Sketches Made at the Central Park and Subway

Homeless at the Park and Others

Recent Drawings

These are the sketches I did yesterday and today. This afternoon, I went to the Ateaz Coffee Shop on Metropolitan Ave. with our Fair Weather Artists group to sketch the pedestrians.

En Plein Air: An Old House at the Forest Gardens (Oil, 9 x 12)

En Plein Air: Road Construction (Oil, 9 x 12)

It warmed up in the afternoon. Therefore, I pushed my painting kit down Glenfell St, not having decided what I was going to paint. As I was approaching the intersection of Glenfell and 80th Rd., I heard some noise and sniffed a smell of burned asphalt. In a moment, I saw some construction workers were resurfacing the bridge over the LIRR tracks on 80th Rd. Recently, I happened to have a craving for painting figures in the environment, so I simply went to the construction site and set up on the sidewalk nearby to paint.

En Plein Air: The Heavy Traffic on Metropolitan Ave. (Oil, 9 x 12)

I stationed myself on the corner of Metropolitan Ave. and Park Lane this morning. It happened to be the rush hours. 

En Plein Air: The Forest Park (Oil, 12 x 9)

Figure in the Environment: Roland (Oil, 12 x 9)

It was pure serendipity. I didn't go outside in the morning for fear of possible rain. In the afternoon I was told it felt good outside, so even though it was kind of late, I decided to go out to paint. When I got to the entrance of the Forest Park, I saw a handsome young man sitting on the stone wall that ran around the high mound. He was working on his cell phone. His posture reminded me of a painting by Kim English (see the picture below). I got a sudden impulse to paint him. Therefore, I turned around and walked back to ask him how long he would be sitting there. He said he was waiting for his friends and asked me why. I told him that if he could sit there for an hour I would paint him a picture. I quickly added that he didn't have to sit rigidly still. Instead, he could relax and do things he naturally would do. He agreed. I immediately got busy to get my easel set up. The sketch took not quite an hour. When he saw the picture, the young man said with a smile, "It's worth waiting." Maybe that is the best compliment to me. He is a ninth-grader. His name is Roland.

En Plein Air: A Cloudy Day on Queens Blvd. (Oil, 12 x 9)

En Plein Air Oil Sketch: Playing with the Cellphone

En Plein Air: The Highway Running Around the Park (Oil, 9 x 12)

Plein Air Oil Sketch: Waiting by the Basketball Field (8 x 12)

I didn't know why my coughing had been dragging for so long. I felt better in the daytime, but when I lay down in bed, it was difficult to fall asleep because of the non-stopping coughing. I got some nasal spray today, hoping it would help me sleep. 

Even though I didn't sleep well last night, I still felt like going out to paint. Physically I wasn't able to go too far. When I got inside the Forest Park, I noticed a teenage boy was sitting on a huge stump with a little girl. They were both drawing something on the paper. I asked him if he would let me paint him. He said yes. However, before I finished setting up, he came over and said he didn't want to be painted. So,  I put everything back into my shopping cart and pushed across the lawn.

Close to the edge of the lawn, a mother was playing with a baby on the grass in the shade. I set up again and began to paint them. Unfortunately, in about two minutes, the lady stood up from the grass and began to whip and fold the blanket. I knew that would be the end of it. So again I put things back into my shopping cart and pushed it to the paved trail by the basketball field cage. The trail circled around the cage and went uphill. From there I could look down over the concrete basketball field. I noticed a school girl was sitting on the ground leaning against the triangle wall, watching and waiting possibly for her boyfriend. I immediately took things out of the shopping cart and settled down to paint her. I was a quicky, completed only in 45 minutes.

Oil Sketch: The House at the Bend of the Street (9 x 12)

I knew I was still weak and coughing, but I was tired of simply sitting home doing nothing. Besides, while I was focused on painting, I might not cough that much. So I decided to go out and paint. Physically I was unable to walk far. It was a house in the Forest Gardens.

Sketches at the Park

For more than a week, I've been sick from the flu. The symptoms are pretty strong and I feel light-headed. It wasn't so bad yesterday afternoon, especially the sunshine was so tempting. Therefore, I walk across the street to the park and made a few sketches.