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.
The Patchogue Sketch Club met to sketch the water tower on Ambulance Lane. In orderto get the entire structure I sat far back in the parking lot across the street. We were there for about an hour or so when it started to drizzle. Everyone gathered up their work, scurried to their cars, and left. I decided to stay and finish my sketch from inside my "mobile studio." I moved the car so that I was in about the sme spot I had been sitting in earlier and finished the sketch. I was rewarded with a lovely sunset that just kept getting better.
Summer had officially started with a concert by the Lazy Bunny Ukulele Band held at the Common Ground Park in Sayville. The band is really entertaining and by the end of the evening there were quite a few people up dancing. I enjoyed the show with the other members of the Patchogue Sketch Club.
The other evening the Patchogue Sketch Club met at the Maritime Museum in West Sayville. Rather than focus on the water like I usually do I did a direct watercolor of the view out the entryway to the grounds looking toward the house across the street.
The Patchogue Arts Council arranged for a live model for the Patchogue Sketch Club. Donna was our model and she came in a sort of 60s style outfit...very colorful and wearing white boots. She also had a guitar for a prop. She was good and we all enjoyed sketching her. Poses ranged from 5 - 20 minutes. Here the longer poses are shown first and the 5 minute poses are at the bottom. I'm glad I had my watercolors with a bright orange and yellow, as well as a bright orange watercolor pencil.
The Patchogue Sketch Club's destination last week was Bron Lake Park in Oakdale. It ended up that only two of us actually sketched at the park. A storm was forecast for later that evening so our plans were changed to meet at a local Starbucks. Janet and I never got the notice until late and we had already started sketching. I focused on the water lily pads and flowers. They seemed to have a lot of them. It never rained while we were there.
A few times a year the Patchogue Arts Council pays for a model for the Patchogue Sketch Club. The last few times we've had Hector model for us. This time we had a new (to us) model named Matt. He was a definite surprise and modeled as stripped down as you can get and still be PG. He has a really interesting face with a long curling mustache, a wild head of hair, and a solid body. I usually sketch small but found I had to sketch Matt the entire length of my paper. He posed in a variety of positions for different intervals. I hope he is invited back again.
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.
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.
The celebration of the 18th anniversary of the Patchogue Arts Council coincided with the night the Patchogue Sketch Club normally meets. Their party was held at Spy Coast a restaurant/bar in Patchogue. Since we are members of PAC we were invited to the party. There was live music, socializing, cake, and a model for us in the rear of the room. Hector, who we have sketched before, posed for us. He is really a good model and comes prepared. We didn't have the setup we usually had, but it was fun anyway.
Last Wednesday the sketch club met at the Patchogue Library and the theme was contour drawings of hands. I didn't have much interest in doing that, but I did one sketch of my hand. Instead I went around the table and sketched each of the sketchers.
It has been a while since the Patchogue Sketch Club actually sketched. We worked on prints for a number of weeks, then didn't meet during Christmas or the New Year, and the last few weeks the focus was collage. We're finally sketching again and our theme was fruit. I grabbed some of the fruit I had on hand for a fun time capturing it all.
The Patchogue Sketch Club usually doesn't meet on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving since so many members are busy or traveling right before the holiday. But this year Mark scheduled us for a print making session at MoCA in Patchogue. Only 4 of us were there but that gave each of us an oppertunity to have easier access to the printer and the supplies.
I had created an additonal rubber plate to use. We were working on Christmas scenes or cards. I liked the way the new plate was coming out, but I made a mistake with my initials and they now print backwards. I am going to see if I can add something to the bottom of the sketch that can mesh with the initials and cover my mistake.
I also did a few prints with the ornament I already had. I was able to work in two colors on that one. Here are some of the pages I printed.
Now that the Patchogue Sketch Club is back working inside, we have started doing some printing again. Last week we picked up the supplies we needed and some of us worked on carving a plate for printing. We met at the gallery at MoCA to do our work. Those of us (like myself) who had already carved a plate used the printing press first. I did an ornament hanging on a tree and a word (which was the hardest because yo have to work on a mirror image when you are cutting.
We had different plates than we used last year, and the rubber was harder to cut into. I was pretty happy with the way mine came out. If I find the time I'm going to try it again at home with the supplies I bought last year.
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| Maureen inking her plate. |
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| Maureen gets a print. |
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| Janet inking her plate. |
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| Pat with her print. |
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| Teresa did a few plates. |
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| Tian's poinsettia plate. |
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| Liz in action. We will continue printing next week. |
Our theme for the Patchogue Sketch Club last week was Thanksgiving. Pat brought in a fun jug and some dried Indian corn.
Our weekly meeting of the Patchogue Sketch Club had an autumn theme for the night.
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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.
The Patchogue Sketch Club recently met at the Ronkonkoma Long Island Railroad Station. If I am going into NYC I often take the train from this station, but I don't have time to sketch there. It was nice to have the time to capture the architecture of the station.
Recently the Patchogue Sketch Club went to the Sandspit Marina in Patchogue for our sketch night. Right off the end of the parking area is a small lighthouse that we all sketched.
The Patchogue Sketch Club went to Brookwood Hall Park in East Islip recently. We met over near Knapps Lake for our sketching location. You can see across the lake to the houses on the other side.
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| Janet was sitting up close to the lake. |
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| Maureen was sitting on a bench by one of the picnic tables while she was sketching Brookwood Hall. |
