NYC COVID Cabanas

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Pam and I flew into New York City for a weekend. The first thing we did when we arrived was go to a restaurant. She isn’t as COVID cautious as I am but I insisted on outdoor seating. Thankfully the first restaurant we went to had a COVID Cabana. It was built in the street in front of the restaurant. The indoor restaurant was packed which to me seems insane, but no one was in the outdoor seating area.

The Maitre d’ was wearing a mask and seemed thankful that I entered wearing a mask. The outdoor cabana had plenty of heaters and was fully enclosed. One waitress was working on paperwork out there but she left shortly after we were seated.

COVID Cabanas popped up all over Manhattan at in the first years of the pandemic. Recently the mayor has decreed that the outdoor seating areas can stay with restrictions. They are to become seasonal after November of 2024. That means restaurant owners will have to foot the bill of tearing them down and putting them back up every year.

Some COVID Cabanas are beautifully destined and built. One is in the shape of a London Bus and another is in a classic art Deco style. I think that restaurants that invested so much in creating unique outdoor dining experiences should not have to tear them down. COVID has not disappeared. Over 8000 Americans died this last December from COVID yet that is not being reported.

If I had more time in NYC, I would want to sketch all the COVID Cabanas and write bout which restaurants still take COVID precautions. They deserve the patronage of people who remain sane.

What the flock are they doing?

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Most sheep are easily controlled and manipulated. The rebel black sheep cares about the herd. The United States has decided mass infection is the cheapest cost of action. If you wanted to thin the herd by several million people then convincing the population that a deadly virus is “mild” would do the trick.

Propaganda is now in the works to make those who wear masks seem like outliers. The mayor of NYC is asking store owners to insist that people entering their stores must remove their mask. It might be far easier to ask them to show their drivers license, but the point is to discourage the population from protecting themselves from an airborne virus that has killed millions of Americans and continues to do so.  The unintelligent are scapegoating the intelligent.

Floriduh Governor Ron DeathSantis wrote an order, that directed the state’s health and education departments to issue rules preventing the implementation of school mask mandates in an effort to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.”

Mandatory masking in schools reduced the spread of the virus. Some masks are better than others. Cloth masks and the flimsy blue medical masks are not as effective as N-95 masks. By the time quality N95 masks were being advised, masks had already become a political flash point.

CDC released three studies in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that highlighted the importance of using layered prevention strategies including universal masking to stop the spread and minimize disruptions to school operations for safe in-person education. These studies found that school districts without a universal masking policy in place were more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks.

There are no longer any states requiring people generally to wear masks in public places. Several states still mandate masking for most people in certain high-risk settings, including health care and long-term care facilities. The federal government’s nationwide mask order for public transit, commercial flights and transportation hubs such as airports and train stations was struck down by a federal judge in April 2022. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has stopped enforcing the mandate and major U.S. airlines made face-covering optional on domestic flights.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend that people ages 2 and older wear masks while on public transportation and at transportation hubs.

Though president Joe Biden has decided to promote, “the pandemic is over” since he is eyeing a re-election run. No level of fantasy or denial can dispute the fact that several thousand people continue to die every week inn America due to COVID-19.  The American workforce is also continuing to thin as more and more people are crippled by long COVID.

People who are going about life unmasked as if the year were 2018 are fearful of those who wear masks since it reminds them that the pandemic is not over. Seeing someone in a mask can actually make them angry.

Knickerbocker

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After my mother died when I was ten years old, my father quickly re-married and we moved to 363 Knickerbocker Road Tenafly, New Jersey. It was a Brady Bunch type of situation with two families quickly merging. Sons and daughters in both families were of the marrying age so not every sibling moved into the new house.

One of my older brothers stayed in the basement of our former home in Dumont, New Jersey. That home was rented out and the renters completely demolished the place from what I heard. One of my older step sisters was having a shouting match with her mom the first week we moved in. Shortly after she moved to California. All told, there were ten brother and sisters including myself. I don’t think all ten ever lived in the home together. If I remember right, an older step sister lived inn the attic while my step brother, who was just about my age, and I shared a bunk bed. My younger sister had her own bedroom.

There was another bedroom at the top of the stairs and an older sibling must have been there. I took that bedroom while I was going to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. After commuting to college each day by bus, and working at a mail sorting facility to pay for it, I had a bit of a meltdown and had to leave home. I bought a tent, panniers, a sleeping bag and a bike and started camping in the back yard to test out the tent.

In the middle of winter, I left to bike across the country. My older brother had gotten a job out in Seattle and that became my final destination. This was my way to leave the nest and take flight. It wasn’t an easy flight, but now every choice was my own. If I could make it across the country I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.

Times Square Pop-Up

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On March 12, 2020 Broadway in NYC went black due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. All 41 Broadway theaters shuttered their performances. A solid year has gone by with no live theater on Broadway. This has been the longest shutdown in Broadway’s  history. To mark the one year anniversary, a live pop-up concert titled We Will Be Back, was held in commemoration of the industry’s lost year. Disney‘s Frozen was the first musical to shutter permanently.

The pop up concert provided a sense of hope as the industry and city move forward from the challenges of the past year. Over 97,000 arts workers have suffered during the theaters darkest hours. All the performers at this pop up performance were paid.

“I don’t think anyone of us expected it to last this long,” Brian Stokes Mitchell said. “That’s what’s been so shocking about it. It’s why I’m so happy I’ve been with the Actors Fund and to be able to help people get all through this terrible, terrible time we’re going through.”

The gathering was presented by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, NYCNext, and the Times Square Alliance. It is directed and produced by Holly-Anne Devlin/Kaleidoscope Entertainment, and Executive Produced by Blake Ross. Social distancing, face shields and masks were the norm.

The $17 billion a year theater industry still doesn’t know when it will get back to work, but the feeling is certainly optimistic.

Pre-Pandemic: The Wooly

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The after work crowd quickly filled The Wooly in Manhattans Financial District (9Barckay Street NYC). I quickly dashed off a sketch while Pam met with fellow museum curators.

The Wooly began in 2009 with a clandestine bar in the landmark Woolworth building in lower Manhattan.

The Wooly quickly became a downtown destination for private parties within the art, fashion, music, tech and entertainment industries.

I liked the dark wood warmth of the places lighting. I was standing at a central room divider with seats and a simple shelf for drinks.

The kitchen has pretzels, Buffalo wings tacos and burgers. I’m pretty sire I just had a beer while I sketched. They are offering take out and catering during the pandemic. I don’t imagine the scene I sketched exists right in NYC.

I miss sketching these sorts of crowded scenes. Thankfully the COVID-19 case numbers are falling and perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel after a year of isolation in my artist studio.

Pre-Pandemic: The Cloisters NYC

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While in NYC in October of 2020, Pam and I visited The Cloisters in the northern climbs of Manhattan. The subway station let us out at the base of the highest hill in Manhattan and we took a trail that chris crossed its way upwards.I once lived in Washington Heights so I have quite a few prints and sketched of the area around the Cloisers.

The museum in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it contains a large collection of medieval artworks shown in the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys. Its buildings are centered around four cloisters—the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont and Trie—that were purchased by American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard, dismantled in Europe between 1934 and 1939, and moved to New York. They were acquired for the museum by financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Other major sources of objects were the collections of J. P. Morgan and Joseph Brummer. The Cloisters were built right before WWII.

We took a guided tour but I lagged behind doing several sketches along the way. I spent some time doing a sketch of the Tomb of Ermengol VII the Count of Urgell who died in 1314, and a quick study of a standing sculpture of the Virgin and child by Nicolaus Gerhaert Von Leiben. Nicolaus was a seminal artist of the generation preceding Albrecht Dürer’s, and was presumably born in Leiden  active in Strasbourg and Vienna, as well as in several cities between them. The tour guide stopped for a long time in front of the limestone doorway of Moutiers-Saint-Jean.

I miss sketching while traveling. I miss traveling in general.

Pre-Pandemic: New York City Subway

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In October of 2019, Pam and I traveled to NYC because she was meeting with colleagues at the 9-11 Museum. I got to attend the 9-11 museum for the first time, but don’t have a window in which to get a sketch done. The huge 9-11 Memorial reflecting pools inhabit the footprints where the towers used to stand. They were a moving tribute to those who were lost. Names were etched in the granite surrounding the dark voids. Photos never quite capture the immensity of this memorial.

I believe this sketch as done as we went up to my old neighborhood, Washington Heights to visit the Cloisters. Pam was disgusted by what she saw on the subway ride. Some guy using his cell phone, wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand, then pinched more snot out of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. He then played with his phone and reached out with the snot covered hand to grab a support bar. As she said, “He was F%&king gross.” She said she could never live in the big apple after seeing that guy on the subway.

We both got sick on this trip with what we called the plague. It was a really bad cold that lasted for months. It started to clear up by New Years day of 2020. Who knew that 2020 would be the start of the very real world wide plague of COVID-19.

The Eola Wine Company

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I sketched at the  Lake Eola Wine Company (430 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) during a private workshop I hosted for with an undisclosed artist from NYC. On the subject of mysterious artists, I enjoyed watching the a painting being sold at auction of a girl releasing a heart shaped balloon by Banksy at a Sotherby’s. It sold for 1.4 million dollars. As soon as the gavel went down, the painting self destructed. The artist had built a shredder into the frame and he must have been in the auction house and pressed the self destruct button. On Instagram, he posted an image of shocked auction goers with the caption going going, gone. IT was a brilliant stroke of genius. I has not been reported yet what the auction house will do for the person who purchased the now shredded art.

Opulence at Barefoot Spa.

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“Opulence” features the work of 25 Central Florida artists. The connecting theme of this show is the use of “rooms of spectacular opulence” in art. Included are paintings, sculptures, photography and multi media pieces. The collection is diverse vibrant and interesting with plenty of golden colors.

This show will be up for the months of February and March at
The Barefoot Spa
(801 Virginia, Orlando FL, 32803).
Hours are 10am to 5pm daily (closed Sundays).

The reception was on Saturday February 25th from 6 to 9 PM. Most of the artists were available at the reception. I have a painting on exhibit in this show, so I stopped by the opening reception to sketch. My painting is of the National Arts Club in NYC.  Parker Sketch has several paintings in the show. He shared old photos on his phone of his punk days with an incredibly tall Mohawk haircut.  His parents got divorced when he was a tee and he decided to live a homeless lifestyle for a summer not because he had to, but for the experience. His parents never missed him. He explained how you have to sleep in a park during the day since you would get kicked out at night. This rock bottom conversation was a nice stark contrast to the opulence on display. One of Parker’s painting had alternating stripes of gold and gold sparkle paint bands with a painting of a highball drink as the center of interest.

LK Phipps, a fine art digital photographer was curious a bow my digital sketch.  She told me about an Art and Algorithm show that sounds intriguing. With the sketch done, I relaxed and enjoyed the company of friends for a while.

New York City Urban Sketching Workshop.

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I went to NYC to give an Urban Sketching workshop for the New York City
Urban Sketchers. My premises was to show how to populate a sketch by
placing figures in perspective. The workshop was held in a midtown
building on the West side near Grand Central Station. The studios are
usually used to rehears and workshop Broadway plays. As a matter of face
we could heard dancers working in the studio next door. Our studio room
had mirrored walls for the dancers to see themselves. One thing I
always tell students when I am teaching students to imagine a vanishing
point is to imagine the room has mirrored walls. The vanishing point
would be right between the students eyes in the reflection. With this
room, They didn’t have to imagine.

Mark Leibovitz the NYC go to guy acted as a model and students had to
draw him as well as other students and the reflections. I did very quick
sample drawings to demonstrate the concepts I had shared. I think some
light bulbs lit up that day. Some students brought in copies of my book,
Urban Sketching: the Complete Guide to Techniques for me to sign. After
class we all went out to lunch and then we met again at Grand Central
Station for another series of sketches in which we places crowds of
people in perspective. The second level of a grand Central Station is
now a huge Apple Store. We gathered at the edges of the balcony in the
store to draw the crowds of commuters below.


The last sketch of the day was done outside Grand Central Station of the
facade. The goal was to demonstrate three point perspective. In three
point perspective there is a vanishing point in the clouds and the lines
of buildings all converge up towards that third point. I cut my sketch
short so I could walk around and share the love by giving one on one
advice to students based on the sketch they had started.

After the last Grand Central sketch, we all went to a German beer hall
to share sketches and war stories from the day. There I could look at
students entire sketchbooks and offer advice. It was a fabulous day. I
hope to arrange similar workshops in the future. I love sharing what I
have learned from doing a sketch every day for the past 7 years.