Summer Plans for Sketch Events. Please offer your thoughts.

Please offer your thoughts for possible places for sketch events this summer.  I'd like to suggest the weekend of July 16 or 17.   Potential locations: Asbury Park/Ocean Grove, Newark River Park, Basking Ridge.  Please offer other places--historic towns, parks, gardens, architecture--that you'd be interested in visiting.

Please hold the weekend of August 13-14 for a sketch day in New Hope, Pennsylvania.  Known for decades as an artists community, New Hope sits on the Delaware River just opposite Lambertville, New Jersey.  The sketch event will be part of the August Arts Festival sponsored by Artsbridge Arts Group (www.artsbridgeonline.com).  New Hope offers views of the river and historic canal and towpath, shops, galleries and restaurants, New Hope and Ivyland Railroad.  We can finish the day at the centrally located Triumph Brewery.  More details to come.

May Sketch Day with Landscape Architects. Plans for Summer Sketch Events.

New Jersey Urban Sketchers joined the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for a tour and sketch day at Grounds for Sculpture Park in Hamilton, NJ.  After a full morning walking tour with the original designer of the park we stopped for a box lunch at the park's outdoor courtyard garden.  In the afternoon, we went back to a couple of intimate garden rooms to sketch and paint some of the garden pieces before the rains came.

Grounds for Sculpture Tour May 21. Registration Update.

There was an earlier glitch in the online registration process which has been fixed.  The registration system is now back online.  The easiest way to register (for admission ticket and box lunch) is through the New Jersey American Society of Landscape Architects website:  www.njasla.org.  Click on the GROUNDS FOR SCULPTURE heading.  Further information and a link for registration will appear.  (Use of this link is NOT limited to just landscape architects.)

If you have questions, please contact me at jeffreycharlesworth@gmail.com or by phone at 908.255.5051

See you there!  Bring friends!

Action Sketches: Sheep Shearing at Howell Living History Farm

Sheep shearing at Howell Living History Farm on Pleasant Valley Road in Lambertville New Jersey.

 Sheep shearing takes about 15 to 20 minutes for each sheep. Each sketch here was done in four minutes. All the sketches were of shearing one sheep.

 You can see this is an action packed sketching opportunity.

 Howell Farm had three demonstrations with a total of eleven sheep shorn on Saturday, May 7, 2016.

After sheep shearing there were Shepard and collies herding sheep in a luscious green field.

I'll save sketching the barns, animals and other demonstrations for another visit.

Sheep Shearing at Howell Living History Farm in Lambertville New Jersey is always a special time of year. In spite of the dark grey skies and occasional rain yesterday, it was a perfect day for sheep shearing demonstrations and sheep herding by collies.

Visits to Mercer County Parks Howell Living History Farm offers a slice of farm life as it was in Pleasant Valley in 1910. About 48 Saturdays in the year offer sketching opportunities in the field with live animals, farmers, and many visiting families in a relaxed, peaceful, atmosphere.

You can find the Howell Farm Calendar here http://www.howellfarm.org/cal.aspx and make plans for a fun sketching and painting outing.

- Michael Skelly

SATURDAY: May 21.- Sketch the Grounds for Sculpture

Grounds for Sculpture

Hamilton, New Jersey 

The American Society of Landscape Architecture 

presents a walking design and sketch tour of this internationally known sculpture park. It is is a 42-acre sculpture garden with over 270 large-scale contemporary sculpture pieces.The tour will begin at 10 am and lunch will be provided.  

The registration deadline is Monday May 16th. 

The group is limited to 30 people so register early.

​​Questions?  Or to confirm, 

contact 

Jeff Charlesworth 

jeffreycharlesworth@gmail.com 

or phone/text 908.255.5051. 

More information about NJ Urban Sketchers at njusk.blogspot.com

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• All drawing levels welcomed and encouraged!  
• Tell your friends.
• Bring a folding stool and attractive sun hat! 

Only the little sunflower adorning my table at breakfast was a little beat up and missing some petals on the left side.  That gave it character and made it interesting to paint.
 

                               watercolor pen & ink on paper 5.5X8.5 

SATURDAY: Sketch the Garden Conservancy

Saturday, October 10, 2015

This event was suggested by NJ Urban Sketcher - Helena Sarin

THE GARDEN AT FEDERAL TWIST

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NJ

The Garden Conservancy is a national organization dedicated to saving and sharing America's outstanding gardens for the education and inspiration of the public.  Spectacular gardens all over the US are open to the public for brief periods.  

The Garden at Federal Twist will be open this Saturday and should not be missed.  The garden is only available for viewing two times each year!

"The garden is hidden. You enter through the house, where you first glimpse the landscape, a sunny glade in the woods, through a wall of large windows. Featuring many large perennials and grasses that evoke an "Alice in Wonderland" feeling (many plants are taller than you), the garden is in the tradition of such “new perennial” designers as Piet Oudolf. Visitors have described it as a highly emotional garden. Plantings emphasize structure, shape, and form as much as flower."

 "Begun as an experiment to explore the potential for working in unimproved, heavy clay, the garden is ecologically like a wet prairie, and is maintained by cutting and burning in late winter. Flowers and butterflies peak in mid-July, then a second peak occurs in October when low sunlight strikes fire in the blousy russets and golds of the grasses. Two small ponds attract hundreds of frogs, insects and wildlife."

The garden was recently featured in the New York Times,  Horticulture magazine, and the book, Gardens of the Garden State.

DETAILS:

Where:  208 Federal Twist Road, Stockton, NJ

When:  Starting time:  10 a.m. Delayed or sleeping late?  Come anyway you'll easily find us.

Lunch:  Bring your own - we'll eat picnic style.  Bring a stool - it makes sketching easier and gives you options.

Show and Tell:   3:15 Leave for Apple-Jack (4935 River Rd, Point Pleasant, PA an 11 mile drive) to share drawings, good stories and a beer or wine if you're so inclined.

NOTES:
1)  Admission to this garden is $7.
2)  Bring a stool or a folding chair - it makes sketching easier and gives you options.


DIRECTIONS:

Directions: From the New York City area, take I-78. Take Exit 29 for I-287 toward Route 206/Route 202/Morristown/Somerville. Keep left at the fork and continue onto I-287 South for about 4 miles. Take Exit 17 onto Route 202 and continue to Flemington (about 19 miles). At the traffic circle, continue to the opposite side, and continue on Route 202 (about 10.8 miles) to the last exit in New Jersey, to Lambertville and Route29. At the foot of the exit, turn left, then at the bottom of the exit, turn right onto Route 29/River Road/Daniel Bray Highway. Continue north, passing through the village of Stockton, for a total of 5.1 miles from Lambertville. On the right is a large sign for Hidden Valley Nursery. Federal Twist Road is immediately past the sign. Turn right and drive up Federal Twist Road 2.9 miles to #208. Park on the right side of the road (the house side), taking care to leave the left lane open.

From western Philadelphia suburbs, take the I-276 East/Pennsylvania Turnpike east to Exit 343. Exit on Route 611 North toward Doylestown. In about 10 miles, exit onto Route 202N/New Hope. In about 10 miles, continue on Route 202 past New Hope, and cross toll bridge over Delaware River, exiting immediately on the New Jersey side toward Lambertville. At the foot of the exit, turn left onto Route 29 N/River Road/Daniel Bray Highway. Proceed as directed above.

From northern New Jersey or the Hudson River Valley, take I-287 south, take Exit 17 onto Route 202 and continue to Flemington (about 19 miles), at the traffic circle continue to the opposite side, and continue on Route 202 (about 10.8 miles) to the last exit in New Jersey, to Lambertville and Route 29. At the foot of the exit, turn left, then at the bottom of the exit, turn right onto Route 29/River Road/Daniel Bray Highway. Proceed as directed above.

Click to Enlarge

Can't find us?

Call or Text Mark - 973-809-9128

There are no fees or attendance taken. All drawing skill levels are welcome