En plein air

I discovered something new today. Drawing out doors when it's windy out is not easy. I headed down to good old NYC to sit in Bryant Park for one more afternoon before it got too cold out. I hadn't been able to get down there since the end of July when the weather was warm and toasty. Of course I was worried about it being too warm then. How a few short months changes things (he says as if no one else has ever noticed the seasons).

Since I work at home that means some days I just have to get out of the house. One of the ways to do that is to take the bus into Manhattan and hit the park that I used to spend my mornings and lunch times at when I was working in the city. Bryant Park. It's up on 40th-42nd streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Not a big park by Central Park standards but I like it. It has tables and chairs so I can sit and draw. Most parks only have benches.

So I hit the park on Saturday. It was uglier than usual. The park not the Saturday. They are in the process of setting up "The Pond" in the middle of the park. That's basically a big hockey rink that people can skate on in the winter. Since giant tents come along with the pond the park is essentially cut in half. The view from north to south is blocked. I was a little disappointed. I was never a fan of "The Pond". I don't skate. But winter is coming and it gives people something to do.

I walked around the park a little to find a good seat. My usual shady section of the park which is so nice in July was too chilly this October day. Plus it was right behind the tents and had the ugliest view. So I walked over to the open side of the park and found a good spot near the 42nd Street- Sixth Avenue entrance. I sat down to draw. And I did.

I was having a good time except when the wind was blowing. It was warm enough out in the sunshine (around 60 F) but the wind was whipping. It gusted often and long. If I were just sitting there doing nothing it would have been okay but trying to draw in that wind was awful. I had to hold the page down as best I could with my left hand as I drew with my right. It was like drawing on a tiny sliver of paper.

One thing that especially stood out as I was sitting is that a lot of tourists visit Bryant Park. Maybe it's because the park is so close to 42nd Street or maybe it's because the library with its famous lion statues are on the Fifth Avenue side of the park. I don't know. But I'd guess at least half of the thousand people in the park today were tourists. You can tell because they are the ones looking at everything, taking pictures, and speaking in languages I don't understand.

My drawing day was shortened because of that wind. I pulled out a couple of pieces of paper but they proved impossible to hold still so I changed to my sketch book. Only my piece of blotter paper was in danger of escaping my grasp when using my sketch book. Still the wind would try to turn the pages as I drew. En plein air season is over for me. This is football weather. Go Giants!