Building in Eisenhower Park

I was meeting friends for lunch in Westbury and went a little early so I could sketch for a bit before going to the restaurant. I drove into Eisenhower Park in East Meadow and found this unusual building. I have no idea what it is used for but I liked it and did a quick sketch.

Starbucks and Cinco de Mayo

The Patchogue Sketch Club was meeting, but the forecast was once again for rain so we moved to an indoor location. I brought along some fruit to use for sketching and Mark and Teresa sketched it too.  

For the sketch above I used a sketchbook I had bought in Venice. It is leather and had paper that I was told was watercolor paper. It is a bit textured and absorbs the watercolor as well as the ink. Some of it shows on the back side of the paper. I don't think it has a lot of sizing like our paper here usually does. 

Jerry and I celebrate Cinco de Mayo with tacos from The Fat Boy Burrito Company in Patchogue. Luckily I decided to do take-out and called ahead. There was a line outside. The food is very good!

Outboard Marine

I like finding marine related buildings like this one in Islip. It is fun to sketch the vehicles and details. 

Trees by the Beach

 The trees down by the beach in Sayville have unusual shapes do to being exposed to the wind from the Great South Bay. They are gnarly and mishapen, but beautiful anyway.

Lewin Farms Greenhouse

The north fork of Long Island is home to quite a few big nurseries. It is the perfect place to do some plant shopping.  The plants by the greenhouses at Lewin Farms in Calverton always look good.

Borough Park in Waldwick, NJ

Over the weekend I took a ride to visit my sister, Mickey who lives in Waldwick, NJ. It was a nice day so we took a ride over to Borough Park in Waldwick. I was able to do a sketch and we also got to log in a few steps while we were there. Across the water there was a deer feeding on the plants. 

Lighthouse View from Captree

The Fire Island Lighthouse can be clearly seen from the parking lot across the bay from the island itself at Captree State Park. 

Up the Hill

In Bellport there is a street that runs parallel to the water at the end of Bellport Lane. The street goes up a hill after you pass the entrance to the Bellport Dock. With the flowers in bloom it looks really nice. 

Related to Exercise

 A prompt for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt was "related to exercise." I pass this banch of LA Fitness in Patchogue quite often and it fits the bill.

Workmen

 There has been a lot of road and utility construction going on all over this area. Recently I spotted a group of workers digging and doing something on one of the corners of my street. Of course there were a lot of workmen, but it seemed like only two were doing anything. lol

Cherry Trees

We are lucky to still have some cherry trees in bloom here. These were in Oakdale. 

Gardener

One of the promps for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt was "having to do with gardening." I took a ride over to Mama Farm owned by the actress, Isabella Rossellini in Brookhaven. Imagine my excitement to find a young woman actually sitting with flats of plants to go in the field. What a find! 

Continuous Line Practice

The Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt date was coming to a close so I decided to put some of the items into one still life and do a continuous line. The items were something in a box (toothpicks), used for cleaning (Simple Green), used for cooking (wooden spoon), soft or squishy (the duck), smooth (the Keenex box), and crunchy (tortilla chips).

Workshop "From Sketches to Stories"

The NYC Urban Sketchers offers some workshops each year. Shawne Cooper, a friend of mine was offering what sounded like an interesting workshop called "From Sketches to Stories." It involved not only sketching but writing too. I decided to join in. The original location was supposed to be the Elizabeth Street Garden, but rain was forecast for the day, so a decision was made to hold the workshop at Pier 57, a very welcoming indoor location looking out at Little Island.

Shawne showed a variety of her sketchbook pages where she used writing to correspond with her sketch. We were given a page of photos of planting arrangements (pots, urns, etc) from Elizabeth Street Garden. Using tempera sticks we blocked in a solid shape for the item we chose. Once it was dry our assignment was to fill the solid area with our reaction to the change in location. This we did with marker on the shape we had created. Here is mine.

The next assignment was to look at Little Island and come up with a few things that it reminded us of. The structure of the park reminds me of tall champagne glasses. Our goal was to write about some memory that this reminded us of and write about that. Of course we did a sketch of Little Island and what it reminded us of and then we wrote about that memory. I combined the Little Island design with a champagne glass, a champagne bottle, and a bit of the ocean.

When we were finished each sketcher shared her/his page with the group. It was really interesting to hear the stories that were created by each person.

In case you have never seen Little Island, this is what it looks like in real life.

We did one more very quick activity and then took a few photos.

The group at work inside Pier 57

Grand Concourse at Grand Central

 The architecture and the assortment of people at Grand Central could keep me sketching for quite a while and it never gets old. I like sketching the view with the tunnels receding to the various tracks, subway lines, as well as the LIRR and Metro North trains. We had a good number of sketchers since it was a good location where we could sketch and stay dry. The guards had several rules including no sketching while sitting on the stairs and no sketchbooks could be on the floor while we were painting. Most of us bring along a stool to sit on and usually paint holding our sketchbooks in our laps. It works well.

Track 24 at Grand Central Terminal

 A rainy day required an indoor location so the NYC Urban Sketchers changed our outdoor location to Grand Central Station. We arrive at Grand Central Madison which is the newer end of the terminal and a very long walk to the original part of Grand Central that everyone thinks of when they hear it. Also those trains are 15 floors below ground level...yes, 15 floors!!! My first sketch of the day was done by Track 24 of Metro North. The train destined for Stamford was sitting there at the track with one of the train employees standing on the platform. What caught my attention was the posture of the workers right in front of me as he leaned against the railing with his elbow propped up. He did move a few times and additional workers joined him for a few minutes. During that time I worked on sketching the train itself. Luckily it remained in place for long enough for me to get most of the details. (I took a photo just in case.) After it pulled away and the man moved away I was able to add in some of the details for the track itself. 

I was really happy with the way this came out.

Patchogue Starbucks

Last week the Patchogue Sketch Club met at Starbucks. The theme was paper airplanes, which I had absolutely no interest in doing. Luckily there is always a view to sketch at Starbucks, even if most of them all look the same. This one has a drive-thru so I was able to catch a barrister with headphones by the window. 

Marina View

 There are a few marinas in Patchogue that are fun to sketch from outside the fence like this one.

Spring Colors

I knew there would be some trees in bloom at a certain location in Oakdale along Sunrise Highway's service road. There are some corporate buildings and a large grassy area with some pink blossoming trees across the lawn. 

Apparently the lawn is popular among the geese who were enjoying themselves in typical goose style.

 

In a Can

One of the items for a recent Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt was "something in a can." I had bought a few cans of anchovies as a treat for Jerry to have on his pizza. I wanted not part of them...just the colorful can. That color was hard to resist. I made sure to hide this one so it would still be around when I was ready to sketch it. I used mostly Posca markers for this. 

Dandelions

Ildikó Kerasay did a lesson for Sketchbook Revival called. "Dandelion, herb or weed." She gave a lot of information on the properties of the HERB, dandelion. We were able to sketch the parts of the dandelion either from the references she was using or find our own. It took me a while to find some dandelions and sketch their parts. I was surprised that they were actually difficult to remove from the ground...small but mighty.

Fantastic Gardens

 

On  another of our drizzly days I was looking for a place where I could park and see something that felt like spring. According to the sign that was hanging over the flowers, Fantastic Gardens in Patchogue has a Sunday market inside and outside some of the greenhouses. I will have to check it out, but for now I was happy with the assortment of flowers on the tables.

West Sayville Dock

Part of the West Sayville Dock extends out into the bay past the marine repair businesses. Cars and fishermen are often found down at the end of the dock. You can see Fire Island off in the distance. 

Roosevelt Island Colors

Last weekend the NYC Urban Sketchers met on Roosevelt Island which is located in the East River between Manhattan and Queens. The plan was to sketch the cherry trees there. After having a few days of very mild temperatures, things changed. It was windy and cold on Roosevelt Island. Luckily I was prepared for the cold, but the wind was a problem. I did my first sketch trying to sit where the wind was locked a bit, but not really enough.

You can reach Roosevelt Island several ways. The one that is the most fun is by the tram from Manhattan. There is also a ferry and a small bridge that connects the island to Queens. I wanted to sketch the tram but it didn't stay close enough for long enouh.

For my second sketch I decided to join some of the other sketchers in a courtyard area where most of the wind was blocked. The earlier sketchers were lucky enough to get a large table were a big group of us were able to sit and sketch...and we were pretty much sheltered from the wind.

Show and tell was back over by the tram where I met up with a few other sketchers who were there early. I sketched two of them in a tiny sketchbook I had with me.

It was a full day of sketching.

Procreate at the Beach

 I get rusty when I haven't used Procreate in a while. The Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt item was "calming" and since the beach is my refuge when I want to feel calm that's where I headed. Luckily there is a small local town beach in Sayville that I go to a lot. The weather was warm so I happily sat on a bench while I created.

Seashells

 I still haven't done too many of the art lessons for Sketchbook Revival this year, but I have watched quite a few of the lessons. I follow Koosje Koene on Facebook and Instagram so I definitely had to do something to go with her lesson. Basically you pick an item and draw it repeatedly from different views. She uses black for shadows to make them more dramatic. I decided to use a shell for my subject and I'm really happy with the way the page came out.

Planting Fields Arboretum

A friend has been watching the trees here on Long Island and also at the NY Botanical Gardens in the Bronx to see when the cherry trees would be at their peak. She checked the website for the NY Botanical Gardens (which are beautiful) and the admission price is now up to $39 per adult. We decided to skip that location and stay more local.

The forecast was for 80° on Wednesday so Susan contacted a few of the local artists that are all part of the NYC Urban Sketchers. We decided to head to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay for the day. The trees were beautiful...full and amazing.

From the same area of the park I turned toward two more cherry trees with a bit of a building behind them. Here is subject #2.

One of our friends was in another area of the park and there were 6 women in traditional Korean outfits dancing near the cherry trees. She was lucky enough to be able to include them in her painting.

When we finished painting we sat and just enjoyed the rest of the day. It was a nice way to relax and catch up with each other before heading back to our respective homes.

Left to right: Myself, Susan, Suzala and Leslie under one of the beautiful trees.

Wobbly House

 Right now Sketchbook Revival is taking place on line. I've done it several times, and each day for a week there are three video lessons that can be done. I decided that I would watch the videos if they seemed like they would interest me or were different. Irene Ruby's workshop was "Wobbly Fantasy Houses" and was fun to do...a change from what I normally do, especially since it isn't from life. Maybe I'll get to watch a few more today or over the weekend. I'm really behind watching them...never mind actually doing the lesson. lol The lessons are only available for a limited time. 

Balloon Clown

 Last Sunday was Spring Fest in Sayville. It is a typical festival with booths with merchandise, food trucks, a petting pen, and assorted entertainment like face painting, music, and this balloon clown. She had a continuous line the entire time I was there. I stood fairly close to her and sketched in pencil. Then I moved behind her on the sidewalk and set up my stool so I could sit and add the watercolors and the background. When I was finished I stopped and showed it to her. She was amazed that I could sketch her and she hadn't even noticed. She loved it.

Spring at The Met Cloisters - Part 3

 I headed back upstairs to the first courtyard garden for my third sketch. There were so many sketchers from our group working there that a good part of the time was used for socializing rather than sketching. It is always fun to meet up with friends that I hadn't see in a while, like my friend Julie who hadn't joined the weekend group in over a year. She has been the caretaker for her mom and that weekend her sister was helping out instead of Julie. Another sketcher had moved back to Athens, Greece, but was in NYC to visit her son and daughter who live there. It was great to see her and hear how she had started the first official Urban Sketchers group in Greece. I would love to go there and join in with her group.

I sketched the courtyard again, but this time I didn't have a lot of time. To speed things up I sketched with ink as well as the colored pencils. These two guys were good models and sat there for quite a while.

Our show and tell was held in one of the interior galleries off the courtyard. Here is a photo of the group from the day.

The trip home wasn't as easy as getting there since there was no internet reception to get the GPS started for the return trip. It took a while for the reception to kick in and give me directions. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to make my way home the old fashioned way. lol

Spring at The Met Cloisters - Part 2

 Downstairs at The Met Cloisters there were two more enclosed gardens. One had no covered area and it was quite chilly and windy. The other garden was in the courtyard by the cafe. I found an unoccupied table in the cafe and sat there while I sketched the view out from the shaded portico of the cafe. It was semi open to the air so I kept my jacket on due to the chill from the wind. Several other sketchers were working in the cafe and some were working with wet media. The guards didn't bother anyone there...I guess since you could have food and drinks they didn't mind the wet media there. They did come over to several sketchers at the other courtyard garden upstairs and told they they could only use pencil. I liked the view looking through the arches into the garden. 

Spring at the Met Cloisters - Part 1

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at The Met Cloisters in the Bronx. The good thing about this venue is that I can easily drive there if I am going alone. The trip took about 1 1/2 hrs by car and it was easy to park. I've been there with the Urban Sketchers before, but not when the gardens were open. This was so great! Flowers and trees were in bloom and although there were a lot of people, I was able to find a good view for each sketch. Like most museums The Met Cloisters only allows dry media for sketching, so I brought along my new set of colored pencils. They worked well but didn't give me the richness of my watercolors. Not being use to pencils as a medium, I forgot to pack a pencil sharpener. Luckily there were friendly sketchers who helped me out. 

This was the main courtyard garden surrounded by Medieval arches and porticos. It was beautiful. I tucked myself into a corner in the sunshine and it was warm enough to take off my jacket while I was sketching. By the time I finished this sketch there must have been at least 30 people in the garden and people (mostly sketchers) sitting on the walls.

Bicycles at the Beach

 At the end of the Field 6 parking lot at Robert Moses Beach there is an area that always has bicycles locked up. I'm not sure who they belong to and quite often they are a very rusted collection of bikes. I was surprised to see that the ones locked there on my recent trip were in much better condition. I used artistic license and only sketched two of them, but there were actually about 7 of them. While I was sketching them a man came along and unlocked one and rode away. I don't know if you are allowed to bike ride across the bridge that gets to the beach so I'm not quite sure where he was headed. I know that with a permit you can drive into the Fire Island communities as well as the Fire Island Lighthouse. I wonder where he was going...

Medieval Creature Study

 The Patchogue Sketch Club is getting ready to start our project for Arts on Terry. We will be doing lettering using the Medieval alphabet that often includes Medieval creatures along with the letter. This week we did a little practice from some reference sources.