2013 USK Symposium

It's official.....2013 USK Symposium In Barcelona!!!!

http://www.urbansketchers.org/2012/12/its-official-barcelona-to-host-our-4th.html

Mid Blockers

Two weeks ago we sketched the midblock crossings between 6th and 7th avenue. It seemed like a fanatistic idea, and would have been more compelling if not for the cold and, quite honestly, the "less-than-stellar" design. Regardless, there are always people...

 

Urban Sketchers NYC

• Sunday December 2, 2012

It was so cold the week before that we decided to schedule our sketching indoors this week.  So, of course, the day was beautiful and warm.

We met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. and then went in to the sculpture garden.  There were at least four shows I wanted to see.  We were too early for the Matisse show - it was members only, but got to see the Warhol show, the George Bellows show and Bernini clay sculpture's

We met at the top of the stairs at the Met and I sketched East 82nd Street.
I didn't understand it would be the last time that day I could use watercolor  

Apparently we need special permission to work with watercolor or any paint at the Met.
I did a sketch with a fountain pen and was able to move the wet ink around with a water brush.  

This is a tiny sketch - about 3" x 5"

The Bernini clay sculpture we a marvel.
Apparently they were done as sketches to work
out his compositional ideas.
He never intended for them to be seen
or even saved.  They were brilliant.

We went to the Cafeteria for some lunch.
This guy had a great white beard.
Turned out he was saving the table and was
waiting for his wife to show up with the food.

Another person in the cafeteria

This is NYC Urban Sketcher  Matt Noiseux who was sitting across the table from me.

It happened too fast to do a decent sketch.  The woman in Starbucks was wearing a hoody sweatshirt with tiny tiny shorts and high heel half boots.  She seemed to be 95% legs

Two women chatting

NYC - Sunday, November 25, 2012

The theme was NYC Midtown Shortcuts:  

There are a series of blocks running from 51st to 57th that have a path you can take between the buildings.  On cold windy days it's a great route to take.  We sketched there this Sunday and it was bleak and cold.  We really need to give some thought to sketching in the winter months.  I'll blame my frozen hands on the fact that all my street pictures looked terrible and none are getting posted

We were joined by Joy Hecht who came in from Nova Scotia.  She mentioned that she has family in the city so I hope she'll join us to sketch whenever she's in town.

Someone at the NYC Traffic Department has a sense of humor.  The street sign marks the Midtown Shortcut

We went into a Starbucks to warm up.  These two women were having an animated conversation.

Did a sketch of Denise Lebenstein,  - you can see she was wearing this great scarf

Then I tried to do a picture of Richard.  I like the picture but even though I tried,  it looks nothing like him.  He just shaved his beard so this was the new clean shaven Richard 

At the end of the day we ended up at a Cafe Europa for lunch.

This was an experiment and was done about a month earlier.  After doing the drawing I covered the page with Acrylic Yellow Ochre paint.  The idea was that it would "unify" the page.  My concern was that i wouldn't be able to apply the watercolor and gauche on top of the waterproof acrylic base.  I"m going to try this again sometime.  I think I'm going to pick a cool color for the base to see how that looks.  It's like working off toned paper.

This one was done the week before when we were sketching in the Northeast part of Central Park.  A nice family playing in the leaves with their dog.

Sketching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade -- the quintessential New York City autumn experience, right? Oddly enough, I lived in Manhattan for several years and never saw it except on television. On Thursday I made up for that! Snagged a fairly prime viewing location, near 72nd Street and Central Park West.



Couldn't see a lot of the street-level action from our vantage point, but the balloons looked glorious as they sailed past the buildings.



The weather could not have been better, and the enthusiasm was infectious as we struck up impromptu conversations with fellow parade-watchers. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Urban Sketchers NYC

Saturday September 1, 2012

It’s taken me awhile to scan the drawings we've been doing.  On this particular Saturday we tried something different.  We all agreed to a 10 minute rule.  Each sketch had to be completed in ten minutes.  We kept moving from one spot to the next, starting at the Northwest end of Central Park and we finished at Grant’s Tomb overlooking the Hudson River. 

You could argue it both ways.  Either ten minutes wasn't enough time to get down anything decent.  Or you could say that ten minutes isn't enough time to ruin the sketch. (see note included with the sketch of Riverside Church below)

Left - On the Subway.  Right - stopped for coffee on the way to meet everyone

Left  - the view down Central Park West. Right - A Green Market

 Cathedral of St. John the Divine, supposedly the fourth largest Christian church in the world, sketched in 10 minutes - a hopeless task!

A Great Sculpture in the South Garden of the Cathedral

Low Memorial Library at Columbia U.

Grant's Tomb

Richard mentioned this quote.  He said he got it from one of the Sketchers in Santa Domingo.  So true.

A crowd of people hanging around Grant's Tomb.  As soon as I decided to draw them - they decided to leave.

Before Fall falls

The goal of last Saturday's sketch outing was to capture Fall before it fell: before all the leaves were gone. The results were mixed. The Ginkgos and Maples were still yellow and red, but a lot of foliage was gone. Regardless, the day was great.  The morning was a bit cool and we searched for a ray of sunlight to keep us warm.




Looking North from Duke Ellington Circle

Drawing from the warm "insides" of the Central Park Discovery Center

Lonely man by the Harlem Meer