West 181st Street

The second part of the outing two weeks ago was an hour stop at the bottom of West 181st street where a scenic/panoramic view of the Hudson River and the George Washington Bridge delighted us.

At the time, I only managed to sketch it in pencil but found time yesterday to apply some color to it.  That was Ronald in the middle ground doing his sketch of the scene.  I rediscovered the GoPro camera and filmed my coloring process with a 1 minute interval between shots before compiling them into a short video.  It was fun!

After the watercolor wash.

A pencil sketch of the scene.

John Jay Homestead

Last weekend, on Father's Day, we packed our lunch sandwiches and headed north to Bedford, NY where the historic John Jay Homestead is located.  It's free to get in and to enjoy the landscape tour on your own.  There's the Herb Garden, Fountain Garden, Sundial garden and a picturesque setting complete with the structures as it exists like it was in the last century.

There were 30 visitors that day, I was told.  A lady at the gift shop keeps her counter clicker at the ready.  Between the Coachman's House and the Carriage Barn is an open space dotted with several round picnic tables.  A big tree behind the Coachman's House offered a nice shade to an inviting scene: the Red Barn and the sloping field beyond.  

Muji Mechanical Pencil #03 and partial watercolor wash on-site.
Additional color later added at home.   

The Red Barn

The pencil sketch.

First pass watercolor.

Partial color added on-site.

Thinking how to color the sketch.

A screen grab from the website.  Coachman's House to the left of the Red Barn.

Mirror sketch

The day before Father's Day, I went to the barber and got a haircut.  The haircut was overdue anyway.  Why not add a hot towel shave treatment, too?  Sure, never had it before so that's what I did for experience.  It's a very nice feeling to be pampered.

I went home feeling good and looked at the mirror.  It struck me that I haven't sketched my face in a while.  Here's what came out of the sketch and after applying a watercolor splash on it.  Not necessarily a likeness of me but it was a fun exercise.

Bulls Bridge

After I finished sketching the river scene, I hiked back up toward the road just several yards away from the covered bridge.  One of the boulders guarding the edge of the narrow road has a somewhat flat surface.  It was good enough to sit on for a semi-comfortable spot in sketching the bridge.  Color added later at home.

Bulls Bridge, Kent, CT

The on-site sketch.

Terra Cotta Roof Tiles

At 22 Locust Avenue in Rye, NY there exists a small cottage building with a colorful set of roof tiles.  I didn't take a photo at the time I sketched it last year but there's always Google maps to the rescue!

Pen and Ink
Platinum Carbon Ink Pen

 

Direct WC #3

The Bull's Bridge is a single-lane vehicular wooden covered bridge in Kent, CT.  There's a trail that runs alongside the Housatonic River it crosses.  I know there's a way to get down to the bottom of the river past that bridge that offers a very nice view of the thunderous water spilling out from a small dam upstream.  

That was what I tried to capture yesterday and being adventurous with watercolor, I did it without drawing the lines.  Just having fun.  I started with the light grey line indicators and built it up from there. Additional color added later at home.  Oh, and a video clip too!

The Avon Theater

There was a good 30 minutes left in my parking meter the other day.  Should be enough time for me to sketch this wonderful landmark theater in Stamford, CT.  I miscalculated.  Got the lines for the most part but I had to add more money to the parking meter.  I came back to the same spot and took a picture of the scene.  Here's the still unfinished work with watercolor splash on it.  Another work in progress.