RAMBLING  SKETCHER

Last Friday I ended class early so I could go get my Hamilton book signed. For those of you who don't follow musical theatre (and are living under a rock, because at this point it's pretty common pop-culture knowledge), the blockbuster musical hit "Hamilton" is currently boasting sold-out shows, and for very good reason! I was lucky enough to see the show about our "ten dollar founding father" it in September (just a couple weeks before the cast album dropped!) with my family

Yesterday's NYC Urban Sketchers meeting was at Cooper Square. Instead of drawing the rather large and impressive Cooper Union buildings, I decided to draw this old, interesting building across the street. I tried something a little different this time, more watery paint and blends to start with and more pen and line painting than I usually do. I also think it's a good example of my knack of making a color palette that looks limited but is actually really complicated. Once upo

Another week with NYC Urban Sketchers! This week we went to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. As an added bonus, it's only a 30 minute walk from my apartment (and a fifteen minute walk home because I can exit at the other end of the garden!) so I got to enjoy the sunny weather in transit as well as while sketching! We were especially lucky with the lovely day. Painting wasn't feeling easy yesterday; I only got one sketch out that I was really happy with (you'll have to guess whic

Sketching on the subway is fun and all, but sometimes I see things I want to sketch and just can't get to my book in time, or am not in a position to sketch. Or, on occasion I see things I want to watercolor and I really can't do that on the subway. Last week I saw this guy playing the violin on the subway. I've seen him before, and he's fantastic! Usually he seems to do pretty well busking; even if he doesn't get many dollars in his violin case he gets an appreciative audien

Today's NYC Urban Sketchers outing was at the Met! I thought I might skip sketching for a bit and take in some of the exhibits, but I changed my mind as I kept finding fun things to draw! There's also something great about making art where art dwells. I started in one of my favorite halls, which turned out to be a good choice because it was nearly empty when I entered and was getting busier as I was leaving. I visited later in the day and it was packed! I did the underlying p

I'm about to go off to Connecticut again, so before I go I wanted to post the two remaining watercolors I did while I was away! Oddly enough, both are New Jersey! We have one of Secaucus Junction (perhaps the best it's ever looked!), and one of the view out of my friend's apartment in the morning (I drove down from Connecticut and stayed overnight with her so I could make my Friday commute to class easier).

The first day I got back last week, one of the first things I did was walk into Prospect Park and sketch the boathouse. It's good to be home!

This can go with the sketches of Times Square and Theatre for a New Audience in my "Places to See Theatre" collection. I found myself surprisingly unemployed today, so I joined the weekday NYC Urban Sketchers at Lincoln Center. We were really excited when we saw a band (I think of high school students?) setting up to play. It was nice to be entertained with live music while we sketched! However, we learned something about Lincoln Center: the union rules apply to the full Linc

One more painting I did while out of town! I had tried doing a really large version of this and wasn't happy with it, I think I got too caught up in the details. o with this one, I tried to keep the bottom with the crowd a little looser.

While I was out of town, working in Connecticut and visiting my parents in New Jersey, I chose some photos I've been meaning to watercolor and worked on those. I did quick, tiny paintings in a new watercolor block I bought that's 4x6 inches. Considering doing larger versions of them, as well! I took this photo of the swans in Stratford-Upon-Avon. I took this (and several other) photos of St. Paul's Cathedral on the way to see a show at the National Theatre. The sky was really