Same weekly haunts, different subjects. An old woman reading a magazine in the sunny triangular pedestrian plaza near Eataly:




And the view looking south, as the light began to work its magic.

A week off from work, just to enjoy the August sun and showers and splash paints about at the beach and read big hardback books in the porch.

Yesterday in class with Anne I had just enough time to capture this lovestruck couple in Madison Square Park before the threatening skies finally opened up and I had to rush off to dinner at Mas la Grillade.



Today, on the other hand, was bright and clear and just begged for sand and flip-flops. I threw some supplies into a jute bag and spent an hour at West Beach drawing the sun-worshippers.





I love this woman's hat, don't you? Way to rock that straw fedora!



Off to sip a glass of lemonade and contemplate dinner...

So pleased that we now have yet another option for dining within a 2-mile radius of our house - Harlan Social, in the complex that already has Le Pain Quotidien and Fairway and Design Within Reach. Stopped there for dinner the other day and enjoyed everything we ordered. And they have paper menus! That they encourage you to take home! So naturally I sketched the hopping scene while waiting for my sublime velvety mango panna cotta.

And lest you think I've been on a total sketching diet since the Urban Sketching Symposium in Santo Domingo -- here are some sketches I did a few weeks ago during our local production of "Romeo and Juliet" by Shakespeare on the Sound in Rowayton. The actors were superb, but we felt that this particular production with its added scenes and lines was a bit over the top. I don't mind when a director sets plays in modern times, but sometimes you just want the bard's words straight up.

In keeping with the pastiche, I used some antique liquor receipts (scored at a Vermont flea market) as a background for my drawings.

After the Challenge Through Limitations workshop with Nina Johansson, our group went to lunch at Meson de Luis, where we sampled the local delicacies: sancocho (a stew) and mofongo (a plaintain mash). I couldn't resist sketching the little boy sitting at the bar, watching cartoons as he ate lunch!

In keeping with tradition, the last afternoon of the Urban Sketching Symposium coincided with the 36th Worldwide Sketchcrawl. We gathered once again at the Parque Colon to draw and to take a group picture.





The next day, before leaving for the airport, M. and I went to the Fortaleza Ozama, the 16th century Spanish fortress at the entrance to Santo Domingo. It was too hot to sketch there, so I found some shade on a staircase overlooking a street. I was soon joined by fellow sketchers Lapin and Jason Das, so I did a quick drawing of Lapin as well!





As a last memory, I made a rubbing of a manhole cover right outside the Hotel Frances where we stayed. Adios, Santo Domingo -- can't wait to hear where next year's symposium will be!

By this time, we were all used to emerging from the meat locker-coldness of our hotels into the oppressive soup that was the outside air. My morning session was the Challenge Through Limitations workshop at the ruins of the Hospital San Nicolas de Bari, where we were asked to draw with various constraints -- colored paper, only black and white, fat crayons, carpenter's pencils, and so forth. The first exercise was to "mess up" the pristine whiteness of the paper, using dirt, paint, and/or anything else at hand. We "ruined" two pieces of paper and then handed them to our partners, who had to sketch on top of whatever we'd done.

I chose to sketch on top of the scuffed paper with a black marker:





Next, I attempted a green-on-green sketch, with blunt Neocolor I crayons on a piece of colored cardstock:



Then I chose a carpenter's pencil and a white gel pen to create this sketch, in the Strathmore Toned Gray hardbound journal:



All this while attempting (unsuccessfully) to avoid getting tagged by pigeon droppings!

Began the second day with the workshop "Improvising with Lines and Colors." We were given the task of playing with lines, colors, perspective and text.

Started off with a sketch of the Parque Colon using some distortion and limited colors.

The symposium started with opening remarks from Gabi Campanario and the other organizers at the Centro Cultural De Espana.



I was glad to start my Santo Domingo experience with the workshop involving the most walking -- boy is it hot and humid here! The interior of the Mercado Modelo (a market where lots of handicrafts and other items are for sale) might not have been pulsing with energy, but the street life in front and back was just begging to be drawn. We started with some thumbnail sketches and then moved on to larger work, trying to capture the constant movement of vendors and buyers, onlookers and passerby.

















When we broke for lunch, I sketched the man weaving and selling palm frond hats on the side of the square -- he must have made one every 15 minutes he was so fast!

Arrived this afternoon in sunny, hot, humid Santo Domingo! My first impression: it looks a lot like India. So far we've checked in to the (gloriously air-conditioned) hotel, picked up the registration materials, and started to get acquainted with the narrow, picturesque streets of the Zona Colonial. Tonight was an ice-breaker/portrait party at Quintana Bar. We got there a bit late, and most seats were already taken, but I still got to meet some lovely sketchers and do a little bit of drawing, too. For the first time on my travels, I've lugged along an old scanner. Seems to do pretty well -- and certainly beats trying to take pictures of sketches with the camera held at odd angles from one foot above.



And now to bed!

Escaped the soaring temperatures this past weekend in the lovely White Mountains of New Hampshire. Sketched this scene near Franconia Notch while sitting near the water on a little cooler (I'd forgotten to pack my folding stool).



And here's a sketch from the watercolor class a few weeks ago in Bryant Park, New York:



Still on the summer theme (yes, this is a catch-all post today!) here's a painting I did last year of some girls on our beach which somehow escaped the blog before.



Stay cool, everyone, and drink lots of water...

Last Sunday at Fort Tryon Park: the dulcet sounds of the Scandia Symphony, an expansive view across the Hudson, threatening clouds giving way to late afternoon sun. If you're up there in upper Manhattan, don't just scurry to and from the Cloisters. Stop and look around on the way. The Heather Garden is bursting with blooms, a dense patchwork of perennials to revel in on an afternoon.

I finally broke out the Stillman & Birn Delta Series 7"x7" sketchbook for these sketches. I'm still getting used to the paper, but so far I like how it holds up to both ink puddles and watercolor washes.

Just back from my first plein air paint-out, at Blithewood Gardens on the Bard College campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. The event was put on by the Red Hook Community Arts Network as part of the Red Hook Bicentennial celebrations. We were blessed with glorious sunshine, crisp cast shadows, and shady trees and picnic benches. The thought of painting an Italianate formal garden scared me -- there's so much going on that it's tempting to try to paint every leaf and blossom. I settled on the central structure as my focal point, and used artistic license to omit the pergola next to it. While I think my painting could be a bit looser and more spontaneous, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, especially given the unfamiliar subject and the constraints of the environment.

Watercolor on Arches cold-pressed paper, 8"x8" unframed. Available (framed, square black wood with white mat) through the Red Hook Community Arts Network Gallery's upcoming exhibition, "Gardens and Landscapes of the Hudson Valley," June 15-July 15, 2012. Info at rhcan.com

The clouds were already gathering when I arrived at Madison Square Park for Thursday's class. I needed a bit of comfort after a long day of meetings, so I started off with my trusty Lamy-and-Lex Gray, drawing the line growing in front of Shake Shack (is there ever NOT a line at Shake Shack?) and the heavy tree canopy.

During class I did break out the umbrella at one point as the spitting turned into splashy drips. It was a fitting atmosphere for the 10-minute study in Payne's gray that Anne proposed.



And that was that. One decent line-free attempt, and my focus was gone for the evening -- I felt like a medium vainly trying to connect with the afterworld once a skeptic has broken the spell! :)

Thursday evening, we had glorious -- if slightly breezy -- weather (for once) for our watercolor class. We parked ourselves near Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, as I was attracted to the waving flags strung around it. I vainly attempted to paint the shack itself (bad idea) and then turned my attention to the flags themselves -- slightly better. I'm still struggling with the direct-to-watercolor technique but will persevere!