After Show and Tell with the NYC Urban Sketchers Suzala and I decided to stay for one more sketch. We headed don on the pier and sat in the shade facing The Ambrose, a historic lighthouse ship from 1908. She was a floating lighthouse used to guide ships safely from the Atlantic Ocean into Lower New York Bay.
A sketch trip to the South Street Seaport definitely needs the Brooklyn Bridge as a subject. I found a (fake) grassy area by Pier 17. People were lounging on the lawn and the bridge was right there! It was a perfect spot to sketch before we all met to share our sketches.
The South Street Seaport was the meetup spot for the NYC Urban Sketchers on Saturday. There is a lot there to sketch, both modern and historic. I started at Peck Slip and South Street where there was an abundance of flowers decorating the Paris Café. The restaurant wasn't open for lunch so no customers were sitting outside. It is part of an old building in what was a bustling port in the early days of NYC. Ships regularly docked along the wharves and some are still there today.
This past Sunday was Arts on Terry. Each year the Patchogue Sketch Club does a group project. This year we made enlarged sculptures of objects created from cardboard and wrapped in gauze dipped in plaster of Paris. I made a Tic Toc box that is 25 inches tall and about 12 inches wide. It is decorated on all four sides. Here it is from the front.
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| Rosanne made a pancake box. |
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| Mark made a tube of toothpaste. |
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| Theresa made a box of toothpaste. |
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| Pat made a box of pasta... |
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| and a jar of red pepper flakes. |
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| Marianne made a can of Italian tomatoes. |
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| Janet made a can of tuna and Charlie Tuna to go with it. In addition there was a can of hairspray, a jar of jam, and a large teabag. The sculptures were a big hit. Lots of people took photos of them! |
My plein air group went to the private gardens of one of our members. No matter where you looked it was a painting opportunity. We've painted there a few times before. Her front garden called to me this time and luckily she invited us for two weeks in a row, so I was able to finish this on site. Barbara and her husband, Eldon give us such an education on their plants when we visit. My thanks go out to both of them for the opportunity to paint there.
These small sketches were done for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt recently. One item was neglected and this building has some loose panels and broken window panes.
A rainy day lately was a good occasion to look for a coffee shop for indoor sketching. I found a new spot for coffee in Patchogue, Southdown Coffee. I had been to a few other locations and enjoyed them. This one did not disappoint...delicious coffee, lots of space, nice decor, and a great staff. I'm sure I will go back.
The other day I was in Blue Point. I looked down the street and noticed that there were a few sailboats in one area of the bay. I pulled over and started sketching. I don't know if this was a class or a sailboat race but there were quite a few sailboats out there and a larger boat nearby that was sitting there. This was painted on a small paper in a pack of light blue toned paper.
There is a great view of the Robert Moses Bridge from one of the parking lots at Captree State Park.
You can sometimes see the fishing boats out in the bay from that spot too. It is a great place to go for some peace and quiet. It was a sunny, somewhat warm day and I just pulled my chair out of the trunk and sat near it while I painted.
I visited Smith Point Beach the other day and brought along my iPad. I'm trying to use Procreate a little to get more familiar with it. When I don't use it for a while I forget what I've learned. lol
I met my friend, Suzala in Northport the other day. We sat at a table by a pet store (with permission) and sketched the view of the buildings across the street. Luckily there was no parking in the area right in front of us on our side of the street, so visibility was pretty good.
There is a really small local beach in Bayport that is on the Great South Bay. It is a nice area for a sketch.
I did a lobster recently as a continuous line sketch. Shh...don't tell anyone but I gave him/her an extra antenna. It is a challenge to do a continuous line when the model keeps moving.
Malik Farms LLC from Coram had a wonderful stall at the Sayville Farmers Market. The vendor sold sunflowers and bouquets of flowers. I sat a distance away to sketch and brought it over to show the woman when I was done. She could tell that I was sketching her and was thrilled. She took a photo of the sketch with my permission. She said I brought her luck because she sold out early!
While the pool was still open I tried to use my iPad and the Procreate program.
This was done for the Creative Spark Scavenger hunt...3 unrelated items stacked.
My PALS Plein Air group met at the Long Island Maritime Museum last week. The grounds are what always interest me, but this time I didn't work on the water views. There are several buildings on the property that are used for boat building and renovations. This particular building caught my interest because of the light on the boat inside coming through the open doorway. I believe the boat inside is the Priscilla, an old oyster sloop that is being renovated. The mast on the Pricilla had been removed and slices of it have been decorated by artist for the next fundraiser that the Maritime Museum is having. I painted one of the pieces for the next fundraiser.
With the sky changing so quickly at Cedar Beach I decided to do one more quick sunset painting from the same spot on the beach. Sunsets are difficult in watercolor because you don't really have time for the layers of color to dry long enough before you are adding more color. This painting is a little looser. I was somewhat successful. Of course the sailboats came out for the sunset and it was a bit difficult to sneak one into the wet paint.
After sketching from the boardwalk at Cedar Beach (see yesterday's post) I decided to go down on the sand. Right by the bottom step of the board I found a spot to sit where I could see down the beach along the dunes and grasses. The sky was getting some interesting clouds and color. Along the water's edge there were several fishermen with their rods. In addition to my regular watercolors I used a soft charcoal pencil and a few watercolor pencils. The headlands in the background are part of Port Jefferson.
A friend suggested heading up to Cedar Beach in Mt Sinai to do sunset paintings recently. We got up there about 4:30 and were joined by a third artist. For my first painting I sat on the boardwalk and was overlooking the dunes. The sky kept changing.
On the grounds of the Long Island Maritime Museum there are several buildings besides the museum. This is the Frank F. Penney Boat Shop. It has a bit of history.
This structure was once the laundry building for the Brooklyn Hotel located in Center Moriches. When the hotel burned down Mr. Penney jumped at the chance to rescue the building for use in his boatyard. In 1978 it was floated by barge from Moriches to the Museum. Today it serves the same purpose it served in 1900 - it is the center of our volunteer boat building program.
My plein air group usually goes to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum to paint a few times each year. We headed back on the property to the dahlia garden for some beautiful flowers.
Unfortunately our development has had some problems with the chlorine levels in our pool. This particular day the lifeguard was sitting checking the levels (again!). I was under a shady umbrella and since my Apple pencil was charged I figured I should sketch something with my Procreate app.
My friend, Suzala and I went sketching at @schneidersfarmmelville. It is a small place without much shade, but they were welcoming and we made it work. This was sketched from a little bit of shade behind the farm stand. My thanks to the Schneider staff for being so nice.
From my experience I've learned that the best way to sketch a street in a town is to do it from my mobile studio. I sit in the driver's seat which sort of gives me a view like I was out in the street sketching. In this scene I was able to see both sides of the street and the vehicle coming and going. This sketch was done in Sayville.
I made a trip to Toyota recently to have my car checked and sat in the service area for a while.
This young lady seemed like a good model. I had my iPad with me and used the Procreate program.
These were done for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt going on.
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| Something related to coffee |
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| Something hand-held |
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| Something that snaps |
Sunflowers are interesting even when they are well past their prime. These were starting to curl and droop so I figured I should sketch them before I tossed them. I think they still have a bit of elegance to them.
I think I will eventually run out of houses in Sayville to sketch and paint, but it hasn't happened yet. This one is down near the beach and caught my eye.
I haven't done too much sketching at the pool this summer because I've been too busy kicking for exercise. I had my iPad with me the other day and rather than read when I got out of the pool I decided to sketch since there were people close enough to me to use as models. The problem with sketching on the iPad at the pool is there is a definite glare and it is hard to see what I'm actually creating on the screen. When I get home I always see the areas I should have improved before exporting the sketch from the program.
Last Sunday I rode out to the Peconic Herb Farm out in Calverton. I like the small buildings on the property. I sketched the Tool Shed from the other side and the swing was visible this way. There were several people that sat there while I was sketching.
I sat up above the beach at Smith Point to sketch the dunes and the people on the sand last week.
I haven't sketch at the West Sayville Dock recently, but when I stopped by I remembered how there is always something to sketch there.
Last Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club had Rotary Park in Sayville as our location for the evening. The Lazy Bunny Ukulele Band was playing. We saw them last year and sketched them. Since I had sketched the whole band the last time I decided to sketch the crowd instead. As soon as I pulled out my sketchbook a very light drizzle started falling and some of my ink lines immediately started to bleed. You can see that in the 3 people that were in front of my. I didn't care. I was going to sketch. Most of the ink lines ended up being OK, but as I started to add watercolor the drizzle got heavier. It gave a bit of a watery look to the foliage and the grass. I know two of the other sketchers did some sketching too, but I think they stopped before it got so wet. I sort of like the effect. By the way, the band was fun!
My plein air group, PALS made it's annual visit to Silly Lily's Fishing Station recently. I liked the fun boat rental shack, although it wasn't open.
