Beach Waves

Another nor'easter was far off the coast here. It brought us strong winds, pounding surf, and coastal erosion. I hadn't been down to the ocean since before the last storm so I headed over to Smith Point Beach to see the effects. Directly in front of the concession stand and the beach staircase the dunes are completely gone. Here off to the side there are a few dunes, but the beach has been shortened a lot. The waves were pretty strong and had a nice spray so I sat and painted this view.

This is what the erosion looks like in front of the concession pavillion. At high tide the water goes under the stairs.

Inktober Day 6

The Inktober prompt for this sketch was "varied line weight." I went down to Cedar Beach in Babylon which is along Ocean Parkway.  The weather was lightly spritzing off and on. Something for kids must have been going on inside the concession area. Families kept going inside and some of them were coming out with pumpkins. I liked the view outside so I didn't bother going in.

While I was there I also did a small painting (I needed to use some color.) of the dunes. If you look thru the break in the dunes you can see there is what looks to be a sandbar or a small area of land that since the nor'easter last week is now sitting out in front of the beach. Apparently several of the beaches have had their landscapes changed quite a bit.

 

Lighthouse View from Captree

The Fire Island Lighthouse can be clearly seen from the parking lot across the bay from the island itself at Captree State Park. 

Snow in the Parking Lot

 The snow was piled up against the railing at the dock in Blue Point near Corey Beach. I sat in my mobile studio in the parking area that was "trailer parking only." I didn't expect any boat trailers to be coming along soon.

Through the Dunes

For the last day of summer I drove over to the beach at Smith Point. I love seeing the ocean and waves peeking through the dunes.

Digital Ocean View & Sketch

I visited Smith Point Beach the other day and brought along my iPad. I'm trying to use Procreate a little to get more familiar with it. When I don't use it for a while I forget what I've learned. lol 

While I was there I also sketched with ink & watercolor for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt.

Bayport Beach View

 There is a really small local beach in Bayport that is on the Great South Bay. It is a nice area for a sketch.

Cedar Beach View #2

 After sketching from the boardwalk at Cedar Beach (see yesterday's post) I decided to go down on the sand. Right by the bottom step of the board I found a spot to sit where I could see down the beach along the dunes and grasses. The sky was getting some interesting clouds and color. Along the water's edge there were several fishermen with their rods. In addition to my regular watercolors I used a soft charcoal pencil and a few watercolor pencils. The headlands in the background are part of Port Jefferson.

Smith Point Beach View

 I sat up above the beach at Smith Point to sketch the dunes and the people on the sand last week.

Dunes at Robert Moses

We had a sunny day last week and knowing what the forecast was for the weekend, I hurried down to Robert Moses Beach to paint and enjoy the sun. The dunes had nice shadows. 

Cooper's Beach Views

 Recently I took a ride out to Southampton. In season the beaches there are nearly impossible to go to unless you are a resident. Mere mortals, like myself, are charged $35 or more to park. Needless to say, I do not go there unless it is off-season even though Cooper's Beach is often on the list of the Top 10 Beaches.

It was windy and cold with a somewhat stormy-looking sky so I sat in my mobile studio up by the few parking spots overlooking the beach itself. From my car I couldn't see down to the beach and the water's edge. It looks like there was a lot of erosion from our winter storms.

Here the dunes had a small opening where I could see a bit of one of the beachfront million-dollar houses.

Hecksher Park View

The other day we had sunshine but windy conditions. I headed over to Hecksher State Park in East Islip and painted the view across the dunes. This park is located along the Great South Bay.

First Sketches of 2024

If I am not away for the holidays I like to take a trip to the beach to start off the new year. I headed over to Robert Moses State Park to paint. These are two small (maybe 3 x 5 in) paintings that I did from the parking lot while sitting in my mobile studio. First I painted the Fire Island Lighthouse... 

and then I painted the sky over the dunes.

You can see my New Year's Day beach sketches for 2018 here and for 2019 https://watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com/2019/01/first-painting-for-2019 here.

When I was finished with these I threw my sketchbook in my tote bag, pulled on my hat, gloves, and scarf, zipped up my winter jacket and headed off to walk to the lighthouse. It is about 3/4 of a mile to the lighthouse and then 3/4 of a mile back...so I got in some walking to start the year.

A LOT of people come to Robert Moses Beach and the lighthouse on Jan 1 every year. It is nice to walk along and have people say "Happy New Year" as they pass. They give out free hot chocolate and cookies when you get to the lighthouse.

I went around the back side of the lighthouse down near the bay side and sat down to sketch. I finished the pencil sketch only to find out that I had left my palette on the front seat of the car, so I couldn't complete the painting. I will have to go back another time when it is a nice day and finish it.

How did you start off the new year?

Clouds Over the Dunes

I have a hard time passing up scenes of clouds over the dunes like this at Robert Moses Beach. 

Smith Point Beach

Spring had already arrived and I hadn't made it down to the beach yet, so I headed over to Smith Point Beach to do a small painting/sketch. The dunes were calling. The new sketchbook for the sketchbook project I'm doing is an Arteza brand. The paper is pretty nice and I like the square format.

 

Dune Fences

With the 100 people challenge this week I've fallen behind in my regular posting. This was done a while ago at Captree State Park.

Cedar Beach

The other day I went up to Port Jeff where they were having a winter festival with ice carvings and all kinds of things. After riding around and around without finding parking I gave up. I headed over to Cedar Beach in Mount Sinai. The dunes attracted me for a sketch.

Beach Grasses

When I go to Robert Moses State Park there are some wonderful beach grasses to paint when I am looking away from the ocean. These always fascinate me and the sky in that direction is usually interesting.

 

Dunes at Smith Point & Sketchbook Revival Flowers

I am always drawn to the beach and love sketching the dunes. This was done looking toward the Park Ranger Station at Smith Point Beach. 

Joy Ting had us do mixed media flower studies for Sketchbook Revival. She suggested that if we are working with a floral collection it may help to focus on just part of the collection, so I cropped her photo reference and just worked on about 1/4 of the photo. She also had us do smaller sketches before doing a larger one to work out the placement and composition. I used pencil, watercolors, water-soluble inks, white ink, and oil pastels.

Tiana Dunes

 I was out driving along Dune Road in the Hamptons the other day and stopped at Tiana Beach. I spent a lot of time there when I was young and single, and it is part of my nostalgia drive that I take once in a while. There has been a lot of loss of the dunes since the last time I stopped there.