The Waterfall at The Mill

Two hundred years ago, a cotton mill was built along the scenic Byram River and its magnificent waterfall in Glenville, CT.  Long gone is the waterwheel and the site transformed to a commercial/residential use.  I came upon this site by accident last May and visited it again yesterday to sketch it.  It started drizzling just as I was starting to add the waterfall lines.  Finished adding more lines at home.

Salt Water

Seeing the news about flooding in North Carolina brought about by Hurricane Florence,  I looked back at some of the sketches I made in Wilmington, NC when I did several business trips out there two years ago.

USk Outing Yesterday

I joined yesterday's NYC Urban Sketchers group at the Central Park Model Boat Pond.  Lucky to find a parking meter-free spot on 71st Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Didn't have to walk far.  Actually, I rode my Brompton bike from there to Central Park.  Found several sketcher friends near the Hans Christian Andersen statue where I also took notice of the people listening to the story teller.  I wanted to observe and capture their gestures in my sketch.  After lunch, I loosely tried a sketch of the Boat Pond.  It was a good day to be outside.

Parked Car

Back in June, I attempted to do a direct watercolor sketch of my Mazda3 sedan car under direct sunlight. You know how that one turned out.  Yesterday, I came back to sketching my car in pencil with the original intention of just using lines and shading.  Since it was cloudy and grey, there wasn't much contrast so I got ambitious and decided to add watercolor and white gouache.  Here's what came out of it.

The Wienery

On Bridge Street in Stamford, CT there is the Wienery, not like the Famous Nathan's but you can get your order of Hot Dogs, Burgers, etc.  Across this store is the apartment complex parking lot where I found a nice spot to make this sketch.  Pencil line mark then partially colored on site but finished coloring at home two days later.

 

An Evening Sketch

It was after seven in the evening so those off street parking spots on Railroad Avenue became widely available.  Across the street is the Carriage House Motor Cars building and display room.  Never have I done evening sketches before so this was my first.  In the comfort of my car, I made a direct watercolor sketch on toned tan paper 80 lb 118 gsm.  Some fine lines and Gelly Roll white highlights added later at home.

Sunday Subway Sketch! Workshop

Dr. Jeff Levine led a workshop last Sunday on how to sketch in the city subway.  I was very impressed with how he does his art as you can see from his YouTube channel and website.

We started the workshop with a short intro on the basics of Subway Sketching, then a short warm-up sketch on the Q Train with fellow sketchers, Allan and Raylie, as our subjects.  Then we took another train at 14th Street Union Square to Brooklyn and got off at 36th Street Station to see the wonderful mosaic artwork before heading down to Coney Island for a quick lunch at the famous Nathan's Hot Dog.  On the return trip, we got off at the Brighton Beach station and did a quick sketch of the opposite platform.

Jeff's workshop was definitely fun.  How come there never is enough time when you're having fun? 

Here are my workshop sketches.  Line work done on the train but shading was added later at home.  Water soluble graphite and regular graphite pencil on toned paper.  Pen and Ink used on the last two sketches.

A tired looking passenger on the Q Train.  I really like this one best.

The scene inside the next train car as seen from our cab window.

Allan posing as our "unsuspecting" model.  Goda immediately to my right.

Center figures, Raylie and Pat seated next to each other.   This car has an older seating type and configuration.

An older looking Oriental man with an umbrella who refused my offer to take my seat.

Two passengers not having to do with each other.

A happy looking passenger having a call on the train.

Only the seated lady, third from left, was there first, then one by one, more passengers came and got inserted into this scene.