The Tournament of Champions

This is my second year of sketching the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Squash.  It's a one week indoor tournament event being held inside the Grand Central Terminal.  They built a glass court in Vanderbilt Hall with seating spots for paid spectators.  As a transient city commuter, I get to see the events here both in the morning and evening trips at GCT.  

Last Thursday, opening day, I tried my luck in securing a nice spot with the media people in front of the glass court behind the people watching from the hallway entrance to GCT.  I spoke to some staff workers and explained that I sketch and that I did one last year.  I was told to approach Michael who is the supervisor.  After finding him and showing him my work, he not only was willing to get me a front spot among the spectators by the hallway but he gave me a wristband allowing me inside the downtown court wall seating area.  Wow!  I was so happy he did that.

The following day, I made a quick sketch in the morning, with Gus there, the security guy I met the night before.  In the evening, I also stopped by and made more addition to the earlier sketch.  On Monday, I finished the line work on site and added some watercolor at home.

The Pontaut Chapter House

I hosted the NYC Urban Sketchers last weekend at the Met Cloisters, together with JT, my co-host.  Once we were inside, I chose to sketch the Pontaut Chapter House.  I was curious to see how my current sketch would compare with the sketch I made in 2017.  Seeing the two sketches now, I think my focus back then was capturing the scene in true scale, which took me very long time to finish.  This time, I was more interested in balance of the overall scene.

February 22, 2017

January 25, 2025

Sketch the Grand Central Terminal

We had an amazing turnout of urban sketchers at the Grand Central Terminal last weekend.  I co-hosted the event with Shawne Cooper, together with our special host, Judy Garza, who provided us many highlights and secrets of this amazing building.  The event was a terrific success!  Fun was had by all.  It was crazy busy but I managed to get two sketches done.

The Christmas Tree at the Met

The Christmas and New Year holidays came to a pass but the Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Creche was still there when I visited on January 4th.  I know some urban sketchers were there inside the Met but I don't know where.  It was a very busy day especially when it has gotten so windy cold outside.  I mainly stayed inside the Medieval Art Gallery and finished the rough sketch of the scene.  Finished the hatching later at home.

The Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Creche 

A Broadway Show

This year we watched the Sunset Blvd., a Broadway Musical, from way up the balcony seats at St. James Theatre.  We were seated 15 minutes before the show started to which I used in sketching the whole scene from my point of view.  The lead singer/character has a powerful voice that commanded great interest from the audience.  I wasn't sure what to expect from the show but I enjoyed it in the end.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Last Saturday was my second visit to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  The first one was about six or seven years ago, also with the NYC Urban Sketchers.  We finished our show and tell early at 2:00PM, because the cathedral was to have a holiday choir performance at 4:00PM.  I made three sketches and I think I like the high cathedral ceiling best.

The high cathedral ceiling.  I misjudged the height so I ran out of space on my sketchbook. 

The choir and orchestra rehearsal.

The sound and light technicians checking everything is okay.  The color wash was added later at home.

 
 

HS Art & Design Draw-a-thon 20

I first joined the HS Art & Design draw-a-thon in Nov 2018 and has been going ever since to this semi-annual fundraising event.  When I first did the live drawing, it was very exciting and very exhausting at the same time.  A week ago, I did their last event for 2024 and it still felt new like it was my first time although I've gotten a little bit better at it.