Sketchers at Work

The Patchogue Sketch Club is working on our group project for Arts on Terry which will take place on Sunday, Sept 13. Mark and Karen were working on their canvases at the MOCA Gallery (more about the project in the future) but I had already finished mine at home. I kept myself busy sketching them as they worked. Mark is used to me sketching him but Karen was unaware that I sketched her. She is new to the group and doesn't know that I tend to sketch the members often. She liked the sketch.

 

Face Painting Sketch

Last Sunday when I was at Arts on Terry I sketched my view between two booths. There was a woman sitting there doing face painting. It was hard to do because people would come and watch and block the woman and her "canvas." Some of the people were waiting because they were next, but I think a number of them that got in the way were just watching. Grr!!! Finally it cleared out enough so that I could see.

Plastered Pac-ages

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.

And her's a view from the back.

Here is how our table looked with all our creations.

Rosanne made a pancake box.

Mark made a tube of toothpaste.

Theresa made a box of toothpaste.

Pat made a box of pasta...

and a jar of red pepper flakes.

Marianne made a can of Italian tomatoes.

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!

Arts on Terry

 Arts on Terry was recently held in Patchogue. Two of my art groups were represented. The Patchogue Sketch Club once again did a group project...this time we did printing. I posted a few photos of the group in action carving the plates and printing on paper and on fabric. Here is what our wall looked like...although it was hard to get the whole wall without a lot of glare on the pieces. The lobster prints were mine.

My favorite part of Arts on Terry is seeing the live paintings that are created. My friend, Nora Francese was painting nearby, so I sat and sketched her at work.

A friend's friend snapped a photo of me sketching Nora.

Here is Nora almost finished. She started at noon and was painting until 5 PM. There were somewhere between 8-10 artists selected to do the large paintings. They are always impressive!

In addition to the wall with our prints on it, our group had a table with assorted merchandise as well as paintings and sketches on display. Here are a few of the members of the group.

Printing Project - Part 1

 The Patchogue Sketch Club has been working on a printing project for Arts on Terry, a local art exhibition that is taking place on Sunday. Each of our participating members created a carved plate of something that had to do with under the sea. Here are the designs that were carved.

This lobster is mine.

We all did black prints of out plates. Then they were arranged in a pleasing order.

Then a piece of fabric was placed over the inked plates and rubbed until the images transferred.

This is the final print of the images on the blue fabric.

We continued printing with the plates...this time in blue ink on an orangey fabric. The designs showed up better on this fabric. I think the blue one competes too much with the print designs.

Printing Project Part 1

Every year for the last few years the Patchogue Sketch Club has taken part in an outdoor festival called Arts on Terry. We always do a group project. This year we are doing a printing project. Each of the members carved a plate of something having to do with under the sea. We have printed the plates together on fabric. The first ones were done with blue ink on an orangy fabric.

Here is my lobster plate ready for printing. 

Here are the other plates that were printed.

Janet's seahorse.

Marianne's scuba cat.

Rosanne's underwater scene.

Laurie's fish.

Casey's koi.

Here they are printed on the fabric.

Then we printed using black ink on a blueish fabric.

The contrast in some areas wasn't quite as good as on the orange.

 

Portraits for Arts on Terry

 Last Sunday I participated in Arts on Terry with the Patchogue Sketch Club. Terry Street in Patchogue is closed for this event. This year our group project was called "We By Us." We were partnered with another member of the group and we did portraits of each other from a photo. 

My friend, Pat Sweeney and I were paired. We were given a 14 x 16 canvas to paint on. Since I do watercolors my canvas was covered with watercolor paper. This was difficult because I don't do too many portraits and I don't work that large! My piece came out OK. I couldn't get Pat to look old enough to match her photo...but I guess younger is better than making her look older. 

Pat wanted the portrait to reflect her life in 2023 so she wanted the portrait to include one of her many hats that she has been wearing since finding a spot of cancer near her left eye. So I did the portrait with a hat. Right before Arts on Terry, Pat had her Mohs surgery and the entire left side of her face was coved in bandages, so she didn't make an appearance at the event. But she was there in spirit and I sent her lots of photos of what was going on. She had some difficulty doing my portrait because her vision was obscured by the bandages. I think she did a pretty good job!

My portrait of Pat.

Pat is on top and the portrait of me is on the bottom.

Here are all the portrait pairs.

All the artists except Pat.

It was fun to see all the different styles and that everyone did something so unique.

Exquisite Garden

 Today was "Arts on Terry" a fun, annual event presented by the Patchogue Arts Council. It is a contemporary art fair highlighting 300+ artists from a variety of Long Island Arts organizations. It included a full day of art exhibits, demonstrations, PAC Paint Showdown, live painters, family-friendly activities, live music, poetry, and performances. Two of my art groups exhibitied at the event and I had work showing in both groups.

As we have previously, the Patchogue Sketch Club did a collaborative project. Each participating member was given a panel on which to paint a garden. The panels each had half circles on both sides to be halves of flowers on their panels to match the half circles on the panel in each direction. The 10 panels were then hung together. Here is the completed project.

Artists left to right: Liz Dow, Mariann Anderson, Christine Hanson, Pat Sweeney, Laurie Samara-Schlageter, Rosanne O'Reilly, Linda Prentiss, Joan Tavolott, Jennifer Mesticky

I took photos of it in sections too.

This is the section I painted. Most people used acrylics but my panel was coated with watercolor ground and I painted it with watercolors. The panel to the right of mine was also painted with watercolors.

The project was a lot of fun to work on, and a wonderful surprise when the panels were finally hung together!

Here are photos of a few of the paintings that were done for the live paint showdown.