Neighborhood Sketch - 2

Next to the parking lot sketch I made last Monday is the Mount Zion Baptist Church.  I guess I'm ready to capture what's in my work neighborhood.  If only I have more time...  Ballpoint pen for lines and pencil watercolor for the color added at home.  I might make another sketch of this building but with a different media.

Neighborhood Sketch - 1

There's a fitness gym up on the second floor of this black painted building with main access from the side parking lot.  It's located at the corner of our block.  I've always been drawn to the variety of cars and trucks inside this lot and I thought I'd sketch it one day.

  

End of week sketch

I set aside a 30 minute sketch break before heading home last Friday since I had a busy week.  I wanted to unwind by doing a quick sketch.  That half hour turned into a full hour as I started seeing more and more to add to an otherwise simple sketch.  I started with the SUV in front of me and it just grew from there.

 

Neighborhood Sketch

I walked around the neighborhood one evening and found this old building situated within the same block where I work.  At first, the fire escape first caught my eye before I noticed that jumbled mess of wire on the utility pole. 

A corkscrew

We opened a bottle of wine the night before but found the cork still undone the next morning.  Alas, I found a page from my sketchbook where I thought a sketch of the corkscrew would be fitting.  There were several more pages like this where I had pre-marked them for use in my city after-work sketching before the pandemic.

A Rediscovered Sketch

This past January, after an appointment and before reporting to work, I had some extra time to purchase breakfast from the etc store on 5th Avenue .  I took the opportunity to sketch a view of the Empire State Building using one of my pre-marked pages.  The ESB main entrance view was partly hidden by the commercial vehicles parked on this side of the street.   I was going to add more to the scene later but have since forgotten about this sketch.  Now that I found it, I think I'll just leave it the way it is.  A good reminder of the "normal times" before the pandemic altered the way of life as we know it.

Sketching from picture reference

The NYC Urban Sketchers group held a Virtual Sketch, (Not Urban Sketch), of the Grand Central Terminal, thanks to Judy Garza, who provided very interesting tidbits of information of this amazing NYC landmark.  I was glad to "see" my group of sketching community even though it was just thru Zoom video.  For my sketches, I chose a picture of the whispering gallery for the morning session as this was dearly familiar having been a commuter to the city for a year.  For the afternoon session I chose a picture I took of the 42nd Street main entrance as seen from across the Pershing Square Park.  The pre-marked pages came to be handy for this exercise.

Work neighborhood

A couple of weeks ago, I sketched the back corner and the front corner view of this building next door to our office during my lunch break.  After rotating myself a little to my right, this view of the building across the street against the perimeter fencing of our office area.  I made the initial sketch on July 3rd and continued it on July 6 - 8 until I considered it done.  I hope to be able to capture the next scene after this.

   

Red's Garage

I had 10 minutes to sketch Tuesday morning before going in to office.  This automotive and truck center across from our building seem a good subject.  Between the truck and the car, it was enough to make a scene out of it.

Poppy's Cafe Outside Dining

Now that it is summer, the city of Rye made a stretch of Purchase Street in downtown area more pedestrian and business friendly by converting the parking spaces in front of restaurants as extended outdoor dining areas.  This to help with the observance of proper safe distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.  A bench across from the Poppy's Cafe gave me a nice view of these diners last Sunday.

The Christ’s Church of Rye

Finally got to sketch this beautiful Christ's Church of Rye, NY last weekend.  I took careful measurements to make sure the whole scene fit right on my sketchbook.  Easier said than done because I got lost many times.  Example, the apex was adjusted a few times. Didn’t mind to hatch the grass blade details and the foliage but then it felt like I was pushing it too much.  It was time to walk away from it and consider it done.  

Lyndhurst Mansion

On this Fourth of July holiday, we made a visit to the Lyndhurst Mansion and park to have a picnic and do a little sketching.  Although all the buildings were closed due to COVID-19, there were a lot of park visitors enjoying this gorgeous day like us.  We found a park bench in front of the mansion and it was there that I plotted my lines to get a sketch of this Gothic Revival country house.

The East view from work

It was a bit drizzling when I got out of work but our covered parking lot section was a good spot to capture this view.  I actually panned my gaze right to left of this section of Midland Avenue before settling on this two level family house.  My hunch was to get a somewhat finished sketch before heading home and I thought I got what I wanted.  Finished fine tuning the sketch at home.

Lunch break sketches

At lunch last week, I sketched the rear side of this building adjacent to work.  Of course, the front corner of the building was the next project.  I was intrigued by the many lines and texture of the scene before me.  I started one yesterday and added a few more details today to complete the scene.