NYC Urban Sketcher - Workshops 2018

NYC Urban Sketcher - Workshops 2018

Based on the overwhelming positive response we got from last year's workshops we're running them again for 2018.  

We have 15 different workshops that will explore the skills and techniques you need to be a better artist and a more accomplished Urban Sketcher.

Each workshop is going to cost $35.  When you register you'll discover that the host website adds a few dollars which is their fee for hosting the program and collecting our money.  The actual total will be closer to $38.

Here is the line-up.  As we get closer to each event you'll be given more details and the website where you can register.  

When it comes to art instruction 

this is probably the best deal around.

1. Marie Roberts        07/07/18 Seeing the Whole
2. Elissa Gore         08/05/18  Transparent Watercolor Techniques
3. Tom Kerr                 08/11/18  Drawing People in Motion
4. Denise Markbreit 08/19/18  Watercolor Monotypes and Beyond
5. Jason Das          08/25/18  Casual Perspective
6. Mark Leibowitz 09/01/18  Urban Sketching for Beginners
7. Jeff Levine         09/09/18   Subway Sketching
8. Leslie Sim         09/15/18   Gouache on Toned Paper
9. Katie Woodward 09/22/18  Nocturnes: Urban Sketching at Night
10. Suzala                 09/30/18   Capture the Shapes to Capture the Picture
11. Hugo Costa        10/06/18   The Aerial View
12. Laura Rosen         10/13/18   Adding Atmosphere and Form with Color
13. Lois Bender         10/21/18   Choosing Colors to Make Your Whites Pop!
14. Shawne Cooper 11/18/18   From Sketches to Stories
15. Joy Hecht         11/24/18   Sketching in Collage

​Reserve these dates.  More information coming soon. 

SATURDAY: Sketch the South Street Seaport

South Street Seaport and Pier 16

We will meet at 10 AM at the corner of Water and Fulton Streets at the Titanic Memorial Park (see photo and drawing done by Urban Sketcher Michael Lohr).  The first part of the day we'll sketch the walk on Fulton Street from the Memorial down to the South Street Seaport.  Every inch of the walk is sketchable!

TRANSPORTATION:  2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, Z to Fulton Street station; walk down hill towards river

Fulton Street Lighthouse -
by Michael Lohr

Lunch:  12:00  Noon - Al Fresco on Pier 16.  Come with your own lunch or purchase from the many vendors in the area.

Afternoon:   1:00 PM - Sketching Pier 16.  Lots to see and sketch.

Show and Tell:   3 PM - A short walk to the Paris Cafe at 119 South St. Phone: (212) 240-9797, where we will share drawings, good stories a snack or beer or wine if you're so inclined.


NOTE:
_    Bring a hat
-     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 Cancel Thursday 

The forecast is for rain, rain, rain Thursday June 28th.  The Urban Sketchers event in Madison Square Park is canceled.   Good day to try to capture rainy day scenes though your windows!

See you July 11th at the Prospect Park Boat House. 

Weekday Sketchers in Madison Square Park

Join us for a day of sketching in Madison Square Park to capture the six sculptures by Diana Al-Hadid entitled Delirious Matter which are set on the oval lawn with the parks plantings and the surrounding the park as a backdrop.  And if you wish, wander over to the Madison Avenue side of the park to capture the beautiful beau-arts building that houses the NY State Appellate Division.  Oh, I almost forgot.....the Flatiron Building awaits you as well!

There are plenty of benches but it does get crowded so bring a stool if you have one. Bring lunch or get a burger at the Shake Shack in the park or treat yourself to Eataly across the street.  

Diana Al-Hadid, Delirious Matter

NY Appellate Divison

Flatiron Building

DATE:  THURSDAY JUNE 28, 2018

STARTING TIME: 10:30 AM

LOACATION:  MADISON SQUARE PARK

                           23rd STREET AND 5TH AVENUE

TRANSPORTATION: 6,  R, W TO 23 RD STREET 

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

SUNDAY: Sketch the Nineteenth Century

Saturday looks like rain with Thunderstorms, so Sunday looks like our best bet.  We've found something that looks like it's going to be really interesting and highly sketchable.

NYC Urban Sketchers 

meet the 

New York Nineteenth Century Society!

As the sunny days grow longer, one often desires a happy excursion to whittle away the hours with friends. What better way to do so than with a Victorian picnic? Join the New York 19th Century Society for an afternoon of dining al fresco, good conversation, reading aloud, lawn games of the gentler sort, and photography, a very sketchable event

Society members have been instructed to bring food or drink to share. Suggested attire (for them - not us (unless you're feeling inspired)): summer whites, garden party frocks, tea dress, steampunk, Goth, or Lolita.

The Society is gathering on the Great Hill in Central Park. Closest subways are the C and B trains to 103rd Street and Central Park West.  NYC Urban Sketchers will meet on Sunday at 2 PM at the entrance to the park at 103rd Street and Central Park West.  (see map)

Sunday, June 24, 2018

2:00 p.m.

Great Hill, Central Park (106th Street and Central Park West)

Subways:  

#1 to 103 St

B or C to 103 St

or 

B or C to 110 St / Cathedral Parkway

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 South St Seaport Wednesday

You might remember the Fulton Street Fish Market which offered a small window into what was once a bustling commercial maritime waterfront, with its pallets of fish, puddles of melted ice and an aroma that can't be described.  While the old buildings have been sanitized and commercialized the area still offers sketchers some wonderful opportunities to capture a piece of NYC that once was.

We will meet in front of the South Street Seaport Museum and spend the morning sketching the cobblestone streets nestled below the Brooklyn Bridge.  After lunch we will move to the waterfront to  sketch the masted ships that have been permanently moored there.

Bring a stool, some lunch (or purchase something from the many vendors) and some imagination to capture the NYC that used to

South Street Seaport Museum

Masted Ships

DATE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2018

STARTING TIME: 10:30 AM

LOCATION: SOTH STREET SEAPORT MUSEUM 

                       12 FOULTON  STREET

TRANSPORTATION: J OR Z TO FOULTON ST,

                                     4, 5 TO FOULTON STREET

Please RSVP directly to Raylie Dunkel at raylie@verizon.net. 

Looking for us? Call/text Raylie at 201-978-6387

Waterfront

Cobbled Streets

SUNDAY: Sketch the Block Party

Sunday, June 17, 2018

The Rubin Museum has it's annual block party this Sunday.  The "official" activities start at 1 PM, but in past years I've enjoyed sketching while everything gets set up.  The Block Party happens right in front of the Museum at 150 West 17th and extends for the whole block. 

For anyone unfamiliar , the  Rubin Museum of Art promotes understanding, and inspires personal connections to the ideas, cultures, and art of Himalayan Asia.

The Museum is open and free all day, so this is a rain or shine event.

Personal Note:  I'm teaching Sunday morning and will coming from Gowanus.  I probably can't get there until about 1:30.  It's also Father's Day and I'll be leaving to celebrate with Family at 3:30.  Don't wait for me.  Anyone on 17th Street with a sketchbook is almost certainly an Urban Sketcher - feel free to say hi.

DETAILS
What:  The Rubin Block Party

When:   Starting at 12:00 Noon

Where:  At the Rubin Museum at 150 W 17th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

How:
  Subway -
   -  A, C, E to 14th Street (at 8th Avenue)
   -  1 to 18th Street (at 7th Avenue)
   -  2, 3 to 14th Street (at 7th Avenue)
   -  F, L, M to 14th Street (at 6th Avenue)
   -  N, Q, R, 4, 5, 6 to 14th Street-Union Square

  Car -
   Parking is wide open on Sundays, the easiest day of the week to find a spot.  There is a 24-hour parking lot on the corner of 17th Street and 6th Avenue. There are also a number of parking garages and lots on 17th Street between Union Square and 7th Avenue.

NOTES
 - Bring a portable stool or seat if you own one.  It will give you lots more options.

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 Jefferson Market Library and Garden

Situated on a triangle between West 10th Street and Greenwich and 6th Avenues, the Jefferson Market Library and Garden is an oasis in the middle of the city.  The library, was originally a market place named for Thomas Jefferson and later became the NYC police headquarters. Deemed the 5th most beautiful building America in a 1885 survey of architects, the library is an ornamental brick building with catacombs below and a minaret  that soars above 6th Avenue. Later the building became a courthouse with an adjacent jail. The garden, which was the site of the infamous Women's House of Detention, was created after the jail was torn down.  

Here is a link to the history of the site: http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/910722_e7275bac067f464f83ac9d5186cd19a9.pdf

Join us to capture the library from the street or with views from the garden. Bring a stool, some lunch (or purchase it from the many stores in the area) and your imagination as we sit on such an historic site. 

 Extra Credit:  anyone who would like to sketch the shortest street in NYC can visit Patchin Place on 10th Street, which also has great views of the library.

DATE: THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2018

START TIME: 10:30 AM

LOCATION: JEFFERSON MARKET LIBRARY 

                      6TH AVENUE AND 10TH STREET

         NOTE; We will meet inside the garden entrance on 6th Avenue.

TRANSPORTATION: F, L, M TRAIN TO 14TH STREET/6 TH AVENUE

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

SATURDAY: Sketch the Little Red Lighthouse

This sketch event was planned for us by Svetlana

Weather note:  The forecast says rain for Saturday. This is not a rainy day idea.  I'm hoping we'll get a reprieve.  I will post an alternate dryer event on Friday if this optimism isn't rewarded.

Bennett Park

We will start the sketch in Bennett Park, a neighborhood gem, built on the site of Fort Washington. The fort’s former contours are still outlined by granite paving in the southern portion of park. The
park features an outcropping of Manhattan schist which is the highest natural point in Manhattan (267.75 feet above sea level, identified by a stone marker) and the Hudson View Gardens apartment complex on the west side of the park, representing a relatively early example of Tudor design in the city, predating Tudor City in Manhattan.

Svetlana Sketching

From the Bennett Park we will walk down the sloping Pinehurst Avenue and 181st Street (a walk which New York Times says “echoes” of Montmartre) down to a small terrace perched at the end of 181st Street with a fantastic view of the George Washington Bridge (which is by the way the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge) and the Palisades. We will spend another hour or so here before moving on for lunch.


We will enjoy lunch together at the park by the Hudson River in sight of – The Little Red Lighthouse, Manhattan’s only remaining lighthouse and the main character of Hildegarde H. Swift’s 1942 children’s classic, “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.”

The Little Red Light House sketched by Joan T. four years ago.

The lighthouse, built in 1880 and moved to Jeffrey’s Hook in 1921, warned ships away from the shore as they made their way down the narrow channel between New York and New Jersey. However, when construction of the great George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, the lights of the bridge’s 600-foot towers overwhelmed the little lighthouse, and according to the book, made him feel small and unimportant. But at the end of the story, the bridge reassures the lighthouse that it is still needed to guide boats which are unable to see the lights high atop the bridge.

The story became so popular that when the lighthouse was slated for demolition in 1951, thousands of children started a nationwide campaign to save it. Thanks in part to their efforts, the lighthouse is now under the ownership of NYC Parks & Recreation.


DETAILS:

10:00am       Meet in Bennett Park - W 183rd St &, Fort Washington Ave - by the cannon in the center.  By  subway use the A Train to 181 Street, or a few blocks further the #1 Train to 181 St.  (see subway map below)

11:00am       Move down Pinehurst Ave and 181st St to the overlook terrace (located at the corner of 1380 Riverside Drive)  (see walking map below)

12:30pm       Lunch bring your own or chance finding something on the way.

1:30pm         Sketch the lighthouse (formally known as Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse).

NOTES:

-  Bring a stool if you own one.  It gives you options.
-  The walk to the lighthouse will take approximately 15 minutes. We'll be walking from the tallest spot in NYC to sea level.  The streets are steep and it's a bit of hike getting back.  
-  See the maps - provided below.

Subway Map - Click to Enlarge

Walking Map - 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 Elizabeth St Garden

Oh, the hidden treasures of NYC!! If you have never been to the Elizabeth Street Garden, you are in for a treat.  This wonderful green space is tucked in behind and around the buildings of Little Italy. Fronting on Elizabeth Street and reaching back to Mott Street on the block between Spring and Prince, it offers a chance to sit in a beautiful garden surrounded by architectural artifacts, statues, gargoyles and animals donated and saved (?) from buildings all over the city.  Bring some lunch, a stool and a cap (should we get some sunshine) and spend a few hours capturing the wonders of this magical space.  Come now!  There are developers who are moving in on the space. This might not be here for long, so come and enjoy it while its here.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2018 (note change from originally published schedule)

TIME: 12:00 NOON (garden opens at noon) 

LOCATION: ELIZABETH STREET GARDEN

                       mid-block between Spring and Prince Streets

TRANSPORTATION: J, M OR Z TRAIN TO THE BOWERY,  N, Q, R, W TO PRINCE ST

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