel and absorbs water and color like blotting paper  I used watercolor and watercolor pencils to try to get sufficient darks and rich enough colors.  Nothing works like you'd expect - so its frustrating and interesting at the same time.

Jason Das

Jason sat opposite me at lunch and I did a quick sketch of him as we chatted.


THE AFTERNOON SKETCH:

The Cloaked Official

There's a statue of Gertrude Stein in New York's Bryant Park that has a similar look and feel to this stature.  Apparently Egyptian statues of people wearing cloaks became a fashion during the middle kingdom and expressed devotion to the god Osiris and their desire to be reborn after physical death.

The Seated Wadjet

From the Devine Felines show at the museum - the Goddess Wadjet - the lion-headed woman

 

The Kokopelli Kachina Doll 

The  Kokopelli is the ancient Anasazi symbol of the humpbacked, minor god flute player. His main task is to provide abundance, fertility and rainmaking - good work if you can get it.

Svetlana showed me a great balcony that overlooked the lobby of the museum.  We sketched the people in line for the coat check.

In line for the coat check