Madison Park sit's in the shadow of the Flatiron Building. I arrived early, got a cup of coffee and did a quick sketch of the iconic building in the early morning light.
The park had a summer art exhibit by Orly Genger. Using 1.4 million feet of nautical rope covered with 3.500 gallons of red, yellow and blue paint. She's created undulating mountains of rope, woven into forms throughout the park. The painting I did looks so unlikely that I also took a photo to document the temporary exhibition.
The good thing about the park was that it had comfortable sketching. There were loads of benches with lots of good things to draw.
Alison was sketching to my left and Elizabeth was on my right. Alison had to leave early, and when she got up to leave Tarunita came over to ask about our sketching. She's originally from Australia and had just moved to NYC from LA. As we chatted I did a quick sketch.
There were interesting sketch opportunities nearby. An older couple in wheel chairs shared a lunch together.
And a new mother was photographing her baby in the park.
After taking a break for a late afternoon lunch together we went back to the park for an extra hour of sketching. The scene in front of me included New Yorkers doing their best to imitate Manet's Luncheon in the Grass.
And the last sketch of the day was a man who I thought of as The Poet. He seemed deep in thought and at one point he took out a book and started writing notes. The odd thing was that he was wearing a handkerchief around his face, ... like a bank robber in a Western. New York is a a big enough town for the Poet to be a genuine creative genius struck by inspiration at the moment I sketched him, or one more crazy person out there doing his own thing.
