A few friends and I decided to organize our own little trip into NYC recently. We headed down to Pell Street in Chinatown. It was busy, but the view on Pell Street couldn't be beat...lots of people, Chinese lanterns and umbrellas...with a few NYC water towers thrown in.
On Saturday I joined about 40 other NYC Urban Sketchers in the Madison Square Park area. On the left is the Flatiron Building. I liked the vibrancy of the yellow umbrellas and foliage in the foreground of the sketch. I was sitting on the outside sidewalk by Madison Square Park which is located near 23rd Street between 5th Ave and Madison Ave.
Next we headed over to the other side of the bridge to Lambertville, NJ. I remember it being small with a few antique shops when we used to go there, but now it is wall to wall shops and restaurants and is a little less commercial than New Hope. After lunch we found a spot along the canal with a view of a restaurant with a number of open umbrellas and a small bridge.
I haven't been to the beach in a while to actually sit on the beach...a rare thing for me. I've been going to the pool mostly. I did go a few weeks ago with a friend to sketch. This time I headed over to Islip Beach which is on the Great South Bay. It isn't as good as being at the ocean, but it is closer and the parking is a lot easier. This lady was relaxing right in front of me. She kept moving her arms to awkward positions.
Right along Main Street in West Sayville is The Shed, a restaurant in West Sayville with a large oudoor seating area. The umbrellas over the picnic tables give a peaceful feel to the place.
Sunday was a beautiful, warm day so I headed down to the little beach on the Great South Bay in Sayville. I thought about the sketches I had done in the workshop I took with my friend recently and did this sketch in a similar manner. The sketch itself was mostly a continuous line sketch.
This sketch was done over two sessions. I started it on a damp, drizzly day. I was sitting under a fairly well covered area and was doing fine for a while, until it started pouring. Then the ground around me started flooding as the puddles that were already there started growing. I noticed that the bottom of my backpack was actuallysitting in water so I packed up quickly before I had big problems...but the sketch wasn't finished. I went back this week (on a dry day) and finished it. Meanwhile I had to take almost everything out of my backpack so that the backpack and the supplies could dry. Luckily I keep all of the papers I'm using in protective plastic sleeves so they were safe.
I knew I wanted to paint at Andrews Family Farm this season, but I was running out of day because I had a trip coming up. So I requested that my plein air group head there for a morning of sketching. Denise Andrews and the staff there are always so welcoming to us when we come to paint. The setups at the farm stand there always make me smile.
Coffee shops are great places for sketching...and even better if they have an outdoor seating area with umbrellas. The Sayville Bean Coffee House looked good as people were sitting outside having their Sunday morning coffee. There's usually someone sitting in an unusual position like the lady with the tattoos on her leg and thigh.
I was in Sayville last Sunday and liked the view of the outside of the Sayville Bean Coffee House. It looked like a nice spot to grab a cuppa on a Sunday morning.
This branch of "The Shed" is located in Sayville along Main Street. I always look and check if there are people sitting outside when I pass. It is a nice spot, although it must be tough for the wait staff who have to bring everything out from the interior of the restaurant to the tables outside...and the ground slopes. I am one of those people who prefer to sit in an actual chair with a back than at a picnic table.
The NYC Urban Sketchers went to Riverside Park South last Saturday. This is the old gantry that allowed freight cars to roll from barges to the rail yard that used to be here.
I haven't visited Flo's in Blue Point since last year. I stopped by last week on a drizzly day and did this direct watercolor from my mobile studio. Flo's wasn't open, but for some strange reason the umbrellas were up and open. Maybe they were hoping the rain would stop and customers would come by.
The forecast for the day was rain, but it looked like it was clear enough that I could get out someplace local and sketch before that happened. The colorful Ice Palace in Oakdale caught my eye. I didn't trust the weather so I sat in my mobile studio in the auto repair parking lot across the street. It was a good thing I did because it did pour for a few minutes and then rained lightly for a while. I was smart enough to sketch the people when I first got there...just in case they had to leave and seek shelter.lol Once the heavy rain passed there were other people who stopped for ices and sat under the umbrellas. I still haven't tried their ices, and I've sketched there before.
You can see the other sketches I've done of the Ice palace in 2022 here and in 2012 here.
Flo's Luncheonette is a location that the Sketch Club and my plein air group both like to visit. But lately the town of Brookhaven has instituted parking meters along the street and parking fees in the lot...and it isn't inexpensive. The Sketch Club decided that we weren't going there any more and aside from one day that I stopped there with a group for lunch, I haven't been there to sketch. I stopped by recently around lunch time but I guess they aren't getting enough business during the week to make it worth while staying open. I think it is still open on the weekends but I'm sure they will be having their final day soon.
I decided to sketch Flo's even though there weren't any people and the umbrellas weren't open. Since the location was so empty I didn't worry about the parking and just sat next to my car and painted.
I find red umbrellas very hard to resist and these had buckets of sunflowers below them. How could I resist this display at Bayview Market & Farm in Riverhead?
Last week we had quite a few really hot days...and of course the pool was closed. I went to the beach where there was a nice breeze and stayed in the shade of my own umbrella while I sketched a few that were on the beach. This was at Smith Point Beach.
In Oakdale there is a Spanish restaurant called Viva La Vida. I love their colorful colors and the collection of umbrellas in their outside dining area.
My final watercolor for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge was done while sitting on the beach at Robert Moses State Park. I got to include a bit of water, people and umbrellas.
