The lawn at Meadow Croft Estate in Sayville had some lovely yellow flowers...perfect for a 30x30 Direct Watercolor.
Recently I took a trip over to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I wanted to paint the roses on the trellises and wasn't sure if they were blooming yet. According to one of the horticultural specialists the aren't at their peak yet, but as you can see they are blooming. Hopefully I will get back there and do another painting. I love this spot because it reminds me of Monet's Garden when I painted there.
I like looking inside greenhouses, like this one at Olish's Farm in Eastport. They always have such nice displays outside.
Recently my friend, Suzala and I went to Port Jeff. Rather than ending up at an event that we were planning to go to, we walked around the town to find something to paint. I wanted to do a direct watercolor for the challenge. We found a spot in the shade outside a restaurant that looked really great. As I was finishing up, a lady with a little boy came over to see what I was doing. Looking at it she realized she was the lady with the cap sitting at the table. lol
I don't know about the beaches in other places, but here on Long Island most of our beaches have a shop that sells shirts and sweatshirts from that beach and assorted useful items for the beach. This was the "shopping area" at Robert Moses State Park and was done with direct watercolor.
Down by the bay in Bayport the other day I saw a group of geese hanging around. Of course there were about 8 to start with but only 2 managed to stay around long enough to be models for my Direct Watercolor #17.
I am always attracted to umbrellas and if they are red that's the icing on the cake. My 16th 30x30 Direct Watercolor was done at the Greek Bites Gill in Moriches. This time I can say I've been inside and have sampled their food, which is really good.
My plein air group met at the West Sayville Maritime Musuem grounds recently. I went out on the dock to paint this. I always worry about dropping something and having it fall through one of the cracks.
This direct watercolor for the 30x30 Challenge was done in Sayville. I liked the bright spring greens contrasted with the purple and pink flowers.
For my 5th 30x30 Direct Watercolor I painted the view across the Great South Bay from Smith Point.
My friend, Suzala and I headed up to Oyster Bay where they were having a reenactment event of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. We sat near the entertainment where horse riders were taking part in shooting and lancing events. Drawing horses is difficult enough, but they were moving a lot while I was trying to paint in direct watercolors. I was fairly successful.
Even after I did one painting for the 30x30 challenge that day I did a few more directly in watercolor.
Every year in June Uma Kelkar & Marc Taro Holmes present the 30x30 Direct Watercolor Challenge. During the month the participants strive to create 30 direct watercolor paintings. No pencil or ink lines are allowed. I've been participating for a number of years. I definitely think this challenge makes me more observant and also makes me stop and think about the composition of my piece and what goes in front of or behind something else. It is fun to take part in this.
Both of these small ATC sized paintings were done in the garden area at the beach.
My friend, Susan has poppies in her garden and I try to get there to sketch/paint them each year. I waited a bit too long this year. The last rainstorm we had pretty much knocked them down. I did the best I could with what was left. Thanks, Susan!
The Patchogue Sketch Club has been doing some printmaking. I designed a lighthouse template and made a few black & white prints and ghost prints.
I was happy with the way these came out, but I wanted to try a multi colored print. That isn't as easy as it sounds. I ran out of time at our meeting and our printmaking is supposedly on hiatus for a while as we return to outdoor sketching. I will try to do it at home, but at present I only have black ink. If I get it done I will post the results.
I like painting up in Port Jefferson. The houses on the north shore aren't on flat land like they are here on the south shore...so they are often on hills, or slightly raised above street level. This house had quite a few steps from the street level up to the front door. Of course I love the white picket fence in front.
When I was out on the North Fork recently I was attracted to all the flower displays like this one at Bayview Farm & Market in Aquebogue.
Riding along the main road of the North Fork, I saw these red umbrellas over tables of purple flowers. It was a outdoor seating area for the bagel store in the small strip mall.
I like capturing the people at the Sayville Farmers Market. There is always some interesting activity.
The forecast for the day was rain, but it looked like it was clear enough that I could get out someplace local and sketch before that happened. The colorful Ice Palace in Oakdale caught my eye. I didn't trust the weather so I sat in my mobile studio in the auto repair parking lot across the street. It was a good thing I did because it did pour for a few minutes and then rained lightly for a while. I was smart enough to sketch the people when I first got there...just in case they had to leave and seek shelter.lol Once the heavy rain passed there were other people who stopped for ices and sat under the umbrellas. I still haven't tried their ices, and I've sketched there before.
You can see the other sketches I've done of the Ice palace in 2022 here and in 2012 here.
The NYC Urban Sketchers recently met at Pier 57 along the Hudson River. It had some interesting views like this one of "Little Island," a park jutting out into the river with several different levels. I was sitting on the top level of Pier 57 which luckily had some huge areas that were shaded.
On the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, the Wet Paints Studio Group organized a paint out at the Fire Island Lighthouse. Artists were invited to come on Friday or Saturday and paint somewhere on the grounds near the lighthouse. I've done his paint out several times and always enjoy it. The pieces created are now hanging in the lens house of the lighthouse and are for sale, with part of the proceeds going toward the lighthouse.
My first painting is 8 x 10 and was painted from the eastern end of Robert Moses Field 5. I like that view with the lighthouse peeking out behind the dunes.
I've been working a little on gelli prints with both my round and my rectangular gelli prints. I've been using flowers and leaves in the prints.
