Inktober Day 10

 I've been able to keep up with the prompt from Koosje Koene so far. The prompt for day 10 was "draw with sticks and twigs." I have a small collection of twigs to use, a stirrer from my coffee this morning and a small bottle of Noodler's Lexington Grey Ink and I was set. I stopped at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River and sketched one of the paths down near the water. It is definitely a loose way of sketching. It is hard to control the amount of ink the twig releases.

Sketching at Toyota

My car needed an oil change and I had received a notice for a recall on something that I didn't need to understand. I knew I would be there for close to 2 hours, so I went prepared with sketching materials.

I needed a sketch for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt. This fit for "a machine" and also "stacked." I had my brush pen with me so that is what I used.

There was a gentleman sitting almost in front of me...just a back view and a mostly bald head...a perfect model. I'm glad I painted him when I did because he was gone before me. This is tiny...about 3 x 4 maybe.

 

I hadn't done any sketches in Procreate in a while so this seemed like a good time to sketch on my iPad. This gent was also sitting across from me. He had on some decorative pants for sure.

There was also a couple nearby. I sketched them with Procreate on what I thought was the closest ink line to a brush pen.

I think I made the best use of the time I had there.

Flowers

This week the Patchogue Sketch Club was indoors at the Pat-Med Library. The sun was setting around 6:30 and we meet around that time so sketching outdoors won't happen with them again this year. Our theme for the night was artificial flowers. People brought an assortment of interesting fake flowers including Hawaiian leis and orchids. These are supposedly pansies, although until I read the label I wouldn't have guessed that. I thought they made a nice grouping.

Fire Island Lighthouse

I will catch up on Inktober shortly, but I didn't want other work that I've done to end up lost in the shuffle. This past week I did a small (7 x 7in) painting of the Fire Island Lighthouse. It was a windy day so I sat where a building blocked the wind. I think otherwise this would have blown all the way to the lighthouse. I am lucky that this lighthouse is so accessible at Robert Moses State Park. I can see it from the parking lot and there is a nice boardwalk that leads to it...and provided about a 1 1/2 mile walk round trip.

Inktober Day 9

 This sketch fits the prompt "dip pen + brush pen." I sketched it outside the Sayville Bean Coffee House. I used a dip pen with Noodler's Lexington Gray ink and a gray Tombow dual brush pen.

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Inktober Day 8

 Koosjie Koene's Inktober prompt for day 8 was "use a dip pen." As you can see I have a fancy glass one from Venice, but I really rarely use a dip pen. I find dealing with the ink bottle and pen to be rather messy unless I'm working at a table. This was done at Frank Melville Park in Setauket. The building is a water mill that is no longer working. I sketched it from the front. For a while it was the park office, but I don't think it is used at all now.

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Inktober Day 7 + Urban Sketching in Forest Hills

 The prompt for this Inktober sketch was negative space. I guess how you look at your subject determines if you see the negative or the positive spaces. For this sketch I headed over to Robert Moses State Park where you can actually see the Fire Island Lighthouse from the parking lot or the beach. There is also a nice boardwalk that provides a nice way to walk to the lighthouse.

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The NYC Urban Sketchers met in Forest Hills over the weekend. I took the LIRR from Ronkonkoma and switched at Jamaica to reach our destination. I hadn't been to Forest Hills in a long time, but can remember being there for a Barry Manilow concert at the tennis stadium probably in 1974. 

My first sketch was of the Forest Hills Station which was where I had arrived. As you can see there were already some sketchers at work.

Next I headed around the corner to the residential area. Most buildings in Forest Hills are Tudor style. I felt like I was in another country. On Dartmouth Street I found this interesting entryway to sketch.

When I was finished I headed back over to Station Square. Susan and Kim were sitting at a table outside Forest Hills Pizza and sketching the view in front of them. I grabbed a slice of pizza and then joined them outside to sketch. Kim was giving advice to Susan to make her shadows darker. I took her advice too and I think it helped my sketch. I did this one quickly since we were meeting in about 40 minutes for show-and-tell.

It was great to spend the day with the other sketchers and see the wonderful work they created as well as some of the interesting spots they found to sketch in the area.