CHANGED PLANS for SATURDAY

Saturday, April 28, 2018

We will not be going to the Botanic Gardens.  

Very sorry for this change of plans.  Thank you Laura and Noboku for pointing out it's Sakura Day.  It's a big day for Gardens and they are charging big "surge" pricing.  The $30 admission per person means a change of plans.

We'll be meeting at Prospect Park (free admission). With 526 gorgeous acres, designed by the same team that created Central Park, this Brooklyn gem wonderfully sketchable. We'll be meeting at the entrance located at Parkside Avenue and Ocean Avenue (see map below). 

The Q train stops at Parkside.  We will be exploring the northeast edge of the park up to Empire Blvd (near the Prospect Park subway station)

The Prospect Park Boathouse

Bring lunch or depend on the vendors in the park.

We'll meet at the Parkside entrance at 10 AM.  Take my phone and call or text if your arrive late.

The Prospect Park Carousel

Show and Tell 3:00 PM - will be held at Bluebird Food & Spirits, 504 Flatbush Ave, at Lefferts Ave Phone: (718) 484-9494

NOTES:
     - The entrance to the park is across the street from the Parkside subway station
     - Bring a stool if you have one, it gives you more options. 

Click to Enlarge

If you can’t find us

call or text Mark at 973-809-9128

There are no fees.   All drawing skill levels are welcome.

Weekday Sketchers at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

The temperatures might be cool but the trees know spring is here and that means it is cherry  blossoms are in bloom. One of the best places to see these wonderful pink flowers is the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Meet us there this Friday morning (when admission is free!) to capture this wonderful harbinger of warm weather in your sketchbook.

Bring a stool, some lunch and lots of pink paint!  

DATE:  FRIDAY APRIL 27, 2018

START TIME:  10:30 AM 

LOCATION: BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDENS

                        EASTERN PARKWAY AND WASHINGTON AVE,

NOTE:  We will meet at the entrance on Eastern Parkway at 10:30.  After 10 minutes we will enter the park and make our way to the cherry blossoms.  If you arrive later, just look for us. The garden opens at 8:00 AM. Come when you want and stay as long as you can.  Admission is free on Fridays before noon. 

Transportation: 2, 3 Train to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum Station.  

NOTE: the entrance to the garden where we will meet is adjacent to the this subway stop.

Please RSVP directly to Raylie Dunkel at raylie@verizon.net.  Looking for us? Call/text Raylie at 201-978-6387

SATURDAY: World-Wide SketchCrawl #59:

April 21, 2018

Sketch Van Cortlandt Park  
Hosted by Parker Gambino 

The International Sketch Crawl is a tradition even older than Urban Sketching.  On this day, artists  all over the world are out drawing together.  Join us in NYC to celebrate this event.

  The Van Cortlandt House Museum (http://www.vchm.org/) will be the initial focus of our sketching.  We have arranged for small numbers (3-4) of sketchers to enter without charge for sketching the interior features.

  There are loads scenic attractions nearby.  The broad expanse of the Parade Ground offers vistas of the park's natural areas and nearby Riverdale, including the distinctive architecture of the Horace Mann School.  The parade ground is well-populated with various athletic activities.  A scenic wetland restoration area is to the south of the Museum.  The old NY Central Putnam Division right of way is now a scenic bike path, and there are several access areas for Van Cortlandt Lake and its feeder, Tibbetts Brook.  The advocacy group, Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, will be giving outdoor presentations about efforts to investigate and enhance the Tibbetts Brook watershed

  Experimental Activity: For perhaps an hour anyone interested will go to the Golf House where we will offer returning golfers 10 minute portraits.

  At 1:30 we will meet for lunch and show&tell at the Van Cortlandt Golf House, about a 5-minute walk from the Museum.  Parker will have a scanner set up to capture images to be posted on the Sketchcrawl website.  The lunch menu is bare bones but serviceable.

  The weather looks very promising.


DETAILS
When:   Let's start assembling and sketching at 10 AM.  The Museum grounds open at 10:45, the Museum itself at 11:00.

Lunch:  1:30  PM  Bring your own or purchase food in the Van Cortlandt Golf House.  The food is described as serviceable

Show and Tell:   Following lunch we'll have our Show and Tell in the Golf House.


DIRECTIONS:
By Subway
- Take the IRT 1 train to the last stop – 242nd Street
     - Exit the station on the east (Park) side
     - Continue walking north on Broadway  (with the park to your right)
     - Go past Burger King
     - Go in the main entrance to the right; it is well-signed
     - Proceed along the path to the Van Cortlandt House Museum
Total walking time less than 10 minutes

By Car   Driving  – (There is a free parking lot)

Driving directions from NORTHBOUND on I-87 (Major Deegan Expressway)
- Exit  11 Van Cortland Park South
     - Where the exit ramp forks, STAY LEFT
     - At the STOP sign, make a VERY sharp left turn
     - Proceed underneath I-87
     - The first left turn feeds into the free parking lot
     - See walking directions from the parking lot - below

SOUTHBOUND on I-87 (Major Deegan Expressway)
- Exit 11 Van Cortlandt Park South
     - At traffic light at top of ramp, turn left (onto Van Cortlandt Park South)
     - At the next traffic light, turn left into the park
     - Stay to the left, to proceed under I-87
     - The first left turn feeds into the free parking lot
     - See walking directions from the parking lot - below

From the Henry Hudson Parkway (either direction)
- Exit 24 to Mosholu Parkway
     - Exit to I-87 Southbound, which will put you onto the Major Deegan Expressway
     - Exit 11 Van Cortlandt Park South
     - At traffic light at top of ramp, turn left (onto Van Cortlandt Park South)
     - At the next traffic light, turn left into the park
     - Stay to the left, to proceed under I-87
     - The first left turn feeds into the free parking lot
     - See walking directions from the parking lot - below


Walking directions to the VC House Museum:
     - Walk out of parking lot, take the path that goes to left, down under the old rail tracks
     - On other side of the tracks, turn right onto a platform path through the wetland
     - Continue straight up the path to the top of the hill
    - At top of hill, turn left to arrive at entrance to Van Cortlandt House Museum
Total walking time less than 10 minutes


NOTES:

-  Bring a stool or a portable chair if you have one.  It gives you many sketching opportunities.  If you don't already a stool ask some of the sketchers to try their seating solutions so you can determine the best one for your needs.

If you can’t find us

call or text Parker at 845-661-2994

or Mark at 973-809-9128

There are no fees.   All drawing skill levels are welcome.

Weekday Sketchers at St. Bart's

St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Ave and 51st Street is beautiful on the outside, beautiful on the inside and this Thursday will be filled with music! Let's draw!

Built in the Byzantine style the building is richly decorated with stained glass windows, golden mosaics by Hildreth Meir, decorated ceilings and walls.  The views from Park Ave and the adjoining plaza will afford us space to capture the beauty of the building as we sketch in the morning. Then at 1:00 PM we will move indoors for the "Midtown Concert" series featuring Marginalia playing the "Book of Beasts", a narrated collection of musical stories of animals both real and imagined. We will then remain indoors to capture the beauty of the interior.

DATE:  THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

START TIME: 11:00 AM

LOCATION:  ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH

                         PARK AVE btw 50th and 5st Streets

  Note: we will meet on the plaza outside the church on the 50th Street side of the building.  In case of rain we will meet inside the building. Doors open to the public at 9 AM

TRANSTPORTATION:  E or M to 53 and Lexington Ave.  Walk west one block to Park Ave and south to the church.

Please RSVP directly to Raylie Dunkel at raylie@verizon.net.  Bring lunch or purchase it at the cafe on the plaza.

SATURDAY: Sketch the Boar

Saturday April 14, 2018

It's nearly impossible to imagine that the predicted weather for Saturday includes a high of 76 degrees.  Could this stubborn winter finally be loosening it's grip on the city?

We have two interesting events planned for Saturday.  The first is an exploration of a little know tiny pocket park on the east side.  The second is to attend the High School of Art and Design's Draw-A-Thon & Fundraiser.  More on both:


PART 1 - SKETCH THE BOAR:
The park and its vistas of the Queensboro Bridge were featured prominently in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979). The park contains the Wild Boar statue, which is a replica of the bronze wild boar completed in 1634 by Renaissance sculptor Pietro Tacca (1557–1640) that stands in Florence, Italy.

Sutton Place is a Manhattan neighborhood of elegant apartments and townhouses, a long-time enclave of the rich and rarefied. It has been home to Kofi Annan, Henry Kissinger, Marilyn Monroe, Bill Blass -- not to mention assorted Vanderbilts and Morgans. So why is there a big pig in its park?

To be precise, it's a bronze copy of a marble replica of a Renaissance statue of a wild boar named Porcellino. Philanthropist Hugh Trumbull Adams found the statue in a Florentine shop and donated it to the park in the early 1970s. It's popular with the sandbox set, who love to pet it and climb on its back.

The metal porker sits on a base overrun with sculptured skittering creatures: toads, lizards, mice, crabs.

PART 2 - The Draw-A-Thon
The High School of Art and Design is an important institution for art minded New Yorkers. It provides the artistic foundation for many of the native New Yorker art community.  The Draw-A-Thon  brings out an incredible assortment of NY artists including the famous and near famous.  The range of talent covers the gamut.  There are loads of models to sketch clothed, costumed and nude.  You have a choice of quick one and two minute poses up to all day poses.

Figure work is of course the foundation of everything we do.  It's the artistic discipline - the equivalent of playing scales for musicians and something dedicated artists return to for their entire lives.


DETAILS

Part 1 - When and Where:  11 AM - 12 Sutton Square,  between E. 57th and E. 58th Sts.  NYC.  Located at the far east side of midtown Manhattan, at Sutton Place Park and 57th St., overlooking the East River.

Lunch:  12:30  PM  Bring your own to be eaten in the park of rely on stores and vendors nearby.

Early Afternoon:   1:30 PM Back to sketching the park

Part 2 - When and Where:  2:30 PM   Walk to the High School of Art and Design, 245 East 56th Street between Second and Third Avenues.  The Draw-A-Thon is a fund raiser.  Admission is $25 at the door and $5 less if you pay in advance: 

Click to prepay or to see details
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-and-design-draw-a-thon-fundraiser-9-tickets-43350272833?ref=enivtefor001&invite=MTQxOTc3OTcvbWFya2xlaWJvd2l0ejgxMEBnbWFpbC5jb20vMA%3D%3D&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inviteformalv2&utm_term=attend

Show and Tell:  There will be no Show and Tell since we're packing two events into one sketching day.

NOTES:
-  Bring a stool or a portable chair if you have one.  It gives you many sketching opportunities.  If you don't already a stool ask some of the sketchers to try their seating solutions so you can find the best one for your needs.
-   Attend one or both events.  Come late if you need to. We'll be there.  The Draw-A-Thon actually starts at 10 AM and goes to 7 PM.  Feel free to choose what's right for you.

Click to Enlarge

If you can’t find us

call or text Mark at 973-809-9128

There are no fees.   All drawing skill levels are welcome.

Weekday Sketchers at AMNH

Kids are back in school ....let's revert to our plans for the AMNH

It might be spring but the weather is still too unpredictable for sketching outside, so we will go to the bottom of the ocean instead!   The American Museum of Natural History has recently opening its newest exhibit, Unseen Oceans that offers a view below the surface of the water that will be new to most of us.   Since there is an additional entrance fee for this special exhibit is an option for us while at the museum. Don't want to go for a deep dive?  Feel free to explore all the wonders at the AMNH and share them during our lunch break.  

DATE: TUESDAY  APRIL 10, 2018

START TIME: 10:30 AM  

We will gather and wait at the entrance for about 15 minutes and then go on to the exhibits.  If you come later, please text/call Raylie to see where we are.  We will meet at about 12:30 for lunch in the cafeteria. Feel free just meet us for lunch.

LOCATON: AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

                      Central Park West and 81st Street

NOTE:  Please use the entrance on 81st street by the Planetarium.  It is a less crowded entrance that will make it easier for us to meet.  The museum has a pay-what-you-wish policy but the Unseen Oceans exhibit will be an additional cost.  It is optional to our visit to the museum.

TRANSPORTATION: B OR C SUBWAY TO 81ST STREET. EXIT AT  81ST STREET AND WALK WEST TO THE ENTRANCE DOWN THE BLOCK.

Please RSVP directly to Raylie Dunkel at raylie@verizon.net.  Looking for us? Call/text to Raylie at 201-978-6387.  Bring a stool and lunch or purchase lunch in the cafeteria. 

NEW PLAN - SATURDAY: Sketch NYC's First Robotics Competition

Saturday April 7th, 2018

Unfortunately our original plan to sketch with the Landscape Architects in Central Park does not look doable.   They have a rain or shine policy so you can still join them.  However we've found something that is indoors and looks fascinating. If you've been inspired by the recent news, excited by what High School students all over the country are doing, this sketch event could be fantastic.

New York City will host 51 Robotics teams from the New York tri-state area, Turkey, United Kingdom, Brazil, and China who will compete this weekend.  Winning teams will advance to the global competition.

This year more than 3,600 teams comprised of 90,000 students and their adult mentors from around the world will get to “play for real” in cities around the world.

FIRST Robotics Competition is the ultimate Sport for the Mind! Combining the excitement of sport and beauty of art with the rigors of science and technology, teams of high school students (ages 14 - 18/grades 9 - 12) are challenged to design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform tasks against a field of competitors.  It should be a challenging sketch environment.


DETAILS

When:  Saturday, starting at 10 AM.   Coming late is okay there is no strict start time.

Where: The Armory Track & Field Center, 216 Fort Washington Avenue, NYC

How:  By Subway:  A or 1 trains to 168th Street, then walk one block west to Fort Washington Ave.  (see map below)

Lunch:  12 Noon - Bring your own or purchase food nearby on Broadway.  We'll eat together indoors.

Afternoon:  1 PM  More sketching

Show and Tell:   3 PM - A short walk to Burger Heights, 79 Audubon Ave b/t 169th St & 170th St  Phone number (212) 951-0626, where we will share drawings, good stories and snack, beer or wine if you're so inclined.

NOTE:
-    Bring a stool if you have one, it gives you more options.
-    We've never attended this event so details like where we should meet are not clear.
-    Bring my phone number and call or text if you don't see people sketching.

Click to enlarge

If you can’t find us

call or text Mark at 973-809-9128

There are no fees.   All drawing skill levels are welcome.

SATURDAY: Sketch with the Landscape Architects

Saturday April 8, 2018

This Saturday, weather permitting,  we'll experience NYC nature sketching through the eyes of Landscape Architects.  We will be sketching with a group of landscape architects and students, led by Richard Alomar.

The recently restored north section of Central Park offers open views and access to the parts of the park that were overgrown and under appreciated. This sketch walk will explore Central Park and Morningside Park documenting and experiencing Manhattan’s hills and valleys.

NOTE:  The weather report for Saturday looks particularly unpleasant right now, but things can change.  An email blast will go out on Friday, with posts to Facebook and our blog to confirm this event.  Plan B, if we're forced indoors will be a visit to the Museum of Natural History,  - an inexhaustible source for pleasurable indoor sketching.

DETAILS

When:  The day starts at 10 AM 

Where:  We'll meet at the entrance to the park at West !00 Street and Central Park West.  There will be a discussion about techniques before we enter the park at 10:30 to sketch.

Lunch: 1:00  PM - Eat on the run.  Bring your own or purchase from vendors in the park.

Afternoon:  1:30 PM  Walk to Morningside Park (the park behind the Cathedral of Saint John) to continue sketching.

Show and Tell: 2:30 PM.  We will park company with the Landscape Architects, who are going to walk to the Columbia campus to continue sketching.  We're going to Mel's Burger at 2850 Broadway (at West 111 St and Broadway) Phone: (212) 865-7100 where we will share drawings, good stories and snack, beer or wine if you're so inclined.


NOTE:
-    Check to confirm the weather is okay for outdoor sketching.  Plan B is to meet at the Museum of Natural History.  Confirmation will be sent and posted on Friday.
-    Dress warmly in layers, this has been a stubborn winter. 
-    Bring a stool if you have one, it gives you more options. 

Click to Enlarge

If you can’t find us

call or text Mark at 973-809-9128

There are no fees.   All drawing skill levels are welcome.

Attention: Weekday Urban Sketchers Change of Venue

Since this week is spring vacation for the NYC schools, it is anticipated that the American Museum of Natural History will be extremely crowded,  making it very difficult to sketch especially in the new exhibit.

Therefore, the Weekday Urban Sketchers will meet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, thereby switching the venues of next week's schedule with this week's. 

NEW VENUE 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a virtual warehouse of some of the most beautiful objects in the world, amongst which are a vast collection of important and valuable musical instruments.  The Andre Mertens Gallery of Musical Instruments, which houses over 250 objects has recently been renovated and reopened.  We will explore this collection for the beauty these instruments possess. 

Of course you are welcome to explore any of the museum's collections and share your work with us at lunch. 

DATE: THURSDAY, April  5, 2018

TIME: 10:30 AM

LOCATION:  Metropolitan Museum of Art

                          1000 5th Avenue at 82nd Street

NOTE:  We will meet in the main lobby at 10:30 AM near the information booth.  After 15 minutes we will move to the gallery. If you are coming later than that, meet us in the musical instruments gallery or at lunch around 12:30 in the cafeteria on the lower level. 

TRANSPORTATION: 4, 5, 6 Train to 86th Street. Exit the station and walk west to 5th Avenue and South to the museum.

Please RSVP Raylie Dunkel at raylie@verizon.net.  Looking for us? Call/text Raylie at 201-978-6387.

Bring a stool and dry materials to work with. Bring lunch or purchase something in the cafeteria. 

Weekday Sketchers at AMNH

It might be spring but the weather is still too unpredictable for sketching outside, so we will go to the bottom of the ocean instead!   The American Museum of Natural History has recently opening its newest exhibit, Unseen Oceans that offers a view below the surface of the water that will be new to most of us.   Since there is an additional entrance fee for this special exhibit is an option for us while at the museum. Don't want to go for a deep dive?  Feel free to explore all the wonders at the AMNH and share them during our lunch break.  

DATE: THURSDAY APRIL 5, 2018

START TIME: 10:30 AM  

We will gather and wait at the entrance for about 15 minutes and then go on to the exhibits.  If you come later, please text/call Raylie to see where we are.  We will meet at about 12:30 for lunch in the cafeteria. Feel free just meet us for lunch.

LOCATON: AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

                      Central Park West and 81st Street

NOTE:  Please use the entrance on 81st street by the Planetarium.  It is a less crowded entrance that will make it easier for us to meet.  The museum has a pay-what-you-wish policy but the Unseen Oceans exhibit will be an additional cost.  It is optional to our visit to the museum.

TRANSPORTATION: B OR C SUBWAY TO 81ST STREET. EXIT AT  81ST STREET AND WALK WEST TO THE ENTRANCE DOWN THE BLOCK.

Please RSVP directly to Raylie Dunkel at raylie@verizon.net.  Looking for us? Call/text to Raylie at 201-978-6387.  Bring a stool and lunch or purchase lunch in the cafeteria.