Brooklyn Bridge, From Every Angle

You may have realized by now: I LOVE painting bridges. I'm often asked if I really like painting bridges or if I just do it because they sell. The answer? I REALLY like painting bridges. Brooklyn Bridge Park was a favorite sketching location long before I started selling my work! The fact that other people like them as much as I do is just a nice bonus.

Last weekend, I was planning on spending Sunday taking advantage of the nice weather by walking and sketching the Brooklyn Bridge. I did NOT plan on going to Brooklyn Bridge Park and sketching from there as well, but on Saturday after brunch with friends, we wanted to head to Battery Park and maybe do the Staten Island Ferry....the subway had other ideas for us and took us over the East River. We decided not to question it; sometimes it's easier to just go along with the subway rather than fight it! I did a new view of the bridge from the park (I usually walk up, closer to the Manhattan Bridge, so I can get the Brooklyn Bridge with Jane's Carousel).

Sunday was my first day sketching on the bridge itself! I found a couple of good places to sketch: this first one I did the graphite standing in the center (leaning towards the walking lane rather than the bike lane) and then parked myself on a bench off to the side to paint. Nice and out of the way! A perfect spot to listen to disgruntled cyclists yelling "BIKE LANE!" at tourists meandering down the wrong side of the walkway.

My second sketch was definitely the winning sketch spot. I found a corner of the viewing platform and sat myself down. Do I appear in a lot of tourists' photos? Absolutely. Will I do it again? Absolutely. I didn't even ALMOST get stepped on. Total win, in my book! It's a really challenging angle, as you have to move your head about 100 degrees side to side and up and down to get the full view (don't even think about getting it all in one photo, either). Will definitely go back in warmer weather for a second try. I learned some things!