This past Saturday, I finally attended an event hosted by the Central Park Sketching and Art Meetup Group. We met at Fredrick Douglas Avenue and 110th street where over 10 artists began doing some warm up sketches of whatever was around us as we waited for more people to arrive. Here is as far as I got with my warm up sketch of a nearby lamp post.After about 10 minutes after I arrived, the group begins our venture to The Blockhouse.
At this spot we spent about an hour and a half and did two sketches in that time. After each sketching session, everyone lines up their sketch books so we can check out each other's work.
The next two drawings are those I did at the Blockhouse. For the first one, I focused on a hole in one of the walls which was probably used as a lookout point. I wanted to focus on that opening, getting a glimpse of what was behind the brick wall.
The second sketch was of the iron gated door which was the entrance to the structure. Many sketchers chose this spot for their first sketch. It was certainly an interesting spot so I wanted to take a crack at it as well. Instead of just drawing the door, I wanted to look more within the door. Therefore I spent more time on the brick wall beyond the door.
Honestly, I haven't been a big fan of sketching. I would rather paint. That provides more 'instant' gratification due to it being more freeing and comfortable. This experience was really nice though to be in group setting exploring new areas of the Park. While drawing there's no time so for me, I get caught up in capturing what's in front of me and I'll work on it until I'm satisfied. It was such a beautiful Saturday in NY too that it was just a great experience to be among fellow artists capturing our perspective of what was around us.
Below is the last sketch done with the group at The Ravine near the northern end of the park. I didn't know there was a mini waterfall in the Park. It was so relaxing. I scoped out the area a bit before I settled on focusing on a branch in the water. I don't think I tried drawing moving water before (excluding waterfalls themselves). The end result came out pretty well I think. The other aspect of the scene was trying to capture the sunlight reflecting off of the branch and the water. Not easy at all but I tried.
