While I was in NYC last week on business, I brought a simple pen and ink set.  I draw using a fountain pen with Roting-Brown ink, and a watercolor brush with water to create the wash.  I like to sketch people (for some reason, landscape less so). Parks are a good spot.  People tend to sit a while, or even sleep, as one of my sketches show.  There was also a parade that Monday (Columbus Day), so I was able to capture the crowd.

This woman was reading outside a restaurant, waiting for a table:

This guy fell asleep on a bench in Central Park:

Columbus Day Parade crowd:

Central Park trees:


Lastly, on the plane home, I drew small compositional studies based on reference photos on my iPhone:

6 thoughts on “Sketches from NYC

  1. Hi Ed. Wonderful sketches- they have the freshness of catching the moment! As you know, I’m a landscape painter but in my “previous” life, I’d sketch people in court or meetings.

  2. Mary & PainterWoman: yes, I can get a fairly good range of values: white (the paper), light gray, dark gray and near black with full ink. I think it’s plenty of values to try out different compositions.

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