Loving New England!

I am now in Boston having spent five nights in a gorgeous town with friends in rural Massachusetts. 

New York was so exciting and I had a fabulous time there, but after two weeks I was ready for the countryside. I'd had a few days where I was able to get a fix of greenery while in the city - one day I braved the subway and took a train to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens where I'd been able to get a breath of fresh air by surrounding myself in flowers. 

My book enjoyed frolicking amongst the bluebells.

 

 

I spent my last evening in New York with the wonderful artist Barbara Muir and her husband Steven. It was so lucky that our time overlapped there, and by just one afternoon! They had arrived in town that day for the opening night of her exhibition at the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery. I had trotted down there earlier in the day to see her lovely work in the flesh.

 

We had such a lovely evening together. You can check out Barbara's wonderful blog by clicking

here

 

 

I've only done one sketch since New York. Unfortunately, I came down quite sick with a sinus infection a week or so ago and I'm yet to fully recover. However, other than one day spent in bed I have still been getting out and about and enjoying myself.

 

I'm really enjoying Boston and will post soon about my adventures here - which include meeting up with another art blogger - the very entertaining Michael Perchard.

Stay tuned!

Grand Central Station

I'm taking things a bit easier this morning on my last day in New York as I've run myself ragged trying to soak everything up. But what an incredible time I've been having! The city has such a great vibe and the people are very friendly, and I love the Noo Yawk accent!

I think I will have to save posting most of my photos for when I get back to Australia where I can easily reduce them and have proper access to the blogger tools - unlike with this iPad app.

I met up with Joan Tavolott on two more occasions. One day I joined her along with a small group of New York Urban Sketchers at Grand Central Station. We spent hours there and met up for lunch between sketches. What a gobsmacking building it is. It is so exciting visiting these iconic places. My sister has a stunning black and white photo of it on her wall. Taken in the 1930s, it shows the sun streaming in through the high windows. I doubt that view would be possible now due to it being surrounded by taller buildings. But the sun wasn't shining that day so I wouldn't know for sure.

Another day I joined Joan and the Urban Sketchers at the beautiful Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. 

 

 

 

Joan and I in front of the fountain - and Joan below creating one of her many masterpieces.

 

It was so special meeting up with Joan and the other sketchers. I really appreciated Joan travelling in from Long Island to meet up with me.

I will post more from New York soon, in the meantime my next stop will be a small town in Massachusetts to visit friends.

Sketching in Times Square

                                           Joan Tavolott holding my book in front of the Rockefeller Centre

I'm having such a great time here in New York and there have been many highlights. One highlight has been meeting up with Joan Tavolott. We have followed each other's blogs for a couple of  years now. In fact, it was Joan's prolific sketching exploits that first inspired me to begin sketching on location when I went to the UK in 2014. So it was a real treat to get the opportunity to meet Joan in person and to sketch together.

We found a spot to sit in the heart of Times Square.

 

 

It was so much fun, even though I was turning into an ice block as time wore on. My fingers were numb! No wonder, as the forecast maximum for the day was13C!!! Afterwards we found a cosy diner where we warmed up over lunch and a long chat. Then we walked several blocks to MOMA where we enjoyed viewing a very extensive collection of works by Degas. We also had a look through the regular exhibits and I was thrilled to stumble upon Van Gogh's Starry Night. Only the day before, I had come across my very favourite Van Gogh painting at the MET - Cypresses in Wheatfields.

Joan and I had such a great day together - she is every bit as lovely as she comes across on her blog. If you're not already a follower of Joan's you can check out her prolific and inspiring blog by clicking here

I had hoped to be posting more regularly but I'm finding the blogging app I've bought isn't working properly - or I'm not working IT properly. I'm not able to reduce the size of more than one or two of the photos I post.

I did another sketch today and I will be joining Joan and the other NYC Urban Sketchers tomorrow.

New York, New York

The second leg of the flight went well and we arrived in New York on Sunday afternoon. Despite the tiredness I was Sooo excited to have arrived at last. We settled into our hotel and we're excited to have such a classic New York outlook.

 

 

 

 

Have been having a great time despite the freezing temps and rain. It is living up to all my expectations. I have a ton of photos to post but haven't had much time for posting. 

however, I just took a photo of this sketch I did at breakfast this morning. Haven't sketched for ages and thought I'd better limber up ready for tomorrow. A big treat coming up!!

Please excuse the bad set up of these posts. I'm finding the app for using the iPad to be pretty cumbersome.