Procreate at the Pool

 I haven't done much sketching at the pool this summer. I'm in the water almost all the time, or there are no people close by to sketch. This guy sat at the edge of the pool for a really long time. Of course once I started sketching him he moved with his daughters. I did did have him sketched, but needed to add the color to him from memory. 

Purple Dahlias

 Last week my plein air group, PALS, met at the dahlia garden at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. There were dahlias of assorted colors like these purple ones.

Flowers and Chairs

A lot of the homes in Sayville have such welcoming porches with chairs and great landscaping. Sometimes I feel like a peeping Tom. lol 

Rocky Waterfall

Brookwood Hall and Park in Islip was the meeting point for the Patchogue Sketch Club last week. There is a lake, a ball field, a garden, and Wednesday night there was also a concert. We hadn't sketched there before so there was no set location in the park to meet. I wandered around and found a serenity garden which had a rocky waterfall. It was peaceful and surprisingly enough a few other sketchers found me. It was fun to play with the rocks and foliage.

 

Boatbuilding at the Maritime Museum

On the grounds of the Sayville Maritime Museum is the Frank F Penney Boat Builder building. It is a nice contrast against the land and waterscapes of the area.

NYC Urban Sketchers Summer Event

Once upon a time the NYC Urban Sketchers had holiday parties, but the group got so large that we couldn't find an indoor location to host the event. Instead we have switched to a summer event that is held at the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing. The event includes raffles, sales, a garage sale, and assorted fun activities...and a wonderful chocolate and a wonderful vanilla cake. 

My friends and I decided to go outside the gates of the QBG and take to the streets for a while. It was a very hot day so finding shade was a must. We sat along the fence in the shade and had a great view of the restaurants that were across the street. Of course they were occasionally obscured by trucks and buses, but sketching was still possible.

There was a sketchwalk led by Mel Barranco which I missed while I was outside the garden.

I reentered the QBG and went inside the building where we were holding the indoor parts of the event. I had some raffle tickets to put into the cups for prizes. I cooled off a bit and then walked over to the storytelling/sketching event being led by Karen DiMauro. We sat pretty much in a half-circle while Karen told some fables. We were told to sketch whatever we wanted but my plan was to sketch the event itself.

This was my sketch of Karen and her audience.

The day ended with raffles, prizes, old friends, new friends, and a great feeling to be with people who have the same interest that I have. Let's do it again!

 

Bush Farm Sunflowers

My final painting for the plein air event was done at Bush Farm in Brookhaven on Saturday. I was attracted to the buildings with a small area of sunflowers.