Anna Pierrepont Project on the Road is finished

To complete the pictures for the Anna Pierrepont Project on the Road, I set out from NYC on two beautiful days in late August.

The first trip was to Morristown, New Jersey and the second trip was to Phillipse Manor, New York. Morristown was chosen due to the town being the site of a post-independence military encampment for the American army under George Washington for over a year. I attempted drawings of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette in conversation and another monument of Thomas Paine writing “Common Sense”. Two attempts to draw the Paine failed. I then made a quick sketch of the statues of the three Revolutionary war generals. This drawing was more satisfactory but was not completed. The second trip to Philipse Manor was to visit Sleepy Hollow cemetery. I had never been in the Morristown area before, but had lived briefly in the town of Sleepy Hollow just south of Philipse Manor when it was named North Tarrytown. Morristown is a dynamic, ethnically diverse town surrounding an historical town center, Morristown Green. The Washington statue is installed on Morristown Green. Philipse Manor is a suburban community by a local railroad stop adjacent to the Hudson river. The cemetery is on North Broadway, a continuation of Broadway that extends to the Battery in Manhattan. There were no traffic lights and no sidewalks, so entering the cemetery was tricky, becauses cars drove fast in both directions on the double lane North Broadway. The cemetery, the resting place of Washington Irving, was beautiful. It sits on a hill with a forested valley to the west. The first image I drew was of a white marble angel holding a scroll. The second image was of the statue that made me chose to travel to the cemetery, a Union Soldier on a pedestal, standing in front of about thirty graves of Civil War fatalities.

The juxtaposition was extremely poignant. A woman drove up while I made the drawing of the Civil War soldier and asked its meaning. I swept my arm in the direction of the graves, which spoke “far above (my) poor power to add or detract”. She rolled up her window after a quick glance and drove on. The framed drawings were delivered to the individuals that requested them in Kickstarter. I thank all of those who viewed and participated in “Anna Pierrepont Project on the Road”.