Artists Lake

In Middle Island there is a small lake called Artists Lake. It abuts a main east-west road on one side and then is encircled by a few small developments. Every time I pass by there is a flock of birds hanging around. I think a lot of people stop to feed them. This time they were out in the frigid cold sitting on the snow and ice...not a comfortable idea in my opinion. The lake was fairly frozen and there were two teenagers walking on it not too far from the edge. I don't know how thick the ice was, but I wouldn't take the chance. Two men came along with an auger(?) that screws into the ice. I couldn't see where they went and if they were checking the thickness of the ice, but in about 7 minutes they were back at their car and drove off. 

Boardwalk & Sketchbook Revival Royal Tern

Some of the water locations here have small boardwalks like this spot by the Sayville Boat Basin. The marina isn't open to boats because it is too early so there are no boats in the slips.

I have been watching some of the video lessons for Sketchbook Revival to catch up. The 2 weeks are now up but the videos remain available until April 18. I'll watch as many as I can and do a few more of the lessons. This morning I did a sketch of a Royal Tern in a workshop let by Shari Blaukopf who is an urban sketcher I have been following for years.

 

Colorful

Here is another art postcard for the troops. Done in watercolors and ink from a sketch I had done previously.

At the Farm

I visited the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank the other day and decided to focus on the birds. The turkey was strutting his stuff and didn't stay still for long. I sketched him directly in watercolor.

The chickens are usually always in the same place but they weren't there. I asked one of the workers and she told me they moved them to a different enclosure. There used to be a real scrawny one that looked like he had been in a fight with some animal and lost, but I didn't see him when I was there. I hope something didn't happen to him. I worked on all three of these at the same time...waiting for each of them to come back to the same or similar pose.

Artist Lake

Yes, there is such a place as Artist Lake in Middle Island. It is a spot where there are usually lots of birds because there is a parking area along a main road and people pull up and feed them. Of course I got there and there must have been 20 birds batting their wings in the air, but by the time I had my materials out I was only able to capture a few before the lady ran out of whatever she was feeding them. lol I did quick basic sketches of the birds and quickly took a few photos to help me once they were gone.

Sketches from the Museum

After sketching the dinosaurs below at the American Museum of Natural History I headed off to find the other sketchers. They were starting in an area that had New York birds. After greeting a few people I continued through the maze of small rooms coming to the dioramas of American birds. A few of them attracted my attention...like the cormorants from CA and the pelicans, also from CA. The light was dim in the room, but if you sat up close to the railing of the dioramas you could see to sketch.

After a lunch break we all headed back upstairs for a little more sketching. I moved into the primate room because these guys were just calling to be sketched.

Around 3:00 we met down in the cafeteria to have a drink and share our work. Dana took photos of each person sharing their work...so here I am showing my train sketch. We had about 20 people that day and it was great to go around the table and share our work.

My "fake" alter ego is going strong over at http://tracyattheranch.blogspot.com Please stop by and see what she's up to.