I went outside during lunchtime and visited the UN garden. It’s a nice place midtown New York with a backyard terrace build right above the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive, facing the East River. So it offers a nice view over the river, with Williamsburg Bridge to the right and Ed Koch Bridge to Queens on the left side. The UN Building is being renovated and so seems the garden. There are many statues but they seem to be placed only temporarily.
I drew a statue which I think represents an arch. Initially I thought Noah’s Arch but there were only people on it. There was no inscription. It was made of very dark material and the midday sun created strong contrast. The drawing is A4 size, rather small. I worked for about 50 minutes on it and felt like making some progress. I still felt something of the spirit from my visit to the Edward Hopper exhibition, and felt more confident to apply pressure and make darker marks. The drawing is a bit more worked out than what I usually do in sketches.
While drawing I noticed that I began to make variations in my line. I made broader strokes when I encountered strong contrasts or very dark areas, for example on the three piles and for the surface structure of the boat. I tried to depict the darker areas with a single black area on the sheet, extending the width of my line. I will need much more practice but I think I made a change towards the right direction. It felt a bit like having overcome an artistic block which stopped me from getting into drawing. I think this can be related to the Hopper exhibition.
Some days later I went again during lunchtime, taking a sketchpad with me, and made a sketch of the UN building as it could be seen from the place where I sat in the garden.
I’m not overly satisfied with that one. I think it is too light and there are too many “representation errors”, because the placing of objects isn’t accurate compared to reality.