From Paper to iPad

I've been fascinated by Patricia's posts (NYC USk).  She uses and iPad to create her original work and includes in her write-up the details of what programs she used, what "paper" she used, the type of stylus, etc.

The work I've done in the past with the iPad convinced me at the time that it was unsuited to content creation.  I found it awkward and didn't like the feel of drawing on glass.  However, my mind was opened this summer by a course I took in Barcelona at the USk World Symposium. The Digital Urban Sketching course taught by Monica Cid and Josu Maroto opened my eyes to the potential for using Digital Media.

View of the FDR Drive from the Governors Island Ferry

I could see there were things you could do with digital that you couldn't do with a pen, a pencil or a brush.  You could argue that the traditional ways are the best, but I think that puts you on the wrong side of history.

From what I remember from Art History, there was a time when people painted in tempra and created frescos, but no one had come up with the idea of mixing pigments in oil.  Within a generation oil paint "technology" swept Europe.  Why?  Because you could do things with the new technology - oil painting, that you couldn't do with traditional means.

So my way of dipping my toe into these new waters was to scan  a couple of my weekend sketches into the iPad and to use digital media  to "colorize" my drawing.  The result above looks like what I'd do with watercolor, although the detail around the road sign is probably more careful than I can usually manage.  The point with iPad sketching is that it's easy to make corrections and fix those little slips that can ruin a sketch.  It's also easy to blow up a tiny area to get the details right.

A woman checking out her iPhone on the subway

Reading on the Subway

The two people were quick sketches done on the subway.  I never manage to get out my watercolor kit on the train.  Instead of imitating my usual watercolor approach, instead I tried to use the iPad to apply  color more like an airbrush.

As far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out, but it seems like something worth exploring further.

USk symposium in Barcelona...The Video!

4th International Urban Sketching Symposium. July, 11/13-2013. Barcelona. Official Video from Urban Sketchers on Vimeo.
Symposium Video:

Memory and Spirit

Saturday, the first day of the three day Labor Day weekend, was the best possible day for sketching.  Despite threatening forecasts we had good weather the entire time we were at Governors Island.

The view of lower Manhattan

I was drawn to the view of the One World Trade Center - the Freedom Tower.  I was most interested in the tiny details at the shore line:

Tiny details on the shore line

I was struck by the idea that at one time the tiniest structures visible at the shore line were once among the tallest buildings in NYC.

I spent a long time on the skyline view and when I was done I felt a need for speed  as a change of pace.  A couple parked their bicycles  in front of us while they took a photo of the Jersey City skyline  in the distance.  They were gone in a moment.  Even the lightning fast pencil sketch was mostly done from memory.  Adding color was done with my fading memory of the image:

Sketched in an instant

Since it was pencil I could have tried to correct the lines to make the drawing stronger, but decided to go with it as is.

Memory and Spirit
I had a conversation with Bryant and Eugene about this on the ferry ride back.  Our discussion started with the idea that people are so hard to sketch because they almost always move before you can get what you want down on paper.

I read an interesting idea by Robert Henri in his book, The Spirit of Art.  He proposed an Art School that would train students by having the models in one room and the artist's easels in another.  With this set-up student's would learn to use and trust their memory.

I wonder if the drawings that are made very slowly using extreme care, using the most exact measurements don't have less of our  unique spirit than then sketches that are dashed off in an unselfconscious moment?  I don't hold either of these sketches to be the best example of what I'm getting at, but I suspect every sketchers must know what I mean.  I wonder which is the better goal to pursue?

Governors Island

I won't bother to repeat Joans description of the day. I do want to mention that this weeks theme on the USK flicker group is about dreamers and monuments. One person lives in the same city that MLK was born and preached in, so you get the idea. The day after we went to Governors Island I realized that we had 4 of the greatest monuments about dreamers and visionaries.

Our first sketch location was on the waterfront overlooking the NY harbour. 30 degrees to the left was the Statue of Liberty, straight ahead was Ellis Island, 30 degrees to the right was the Freedom Tower, and Castle Williams. Some of the greatest monuments ever , to protect the freedom and liberties of of the people of this country! What a view! What an island. So much to explore and we didn't even tap it all.

 

Governors Island

Susan and I took the 10 am ferry from lower Manhattan to Governors Island on Saturday morning. We had a little time before the ferry left to sketch the interior of the terminal. When the ferry pulled in a woman behind us asked if we were part of the NYC Urban Sketchers. It was Allison and it was her first time joining the group. 

I was finishing up my painting on the ferry ride over, but Susan and Allison were swapping sketching information and stories.

After docking we headed over to a view of the city and the Statue of Liberty. 

Other sketchers arrived on the next ferry from Manhattan and the ferry from Brooklyn.

The city views were great!

Here are Mark and Allison sketching.

Here is what they were seeing.

Brian and Susan were hard at work too.

I did some small sketches...first a red bike someone parked nearby.

People are allowed to bring their bikes onto the island and bikes are for rent too.

Some can almost fit a family.

Or not.

Here are a few more members sketching.

The Staten Island Ferry kept passing by.

Lady Liberty was within view.

There were life preservers along the fences...just in case.

We walked over to the Fete Paradiso area to have lunch. There was a lot of sketching done from our table while we talked and ate. I sketched a woman at another table, with her cell phone in hand.

Some of the sketchers left earlier than we did...Susan and I were there for the duration. lol

There were vintage amusements and games like the Bouffe Balle game,

the carousel horse which was not in use,

and one of the carousels.

By this time we were hot and tired and needed a cold drink. Heading over near the ferry we found  Water Taxi Beach, complete with palm trees, sand, and a wonderful view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

We took the 6:30 ferry back. It was quite a full day of sketching.

Wagner Park to South Cove, Saturday, August 24, 2013

I caught an early train Into the city. Not a very early one, just earlier than necessary. I went to my usual haunt in Penn Station and had a big bowl of oatmeal, a large cup of coffee, read a book that lives in the iPod Touch and sketched the crowds outside the window as they either scurried or stood waiting.

Oops. It's time to catch the downtown #1 subway.

I walked from the Rector Street subway stop to Wagner Park where the Central Park Sketching & Art Meetup Group was gathering for a few hours of sketching. The routine is that Jesse, the organizer, brings us to a location, everyone scatters and draws for about 45 minutes after which we all meet to display our sketches. This procedure is repeated two more times after moving to new locations. Our last site was in South Cove where Figure al Fresco takes place on Wednesdays. For my first sketch I headed over to the clock tower that I saw for the first time last year after a ferry ride. I took photos of it then knowing I wanted to draw it someday. This was the day. Shirley has the story behind it and a more complete view of the building.

I finished with time to spare so I took advantage of the artist next to me.

This is the view of Jersey City and the Hudson River.

Again, if you're going to sit next to me.....

They were sketching the view across the river. It wasn't until everybody was gathered together again that I realized he was a young teenager and she was his mother.

Since I so rarely have a Saturday free from work I was hoping to be able to join the NYC Urban Sketchers  after the meetup but Staten Island just seemed a bit too far/time consuming in the time I had left to get to it.  Oh well.  Maybe in September.  Instead I took the M20 to 14th Street and walked the High Line to 30th Street and then back to Penn Station.

Process: For the first drawing iPod Touch for drawing and color. Sketch Club app, New Trent Arcadia stylus. Paper texture from ArtRage in iPad.

For the remaining drawings: iPad, Sketch club and ArtRage apps; New Trent Arcadia stylus. I tweaked the colors later when I was in the Recliner Studio Annex. It is hard to judge the colors when outside, even in the shade. Things were just too pale/pastel-like for my taste. Just couldn't live with them like that. Nope.

NYC USk - Saturday Sketching at Governors Island August 31, 2013

The last installment  of our ongoing commitment to take advantage of every free ferry ride  during the month of August.

Our commitment - to take every free ferry ride New York provides

Governors Island, -172 acres in the heart of New York Harbor, only 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, and even closer to Brooklyn. A world unto itself, unique and full of promise.  

It's one of New York's great new public spaces.

The Island is open from 10 AM to 7 PM.  

• From Manhattan: Ferries leave from the Battery Maritime Building, on the corner of South and Whitehall Streets. (departs every 30 minutes until 5:30)
• From Brooklyn: Ferries leave from Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 at the foot of Atlantic Avenue. (departs every hour)

Governor's Island has unique views of the city

Get there early -  lines form.  We're taking the 11 AM Ferry 

(note - not our usual 10 AM start time)

If you're delayed or off to a slow start  - come anyway. 

It's a big island - Call or text if you can't find us:

Mark 973-809-9128

 

NYC Urban Sketch Events for September

• 9/7: Madison Square Park:  Dog runs - sketch the pets, Art installations,  6.8 acres in the Shadow of the Flat Iron building in midtown Manhattan
• 9/14: Prospect Park (Music Island, the Esplanade and Lower Concert Grove )
• 9/21:Hoboken Pier A
• 9/28:The Bowery