Walking and sketching the dog

After listening to Danny Gregory's video session in Day 2 of the Sketchbook Revival Online Workshop, I got inspired.  Danny had mentioned his morning ritual of drawing the tea cup while waiting for the water to boil.  He also mentioned drawing his dog over and over and this was all the drawing entries he made in this one book.

That opened the idea of having a sketchbook on me whenever I walk Sage.  I started that yesterday and it was fun.  There's a quiet street not far from home where we let her loose from leash.  We trust her enough to stay by our side and for the most part she's really good at that.  I don't need to chase after her and I could try to sketch her.

Not knowing where to start, I looked at her head and focused on her ears.  I noticed the asymmetrical folds of her left and right ear flaps.  She did a lot sniffing so I couldn't get a good look of the ears.  I thought I got some good lines when I shifted my focus on her legs.  

I think it's a good exercise in observation.  The sketchbook will definitely become a part of our daily walk. 

The Met Cloisters

Sunday was just the perfect day to have a picnic at the Fort Tryon Park last weekend.  The park bench overlooking the Hudson River gave us a nice spot to enjoy our lunch (turkey sandwiches, a bottle of Rosé wine and the cantaloupes) and a nice view of the George Washington Bridge at a distance.

Last year, I sketched the Pontaut Chapter House Gallery but it's currently off limits to the public due to the upcoming Exhibit "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" next month.

Anne hasn't visited here in years.  As she wandered around, I picked a convenient spot to sketch.  While many other visitors took a phone and/or camera pictures, I sketched the Cuxa Cloister (North Elevation of North Arcade).  Some curious passersby looked at what I was doing.  Some others asked a few questions.  I even got a cool thumbs-up from this one guest.  Nice!

Van Cortland Museum House

This past weekend, the International Sketch Crawl was held at this park and the Van Cortland Museum House was the initial focus for the morning session.  Artists all over the world were supposedly out drawing together that day.  A big thank you to Parker who hosted the event.  Pictures and a scan of the completed sketches were taken at the end of the event.   

The portable sketch easel (PSEV4) was a big help in having a steady support for my hand, acting like a desk, sort of.  I really like that feature!  This was the first time I've taken PSEV4 in a USK weekend outing but I've used it a few other times before.  I'm still learning how to efficiently manage using it (the set up and break down) but it is quite fun and enjoyable to use.  

   

Drink & Draw

Last week, I went to a live figure sketch meet-up on the 2nd Floor of the landmark Tarrytown Music Hall.  It was very well attended.  I was even surprised and glad to see Janet, another NYC Urban Sketcher, at this event.

While we waited for the official start at 7:30PM,  I noticed the four ladies seated just over to my right side, front row.  I figured I would practice on sketching them first before the actual model shows up front.  One of them has an iPad digital sketchbook resting on her lap.  I've never been comfortable using one although it is desirable since it would solve my problem of bringing so many things (watercolor tin pans, sketch book, pens, pencil, portable sketch easel and tripod, etc.) to cover my "what if I need" sketching scenario.

Glass reflection

Not sure what I was doing here but my idea was to capture the reflected images and shadows hitting the front glass entrance to the Kneaded Bread bakery in Port Chester, NY.  I was seated at a table next to that door and by the window.  

I thought it would be interesting to see how a sketch would turn out using just one color in a water brush filled with diluted De Atramentis Document Black Ink.  It was difficult to vary the values and tone.  I couldn't seem to achieve what I originally envisioned so I abandoned the idea and added some light color pencil marks for shading and used the Platinum Carbon Ink pen to define the lines.

Perhaps it would be different if I were to use a black and white watercolor paint.  One day I'll come back to this again.

North Baptist Church

Today, I found a nice lead parking space on Highland Street that gave me a nice view of this beautiful North Baptist Church along King Street in Port Chester, NY.  Although it was bright and sunny, the weather is still too cold to be outside so I sketched inside my car.

Instead of using a regular sketch book, I settled on using a Series 200 cold press Strathmore Watercolor Paper.  I figured this should be the right material for the job today.  The portable sketch easel made my sketching a bit easier too, I think.  

SONO

It turned out to be a good to sketching day after meeting a friend for lunch in Norwalk, CT.  Along Washington Street, near the corner of North Main and South Main Streets, I found the second open spot from this side of the street.  At first, I wished mine was the first one so that I could see a good view of the railroad bridge.  But that's okay.  I just included this Mazda 6 car in front of me. 

There's a railroad museum at the other end of Washington Street past that intersection and many turn of the century buildings dotted what they call SONO (South Norwalk).  Glad to have done this sketch in the comfort of my car.  It was still cold and I wasn't ready to put out my sketch easel setup.