I've never been to the Brooklyn Museum before so I joined the NYC Urban Sketchers sketch meet last Saturday. I got in late and there wasn't enough time to explore the museum. Instead, I found Julie in the same room on the 5th Floor where she was about to sketch a beautiful sculpture, The Greek Slave, by Hiram Powers. I sketched her instead.
Last Saturday, I spent some time sketching other customers at the lower level GCT Dining Concourse. Since I was late to the Brooklyn Museum sketch meet anyway, I decided to just do a little figure sketching while enjoying my lunch.
I've noticed him before at this same exact spot in Grand Central Terminal. Not sure if he was just posing there as a performance artist but yesterday afternoon, I had a chance to speak with him after doing a sketch of him. I approached him and kindly asked for his name while showing him my sketch.
"Interesting", he said. Then he spelled out his full name to me. Louis Mendes.
"Do you come here all the time?", I asked.
"Yes, I come here to make some money. Do you have some money? I take photographs. Polaroid photographs. Do you want me to take a picture of you?".
I declined the offer. Instead, I decided to give him a small tip for being my subject.
Then he asked, "How old do you think you are looking through your eyes?". I wasn't prepared to answer so I threw the question back to him. "Me?, I think I'm 35. You see I'm 83".
We engaged further in a conversation that lasted about 10 minutes before we parted ways. I walked away feeling happy knowing that every sketch I make has a story behind it. Then I googled his name and a Wiki entry came up. What a very interesting person Louis is!
Last weekend, the NYC USk event was held at the National Museum of the American Indian at One Bowling Green in Manhattan. This beautiful Beaux Arts building, also labeled as the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, has a good collection of American Indian artifacts. There's a brightly lit Rotunda with ample natural lighting coming from the glass ceiling/roof. In one corner of a room, I sketched the display area where I found an open seat. Also, I did a view of the front building, and lastly the rotunda area.
One of my two entries got selected in the NYC Urban Sketchers exhibit that opened Tuesday last week at the New Amsterdam New York Public Library on Murray Street. It was great that Anne, Marie, and Aaron, along with their partners and some few friends of theirs came to support me in this event. My entry piece entitled "Gentrification" was sketched along Pearl Street near Coenties Alley in Lower Manhattan. The building I was looking at was next to an open lot where a previous building stood. I could see the old building ghost lines on the adjacent building wall.
Anne loves the Ballet. She knew we had a great time watching last year's Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo show at the JOYCE Theater, it had to be seen again this year! We saw the matinee performance on Saturday and it was fun. Made some sketches before the show and this was how it came out.
On January 2nd, we hiked the lower trail of the Rockwood Hall State Park overlooking the mighty Hudson River. The morning fog lifted as the day wore on which was nice for we got to see the beauty of this park. I was able to sketch a few and here are a couple of what I did. I think it's a place I would like to visit again to do plein aire painting.
