Happy Thanksgiving!

Some reportage of the Thanksgiving parade from two years ago.

Autumn at Kissena Park

I took advantage of the 60-degree weather to capture the colors of autumn at one of my favorite local destinations, Kissena Park, located in Flushing, New York. This wonderful park was once a tree farm which supplied many of the trees that now grow in the parks and neighborhoods of Queens and even in Central and Prospect Parks.

A part of the park has been preserved as a historic grove. The trees in this area were left over from the old farm and grew in linear rows in groups of 4 and 5. Some of the trees fused into multi stemmed trees, like banyans! 

Kissena Lake... 

Beehive in an oak tree. The surface looked like smooth layers of paper.

This red hawk swooped down a few feet from me and perched on a branch, then surveyed the surroundings. 

Magazine Publishes Fashion Reportage!

Just wanted to share that Rogue Magazine, a Philippine publication specializing in lifestyle and fashion  published some of my fashion week drawings and interviewed me for their November issue! The home page is at this url - http://www.rogue.ph/ and the first page of my spread is in the current Nov. issue pp 50-51.

Fashion Week in New York

At Lincoln Center....

Downtown on Hudson Street....

More from fashion week at Lincoln Center

Fashion Week

The floating world of fashion has descended upon Lincoln Center in the form of fashion week. Since this year, Lincoln Center is the new locale for this much anticipated biannual event. I did not have any tickets to see the shows inside the tents but outside on the Lincoln Center Plaza, there was plenty of theatrical fashion to draw.

Labor Day shoppers

Labor Day one of the busiest shopping days of the year, is a great day to draw people and fashion. So I headed down to Herald Square to do just that.

And although it means the end of summer and vacation fun, it's also the beginning of fall activity. Stores and store windows were showing off the latest fall trends - an exciting time for kids of all ages, especially for teens and tweens who love friends and fashion. Thirty-fourth street was giddy with back to school excitement. 

These two girls in the subway were about fourteen years old and probably best friends. They seemed to be really excited about being back to school, although I could not understand one word they were saying. 

Costa Rica - Fruit Trees

Another of Costa Rica's marvels are its abundant fruit farms and orchards. The first day of our trip, we saw palm groves that stretched for miles. By the end of the trip we had seen coconut, banana, avocado, mango and many more fruit farms. Coconut, banana and papaya trees randomly grow on the sides of roads and dot the countryside and yards of neighborhoods. And while most locals live in very modest structures which are little more than open air shanties, their yards in contrast are lush and fertile, usually consisting of several fruit trees such as coconut, mango, banana and avocado. There was an avocado tree in front of our house in Pavones the size of an oak tree!

Costa Rica - Wildlife

My sister and I visited the national reserve at Manuel Antonio, about an hour north of Pavones. A small area of the park is open for walking tours (so that the rest can be preserved as unspoiled as possible). Sloths are common throughout Costa Rica but they're usually shy and hidden up in the trees. However I swear this one sloth at the park, a female, liked the paparazzi. When a crowd formed in front of her tree, snapping pictures and oohing and aaahing, she slowly climbed down the tree and took a closer look at us. She stuck her head out and panned the crowd with her squinty eyes, delighting us all and surprising the tour guides. What a thrill!

The sleeping sloths looked like balls of beige fur hanging from the tree branches.

Costa Rica - Pavones

This is the house where we stayed. It had a lanai, a pool and really great amenities. And it was situated on a hill at the edge of a minimally developed area. We saw lots of wildlife within the house's property. A dirt pathway about 200 yards long, bordered on either side by shanties and small farms led straight down to the beach.

A local resident (there are lots of them and they are generally friendly) befriended us and humbly begged for food donations.

My sketchbook fell in the Rio Claro when Jasmine and I took a guided riverwalk (we didn’t actually think we would be walking IN the river!).

Our last full day at Pavones, we went to the internet cafe in town. In addition to internet you could purchase pastries and huge smoothies. The proprietor was serving us until he became distracted by a really good wave. He promptly grabbed his surfboard and disappeared into the beach. While my brother-in-law surfed, Jasmine surfed the web and I drew the surfers at the cafe. Later, I told Michael that I made a drawing of a "salty dog" at the cafe that may have seen one too many waves. He was wearing a baseball cap, had a very tanned complexion and was typing away on his laptop while watching the surf. He told me that he is a surfing champion who now owns a surf business. Imagine that!

Costa Rica - Jaco

In Jaco, we met up with friends and stayed overnight. Jaco is one of several beach towns along the southern Pacific coast where the surfing is excellent. The main strip is made up of surf shops and souvenir shops, bars and restaurants and a few high rise condos. Development is still minimal and the town is surrounded by greenery. The morning sky is gorgeous. I made a few watercolors  the next day at 6:30 am.The sky turned different shades of pinks and blues as the sun came up and chatty tropical birds whizzed through the air.   

The drive to our next destination, Pavones, was beautiful too with lots of agricultural scenery. At one point there seemed to be miles and miles of palm plantations. Random fruit trees grew on the side of the road - banana, mango, papaya and more! 

Costa Rica!

A Trip to Paradise!

Can a birthday gift be any better? In the early hours of Saturday June 12th, I packed my flipflops, suntan lotion and sketchbook and met my sister Jasmine and brother in law Michael at jfk to get on a plane to Costa Rica. Not just any trip but a 9-day trip to paradise...yes!

While waiting to board the plane - I made a quick drawing of the jets which were looking a lot like large metallic birds, and pleasantly anticipated the next few days...I knew so many people that had been to Costa Rica who raved about so many different things. And everything is wonderful and the best - from surfing to nature to food to people to cost-and only a 5-hour plane ride away!

When it was our turn to check in at the counter, I almost tripped over my brother in law’s baggage - a 10-foot long soft metallic case containing a couple of surfboards. Michael is an avid surfer and has been to Costa Rica many times in the past. He will be our tourguide.

We landed in San Jose which was in the middle of lush mountains. It was 76 degrees!

We had to wait awhile for our rental car, so I drew the trees across the way. A dragonfly appeared and landed on my sister’s totebag. Hmm, hello to you too! 

Our first activity was to drive to Jaco, about 1 1/2 hours away. We drove through green mountains. 

We stopped at an eatery high up in the mountain with an incredible view of the valley. A lady in a pretty flower-print dress served us casados, or platters of food, consisting of rice, fried plantains, beans, salad and chicken, beef or fish. I had the fish and a mango smoothie -Yum! 

Times Square going strong

I visited Times Square on one of  the few sunny days we had last week and it was really great to see the usual busy activity associated with the place. I loved the different happenings - foreign news crews, fashion shoots, free sample giveaways - ooh I got free chocolate and bottles of shampoo! The lines for discounted broadway and off-broadway tickets were still long and there seemed to be more shoppers than ever. I especially loved the fashionable shoppers - people who look great while shopping to look great, definitely a skill I do not possess.