Puzzling Out the Picture in New York City, September Edition

[By Veronica Lawlor in New York City, USA]  Just two weeks ago, I met with a very talented group of artists who came to New York City to participate in my Puzzling Out the Picture workshop. We had a full class of 16 people and wonderful summer weather. I felt lucky that we were able to enjoy the best of the city, as well as drawing on location together. 

We spent Friday evening together on the roof garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, enjoying the sunset and wonderful skyline views from high above Central Park. (Cover drawing, above, by Chris Carter.)

Art by Ingrid Thomson

We also viewed this summer’s roof garden commission: The Theater of Disappearance, by Adrian Villar Rojas. Some of us liked the exhibit more than others, but we all agreed, the people watching (and people drawing) that evening was fantastic, and it was nice to have a little social time to get to know each other. Plus I enjoyed the chance to have a sneak peek into everyone’s sketchbooks before we began our workshop in earnest the next day.

Thumbnail drawings by Mitzi Beneck

The next morning was bright and sunny, and we met in Central Park’s Bethesda Terrace, near the Angel of the Waters sculpture. The park was buzzing with tourists and locals alike, and after a  demonstration on picture dimension, everyone spent the morning moving around and thumb-nailing the scene in front of them. We looked for entrances and exits to the park, and situations that we could document. So many stories and so much life, what a great place to practice picture making, storytelling, and body language!

Thumbnails and extended drawing by Chris Carter

After the thumbnails and lunch al fresco at the Boathouse, we looked at a few master artists for inspiration before setting out to make some larger drawings and create more storytelling reportage. The park was in full swing: there were brides and grooms having their photos taken, musicians, street buskers, families, artists (including us,) rowboats and even a gondola! The afternoon flew by, and soon it was the end of the day and time to share what everyone had accomplished. What a talented group! Below are some more drawings from the day, emailed to me by some of the participants:

Drawing by Rajesh Dhawan

Drawing by Rajesh Dhawan

Drawing by Chris Carter

Drawing by Myania Moses

Drawing by Eva Weiss

Drawing by Myania Moses

Drawing by Lisa Zablocki

Drawings by Mitzi Beneck

Drawing by Mitzi Beneck

Drawing by Eva Weiss

Drawing by Eva Weiss

We really enjoyed seeing each other’s work at the end of day critique, and there was a lot to see:

A lot of exciting drawings! Photo courtesy of Chris Carter.

The next day we ramped up the activity, and added some color for good measure, at the busiest crossroads of the city: Times Square! First, another demo, about picture making and selectivity on location:

Demo on location at Times Square, photo courtesy of Chris Carter.

Drawing upside down takes practice! 😉 Everyone was feeling nervous about drawing such a busy scene but jumped in anyway, and we spent the day using our thumbnails to improvise and make artistic jazz with combinations of line, texture and color. And of course, lots of people. Without anyone really thinking about it, the thumbnails grew into larger and larger pictures, and soon enough everyone was creating reportage of Times Square on site. Wow! Some more samples below:

Drawing by Lisa Zablocki

Drawing by Lisa Zablocki

Drawing by Chris Carter.

Thumbnails by Eva Weiss.

Drawings by Eva Weiss.

Drawings by Myania Moses

Drawings by Myania Moses.

In the middle of the busy-ness of Times Square, we created our own artist’s circle. I really enjoyed having a chance to meet so many artists from around the country. (Photo courtesy of Shay McClean.)

Drawing by Mitzi Beneck

Drawing by Mitzi Beneck

Drawings by Rajesh Dhawan

Drawing by Rajesh Dhawan

Again the day flew by. The art above is only a fraction of what was accomplished, as you can see from a glimpse of the sketchbooks in the critique photos below. It was such a magical weekend, I really enjoyed it; and I can’t wait to do it again next month! (There are still some spots available in the October edition of the workshop, see HERE for more info.)

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Thanks to everyone who joined the September edition of Puzzling Out The Picture – it was a pleasure to work with you all, and I was very impressed with what you did on location. Hope to see you again soon! xx Ronnie

Photo courtesy of Shay McClean

Photo courtesy of Shay McClean

Photo courtesy of Rajesh Dhawan