Sketching at Salmagundi Club, NYC

To see my paintings visit my website www.janblencowe.com

Antique books from the Salmagundi Club Library. You may recognize the sketch of Rembrandt's Road to Emmaus,  in the open book. Pentalic Nature Sketch, 8.5 x 11, 130lb. 25% cotton paper,  various markers including Vision Uni-ball, Copic, Bic Mark-It, Prismacolor, Utrecht Design Markers.

A few months back I joined the Salmagundi Club Library Sketching Group, a newly formed group in an old organization.

Founded in 1871, the Salmagundi Club is one of the oldest art organizations in the United States. Housed in an historic brownstone mansion in Greenwich Village, New York City, its members have included important American artists such as Thomas Moran, William Merritt Chase, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N.C. Wyeth and Childe Hassam.

 Pentalic Nature Sketch, 8.5 x 11, 130lb. 25% cotton paper, Sepia, Caran d'Arche Supracolor II Soft pencil

Historic palettes on the walls in Salmagundi Club library, including Ralph Blakelock's, Ernest Lawson's, one of The Eight of the Ash Can School, Carl Brenner, William Henry Lippingcott 


The Salmagundi Club originated in 1871 as a sketch class in Johnathan Scott Hartley's studio and purchased this mid-nineteenth century brownstone house in 1917 as its second home.

Originally formed as the Salmagundi Sketch Club in 1871, the Club adopted its present name a hundred years ago after Washington Irving published his potpourri of wit and wisdom called "The Salmagundi Papers". The name also serves as the club dining room's famous "Salmagundi Stew".

Today, the club  is reviving the sketch class that began over 140 years ago.

Bust of Thomas Moran, Pentalic Nature Sketch, 8.5 x 11, 130lb. 25% cotton paper,Derwent, burnt sienna, watercolor pencil.

 Pentalic Nature Sketch, 8.5 x 11, 130lb. 25% cotton paper, 2b graphite pencil

This charming fellow sits atop the mantle in the library and I'm beginning to think of him as the group's mascot!

Salmagundi Club Library

Sketching Farms and Food

To see my paintings visit my website www.janblencowe.com

Tiffany Farm, Old Lyme, CT, Stillman & Birn Beta Sketchbook, Copic, Prismacolor, Utrecht Design, Mark-It, Uniball Vision

Really loving the new Stillman & Birn sketchbooks. 180 lb. paper in a sketchbook is just fantastic.

This was done late in the day this past Sunday. Tiffany Farm is one of the few remaining working farms in Connecticut. I pulled off to the side of the road and sketched from my car. It's a view I've done before and i always find the buildings challenging. I liked the rows of stubble in the field in the foreground. Corn will be growing there in a few months.

Here we go with the Stillman & Birn Alpha, spiral bound sketchbook.  White, 100 lb. paper which is working very well for ink and watercolor washes. I'm using a Uniball Vision pen and Daniel Smith watercolors.

Here's a close up....

This was done at Savvy tea Shop in Madison, CT a favorite hang out of mine.

Tea and Scone at the Books-a-Million cafe in Waterford, CT also in the Alpha sketchbook, Uniball Vision pen and Daniel Smith watercolors. Using a lot of water to lighten the background washes and the paper is holding up well.  The page does buckle somewhat when using watercolor, but it doesn't curl like some sketchbook papers do. The buckling doesn't bother me at all because once the sketch is dry and the book is closed the weight of the cover (and other pages when you get further into the sketchbook) flatten out a lot of the buckles.

Still in the Alpha (which I think is going to become my foodie sketchbook!) Uniball Vision pen and Daniel Smith watercolors.

This week end I'll be in New York City sketching, so stay tuned!