A Rainy Sunday

Some light rain falling steady since after midday.  This is the office complex view from across our balcony.  This sketch was inspired by the master, James Gurney, who posted today his sketch of the Route 209 in Kingston.  Nothing fancy here but I was drawn by the foreground birch tree branches and the dark background building.  A light warm wash of Yellow Ochre on the mid section established the scene.  Then the tricky part was the delicate branches and twigs of the foreground tree.  I think it all came together in the end. 

Sketching Theme of the Week: Tools

The NYC Urban Sketcher community I belong to have a weekly suggested theme for sketch practice.  This week's theme is all about tools.  I don't have any of those big tools, or if ever, they are in storage right now.  Instead, I have this pocketable Leatherman Multi-function tool that has been in my possession since 1988.  For this sketch, I selected a pre-marked page out of an old sketchbook from last year and used the PITT Brush pens.  Coming back to this sketching style after not applying it in months is a bit difficult but once I got working, the learned skills slowly started manifesting back.  

A Day in the City

It has been four weeks since I last spent a Sunday outing in the city with Aaron.  I went by train this time instead of driving.  It felt a little funny taking the train as this was my first ever since we had the lockdown last March.   I managed to do one commuter sketch on the way to NYC.  

Emerging out of train platform #15 and onto the main hall of the Grand Central Terminal, there was that weird, lonely and deserted place feeling I felt.  Not scary this time, but almost similar to that feeling I had on that final commute I did last year.  Gone was the energy of the crowd I was accustomed to seeing back in the days of the "Before Times".  I took one picture of the West Side entrance where some construction work is happening.  Perhaps some of those bare construction wall barriers will feature the enlarged sketch prints we submitted to some entity at the GCT exactly for that purpose.  It would be exciting to see which artwork made it.   

On the M1 Bus from Madison and 43rd Street going to 82nd Street, I counted one passenger pickup and a drop off along the way.  Granted that it was a Sunday, it still felt weird, although am relieved in some ways due to Covid-19 precautions.  Note that I came prepared with a double mask on.  

Aaron and I made the earliest available museum visit of the day and what a difference it was.   Because it wasn't crowded, it felt as if we had exclusive access to some of the Salons we visited on the 2nd Floor.  By the time we finished looking, we were ready for lunch downstairs at the Cafeteria.  

We decided to sketch at the same gallery of sculptures like last time.  Soon after we finished, I told Aaron about our USK mini-throw down.  I think Aaron did a very good job of observing and sketching his chosen subject.  With enough patience and practice, he'll soon have the feel for his sketching style.

The Antiques Shop

We drove to Beacon, NY for a quick afternoon trip.  She wanted to see some sample sales at a specialty store on Main Street.  I opted to stay outside the store and found this Dickinson's Antiques store across the street to be a perfect subject to sketch.  Shading and additional lines added after we got home.

 

A Parking Lot Scene in Rye, NY

This side street parking spot by the Purdy Street pedestrian cross-walk, toward School Street, gave me a nicer vantage point and view of the public parking lot.  Initially, I was going to sketch the stores along Purdy Street but the SUV parked in front of me pulled out just as I was about to start my sketch.  This opened up a better and more complicated parking lot scene to sketch.  Preliminary drawing lines done with a Sepia water soluble pencil.  Painting with water color and white gouache added later at home.

My new EDC for sketching

 This half sheet of cold press paper folded into quarters I made as a convenient tool for quick sketches.  It's easily stored in the zipped breast pocket of my regular coat.  Here's what I sketched on the four sheets.

 

A view of the balcony

This view of the balcony I sketched from my desk when we had the snowstorm on the first day of February.  Our offices closed for two days while we work from home.   Total snow accumulation was about 15-18 inches when it was over.

Snow clean-up

It snowed again last Sunday.  Though significantly less than what we got from the last Nor’easter, it was enough to get the crew busy at the nearby office complex.  I took a walk and observed a moment to make a quick sketch of the heavy machinery pushing out the snow from the parking lot.  It was fun watching it clear the snow with much efficiency.   Then it was time to continue with the walk before heading home.