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I met up with the NYC Urban Sketchers in Central Park at Belvedere Castle. Belvedere, meaning “beautiful view” in Italian was, according to the Central Park website, a “Victorian Folly” built by Calvert Vaux. Belvedere Castle has been equipped with meteorological equipment since 1919 and records rainfall, wind and other weather information. But for us it was the first stop of a beautiful day in a beautiful place.
I arrived at Belvedere Castle to discover that a high school art class from Memphis, Tennessee had joined us. They were adorable and fun and thrilled to be in NYC. They had seen Kinky Boots and Pippin on Broadway, thought Times Square was “awesome” and after leaving us were going to the Metropolitan Museum. They also saw that some of us were using water brushes to paint. Well, you would have thought we had just showed them electricity for the first time. Water brushes were awesome too. And they called me and Susan ma’am. Which is something I think NYC brats kids should start. I never thought I would like it, but I really didn’t mind being called ma’am.
Some of us stayed at Belvedere Castle while others went to the next stop which was by the Delacorte Theater to sketch the statue of Romeo and Juliet. Then on the to lawn looking up at Belvedere Castle when a sketcher from Perth, Australia joined us. And then we all realized we were starving. Off to Carmine’s for lunch where unfortunately I had to take my leave, but the others stayed and ate and sketched. You can visit the NYC Urban Sketchers’ blog here. and visit some of the other sketchers sites, Joan Tavalott’s blog here. And Mia’s website here.
I was able to leave work early today, ran down the subway and amazingly got a seat. We had gone one stop when the conductor announced that there were extreme delays due to “police action” at Atlantic Ave. Oy. I get a bit claustrophobic sitting in a subway that’s not going anywhere so I left the subway and had a LOVELY walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.
As usual, the City is filled with tourists. And after I noticed that, I further noticed that tourists are tourists no matter where they are. They stop, they stare, they speak in funny languages and you know what, they got me to appreciate the City that I live in. Perhaps I would never have stopped to look at skyline of lower Manhattan or the sun glistening on the East River. But I did. And it was good. Perhaps somewhere there is a Croatian stopping to look at Diocletian’s Palace in Split with a new eye.
The “new age” portion of the blog has now ended.
Here’s 3 Broadway musicals I have seen recently. I reviewed three here. Now here’s 3 more. Take note if you’re coming to NY and want to catch a show.
1. Sister Act – a fun feel-good musical that will have you singing along and tapping your toes. The story is essentially the same as the movie, but the music is different. Wimples, stained glass, a giant statue of Mary and lots and lots of sparkle and glitter make this show fun for the whole family. I probably would NOT pay full price for this, but if you can get 1/2 price or discount tickets, I would recommend it.
2. Spiderman – This show, to put it bluntly, SUCKED. Do not waste your time or your money. That’s 3 hours I will never get back. My show-going pal Kung (who sees everything on Broadway and off-Broadway) and I actually discussed whether or not we should leave at intermission. We decided to stay in case “something happened” and indeed it did. Spidey missed a connection whilst flying over the audience and was left hanging there. A disembodied voice told us there were technical difficulties, the actors singing on stage just walked off and the stagehands had to come, unclip Spidey and reset the whole gizmo flying thing. I’m sorry, but when people are paying over $100 per ticket (not me, but that’s what they go for) I expect a professional performance. The whole rest of it sucked too. SKIP SPIDERMAN!
3. The Book of Mormon – The hottest ticket on Broadway. I laughed, I cried and I ran out and bought secret underwear. It was completely rude, crude, vulgar and absolutely fabulous. Ben Brantley said it way better than I: http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/theater/reviews/the-book-of-mormon-at-eugene-oneill-theater-review.html DO NOT BRING THE KIDS! And if you are sensitive to foul language & obscene gestures this may not be the show for you. But it most certainly was the show for me. LOVED IT!
This concludes the public service portion of this post.
The piece above was another plate in a series I did. I am currently working on more coasters like the ones I did here. I really do enjoy making these although they are extremely time-consuming.
I’ll end with a few pictures from Croatia. (The Husband took close to 900 photos and I took over 1,000. We are still sorting through them!)
Garlic and Peppers in the Market
The walled “Old Town” of Dubrovnik
Plitvice Lakes
The crystal clear blue water of the Adriatic!
Carol King: drawing, painting, complaining 
