UNION SQUARE

New York, NY

With son Trey living in the East Village of New York City, Cindy and I found frequent excuses to visit the city. We liked to stay at the W Hotel on Union Square, as it is convenient to the Village, to the rest of the city and had its own special ambiance. On this stay, we had a corner room facing the Square, so why not – sketch it. Although cityscapes are what is memorable about New York, I found that doing this sketch was more than tedious, with hundreds of building shapes, arranged in very random patterns, and more windows than can be counted. Many windows on the more distant buildings are just ink dots. Opened in 1839, the Square was designed in 1872 by Frederick Law Olmsted to accommodate gatherings of New Yorkers. Union Square Park has served as home base for countless community events and festivals - from the first Labor Day parade in 1882, to workers' rallies in the 1930s, to the first Earth Day in 1970, and to the current, wildly popular Greenmarkets. This former burial ground has seamlessly transitioned from a town square to a bustling City park. It is now home to statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi and Marquis de Lafayette. You can pick up the best biscotti in the world at the weekend open markets.