Bubble Man

On Saturday I took a workshop from another urban sketcher at Columbus Circle. I haven't finished the piece of artwork from the workshop, so I will post that at another time. In the afternoon I met up with the rest of the NYC Urban Sketchers near the model boat basin in Central Park. Since I had been there over Labor Day Weekend, I focused on an entertaining scene of the bubble man busy at work. I'm lucky I can blow tiny bubbles. These huge ones always amaze me. He even blew bubbles inside bubbles.

Last week I had seen a post on the  Urban Sketchers Perth Facebook page by someone from Perth who was visiting NY and posted a photo from Brooklyn. I invited her to join our group if she was free on Saturday, telling her where the group would be but that I was taking a workshop in the morning but would be sketching with the group in the afternoon. I also said how I had enjoyed meeting some of the members of the Perth group when I was in Australia. So when I found the group in the afternoon I asked if anyone from Australia had met up with them. Jacqui had found them and sketched with them in the morning. She went off to sketch a bit away from the group in the afternoon but promised to come back for our "show and tell" at the end of the day. Here is Jacqui Masters sharing one of her sketches of a lamppost from Central Park. She was really sweet and so thankful that I had contacted her and let her know we would be sketching. 

We also had another visitor. Debo was in NYC from near Savannah, Georgia for a doctor's appointment for her husband. She has visited before but this was the first time I met her.

One of the nice things about the Urban Sketchers is meeting people from other places and having a common interest. You can meet great people that way!

Alcohol Ink Tiles

Just in case you were missing seeing my alcohol ink tiles here are a few recent ones. A friend of mine said she would like to buy a sunflower tile and wanted to know if I had done any southwestern design tiles. She wanted one as a gift for a friend she would be visiting. I told her I hadn't done any southwestern designs but I would give it a try. She also wanted larger tiles so I did the 6 inch ones instead of the 4 inch ones. The inks are very unpredictable so I'm never sure what I will get. I brought her 2 sunflowers (not pictured) and these two. She bought all four of them.

(BTW the white circles are not part of the design but a reflection of the lighting in her kitchen. 

I will be doing several shows before Christmas so I need to get started on developing an inventory for the shows.

Carnival

On Friday night I met my friend, Suzala to go to a carnival in Merrick. It was mostly rides and games, with a little food thrown in. We wanted to paint the scene at night and it was pretty dark by the time we finished. It was fun.

Suzala painting.

My painting and the scene.

Sunflower Field

I have painted this view of the Suffolk County Farm many times, but have never seen sunflowers in the field...cows maybe, but not sunflowers. This view is on the exit ramp of a very busy highway here on Long Island. The ramp runs on the south side of the Long Island Expressway and there is this very roomy spot next to the marked exit ramp. I'm always expecting the highway police to come along and give me a hard time about parking there, but so far I've been lucky. It isn't like I'm anywhere near the traffic coming off. Just one side of the field had the flowers so I backed up into the corner to get this view. I always sit in my car for safety when I paint or sketch there.

Fountain in the Mist

After painting the fountain I posted yesterday I must have had fountains on my mind. The Patchogue Sketch Club was meeting at Post Morrow in Brookhaven on Wednesday evening. There is a fountain there too, although I've never seen any water in it. I debated about not going because as I pulled out of my garage it was already starting to sprinkle. Our weather had been iffy for days with showers popping up quite often. I ended up driving to the location only to find that it was misting there too.  I started to paint directly in watercolor figuring that if I worked quickly I might be able to complete something before the weather was too bad. I went back to my car and got my painting umbrella which helped keep part of me dry but wasn't doing anything for my paper. I stayed for about 40 minutes and I did as much as I could before it got worse. I took the sketch to the car before I packed up and when I got home I notices there were all tiny water marks on the painting from the mist. I could have worked on it more but I like the effect.

Sayville Fountain & Breakfast

I was passing by this fountain in Sayville and noticed it had water. The last time I sketched it I think it must not have been summer because the water wasn't running. There was part of a house in the scene but I used artistic license and left it out. Most of the water is saved whites but I also added a few narrow drips of water with my white gel pen.

This was a sketch for a recent scavenger hunt on Wet Canvas...food and fruit. It was hard not to eat the breakfast before sketching it...thus the bites taken out of the peach. :)

Lunch, Anyone?

While I was at the festival in Patchogue the other day there were booths selling lots of foods. I liked the colorful look to the sausage & pepper truck, although that is something that would never tempt me. I worked on this until I heard that the zeppole eating contest would be starting shortly. I had friends that were taking part in that so I didn't want to miss it. For anyone unfamiliar with zeppoles they are fried dough, sort of like a doughnut but shaped more like an oddly shaped ball, then they are dusted with powdered sugar. They are delicious but turn to lead in your stomach. lol