Magnolias

After painting the small square magnolia the other day I wanted to go back and paint a larger version. This was done at Clark Botanic Gardens in Albertson. It is about 5 1/2 x 15.

Since today is the last day of the month my fake journal, "Floral Fantasy" has come to an end. You can check out the last sketches and post here.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Magnolias

This week I went to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale. The magnolias looked so good I had to sketch them. This is about 5 x 5.

Check out today's post at "Floral Fantasy" my fake blog.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Roosevelt Island

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers went to Roosevelt Island which is a narrow island in New York City's East River. It is accessible from Manhattan by a tram. I got there before the other sketchers so I used that opportunity to go up near the boarding landing and sketch the tram from above ground. It was a quick sketch.

Once we got to the island we walked towards the Roosevelt Memorial. On the way we passed interesting ruins from some of the buildings that had been on the island when this was used mostly for hospital buildings. This particular one was the smallpox hospital. It is in ruins and they have a lot of scaffolding around it. Money is being raised to restore the building.

While I was sketching the above sketch I sat in the Franklin D.Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. The steps lead up to a great view of Manhattan.

Lunch was followed by a very long hike to the northern end of the island where there is a lighthouse. All of us sketched it...you can see a few sketchers in mine. We opted to take the free bus back to the tram station.

It was a full day of sketching.

"Floral Fantasy" has been updated for today.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Short Beach

The other day it was nice and I knew I had to go out and paint. I drove up to Short Beach which is in the Town of Smithtown and will soon be off limits for me to visit without someone along who is a resident.  I called my friend who lives up there to come and meet me, and she did. Luckily I did most of the painting before she arrived. We spent the whole time she was there talking. I don't think we've seen each other since the fall, so we had a lot of catching up to do. 

The color of the beach grasses was great with the bits of water between them. Within an hour all the blue of the water was gone and there were just small puddles and mostly mud. The tide changes quickly. I was happy with the way this came out. This is 5 x 7.

While we were there we noticed a huge new osprey nest up on one of the poles in the parking lot. If you look carefully you can see one of the birds at the top edge of the nest. I'm always amazed by the size of their nests, and a lot of the parks here put up nesting poles for the osprey.

"Floral Fantasy" has another post...visit if you can.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Indian Island Cove

This was painted at Indian Island on the north fork of Long Island. It was a warm day and I did get to sit on the beach for a while to paint this. Yay!!! This is about 3 x 7.

If you remember back to my April 7th post about the Bellport Acoustic Jam session, I told you that the publisher/editor of Bellport.com asked for copies of the sketches to put on their website. Here is a link to the article. You can see my friend, Gina's sketches too.

http://bellport.com/vnews/vn_seen.htm#sketches

Day 16 of my fake blog is posted on "Floral Fantasy." Come and see my floral page for today.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Tyler

This was done when my portrait group met on Tuesday morning. There are parts I'm happy with but I  think I made his nose and face too long.

My fake blog "Floral Fantasy" has been updated here.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Starbucks

The Patchogue Sketch Club was scheduled to go to Flo's on Wednesday, only to find that it was closed. We quickly changed gears and headed over to Starbucks. There is always something/someone to sketch there.

The new post for "Floral Fantasy" is posted.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Crab Meadow Dunes

I went up to Northport the other day which is on the northern side of Long Island. There are some nice spots by the water to sketch and paint, but once the "season" arrives you can't park there unless you are a resident. Crab Meadow is partly on the water and partly on an inlet and has several nice spots to sit and sketch. You just have to watch out for high tide, ticks, and poison ivy. I was sitting low down to sketch this...watching the water level carefully. lol

My newest installment to my fake blog "Floral Fantasy" can be found here.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

Old Barn

The other day I took a ride up to Longwood Estate in Ridge. I dressed for fairly cold temperatures and as long as I was sitting in the sun somewhat sheltered from the wind, I was able to sit for quite a while. There are several old barns on the property and this one looks a little worn especially from this side. That roof looks like it needs a bit of work. This is 5 x 7.

I have posted day 6 of my "Floral Fantasy" fake journal. Come and look.

floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com

The Grange

The Patchogue Sketch Club met at The Islip Grange in Sayville the other evening. It was the first outing in a long time where I was able to sit outside and paint. I dressed warmly with long undies, a scarf, a down jacket, a hat, and toasty winter boots. Two of my friends opted to sit in their cars, but three of us braved the cold. I liked this scene with the hills (where the kids were sledding a few weeks ago) and the shadows.

Don't forget to check for my day 3 posting on my fake blog, Floral Fantasy.

www.floralfantasybyjoan.blogspot.com