Sketch artist and painter Stephen Gardner’s only regret about living in Brooklyn is that he didn’t move here sooner. After bouncing around Manhattan for 15 years, he is now supremely content to be at home in Crown Heights.
“I was surprised about the light. It seems dramatically different from Manhattan,” he says of Brooklyn. “The buildings are a lot smaller. The way the light plays across the buildings in the twilight is magnificent. That was the major thing.”
Gardner’s regularly updated blog, SketchoftheDay.blogspot.com, showcases his art, much of which is done on a small, inconspicuous pad while he rides the subway to and from work. He likes working with inks, but found that for an artist on the subway, that medium can become very expensive as the dry cleaning bills add up.
As opposed to traditional portaiture, in which an artist may have hours or days to render a subject, Gardner says he often has fewer than ten minutes to capture a person. “I usually pick a sleeping victim, but sometimes I’m spotted,” he said.
He launched his blog in June of 2007, following his two-year MA program at FIT. He was worried that after the conclusion of classes he wouldn’t continue to practice, so the blog became his way of keeping up, and now he carries about half a dozen sketchbooks with him at all times.
In addition to the subway, Gardner also draws from park benches, bar stools, and the street. Favorite haunts include Park Slope’s Ale House, Alchemy, Tea Lounge and Saje in Prospect Heights.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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