The SBAA portrait group took a break for a few weeks but we finally got together yesterday to paint Nina. She was a great model.  This is about 5 x 7.



It's beginning to look a lot like...

Slowly I am seeing the Christmas tree displays popping up here and there. It was a definite sign when I saw a big flat-bed truck filled with trees the other day.

Yesterday I sat in the car in the parking lot of a local strip mall with a stand-along flower shop. They were just starting to display some of the wreaths and trees...but I didn't hear any music there yet.

This is about 4 x 6 done at Vinny's Flower Box in Holbrook.



Basket of Flowers

Yesterday was one of those dismal rainy days so sketching and painting outside didn't work. I had a lot to do to get ready for my upcoming shows, but by the evening I had to sit down and create something. This was done from a photo I had taken in the early fall at a farm stand.

This is about 4 x 4.



Sayville Christmas

Yesterday I headed into Sayville to sketch. They lit their Christmas tree on Saturday so it looked so festive on the corner. This is the same corner I painted with the Veteran's Day ceremony. Too bad I missed the crowd of people this time. I was lucky to find a parking spot in the lot right across the street so I was able to sit in the car and sketch. It was much too windy and cold out for me.



Creatures

I have participated in a scavenger hunt on WetCanvas for the last few years. Every 9 days we get a list of items to hunt for and sketch/paint. The current hunt is all animals. Here are a few that I have found either at the Suffolk County Farm or the Holtsville Ecology Center.

These may not be large/small scale paintings but the practice doing the scavenger hunts has really improved my sketching and painting abilities.

 

This group was done at the Suffolk County Farm in Yahpank.

 

These were done at the Holtsville Ecology Center.

 



Smith Point Beach

I finally took a ride down to the beach that I go to most often in the summer to see what it was like after the hurricane. As you can see in my sketch, a great deal of the sand is eroded under the concrete walkways. The previous storms had eroded a lot of sand even up to the wall. But now it is eroded past the wall and around the side, breaking up some of the concret path itself. In front of the food pavillion was a big staircase leading to the beach. Only a few pilings are still standing ...none of the staircases or railings. The beach is much shorter too. To the right of what you see here were dunes that were about 15-20 feet high. They are totally gone. The water had come over the dunes into the bbq area and wiped away everything.

The surfers yesterday were having a great time. I think the floor of the ocean in front of the beach has probably changed and is producing different waves. I don't know if that is good for them or not, but they were out there checking it out yesterday.

 

On another note I am pleased to announce that my work will be hanging in a few places next month.

First is our annual PALS Plein Air Show on Dec. 8th and 9th.

Here is an invite in case you are in the area.

My work will also be going into the Fiedler Gallery on Main Street in Greenport, NY. Rich Fiedler has his work in the gallery downstairs and rents wall space to artists upstairs in the building. Two friends of mine have been sharing a section of one of the walls with other artists they knew. The other artists are dropping out and I will be sharing the wall with Jeanne Salucci and Chris Taylor starting December 1. I will post some photos once we have the new arrangement hung at the gallery.

Wish me luck!

Window Shopping

Well I survived all the Thanksgiving food although the pecan pie nearly did me in. Now I'll have to exercise to wear off some of those calories.

 

On Tuesday my plein air group (PALS) met in Sayville to paint the town. I focused on the store window at Debra Canavan Classics on Main Street. This is 5 x 7.



Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!! My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who have lost so much from the recent storm. The damage and loss of life and property is only being added to by the frustration they are encountering trying to get their lives back together. I wish all of you the best!

 

On Sunday when I was at the farmstand below I bought a stalk of Brussel sprouts. I think it was callilng to be painted. This is about 4 x 6.

 

Curbside Pickup

All along the streets here on Long Island you see piles of tree branches and assorted things that were left behind or damaged by Hurricane Sandy...like this huge tree. I guess they will need some kind of crane to pick up the pieces of this tree. This is about 4 x 6.



Schmitt's Farm Stand

Yesterday I took a ride out to Riverhead. It was a sunny day but not quite warm enough to sit outside and paint. I found a farm stand up along Sound Avenue that I hadn't painted before. How could I have missed this trailer with the striped awning? I sat in my car in the parking lot and painted.

This is 5 x 7.



Hidden Porch

Yesterday I rode around looking for something that attracted me, but the trees have no pop of color and everything looked so barren and brown! Finally I found this spot in Bellport. The part of the house to the right had enough trees and foliage hiding it  that I could sort of ignore the perspective nightmare it would be to actually draw it. lol This is 5 x 7.



The Potter

On Wednesday evening the Patchogue Sketch Club met at Gather Studio on Main St. in Patchogue. This is a mult-use studio for artists and crafters. The building is wonderful with huge windows and exposed brick...a nice feel to it. They offer classes in pottery, drawing, painting, etc. Alison and Carla were so welcoming to us. We had a really nice time.

 

The first thing that attracted me for a sketch were the pottery students. I asked if I could sketch and one of them gave me permission. All I know is when I took pottery on the wheel I was always covered from head to toe with clay, and they weren't. lol

The other artists from our group were sketching different areas of the loft where the studio is located, so when I finished the potter I went over to the other end of the studio and sketched one of the displays against the brick wall. As always I gravitated towards the art supplies.

My thanks again to everyone there for your hospitality.





The Tree

I went over to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale on Sunday to sketch. They have so many amazing trees and I was concerned that they might have lost a lot during the hurricane. There were some large trees that were destroyed but things could have been a lot worse.

 

So I picked one that looked healthy and strong to paint. This is 5 x 7.



Happy Veteran's Day

Sometimes a sketching opportunity knocks you over the head. Yesterday I was driving through Sayville heading over to the arboretum to paint something. Out of the corner of my eye I caught this crowd on the main street. Now could I park and sketch this before the ceremony ended? I quickly found a parking spot, grabbed my chair and supplies and set up across the street. There were a few speeches and prayers said which kept the people still in one spot long enough to sketch some of them. I was able to add color to some of the people before the crowd started to break up. I continued working, adding the buildings in the back and a few more people. I am happy with this.

 

My thanks to all the veterans who have served our country!!!

 



The Bridge

This is a bridge on Sunrise Highway in Brookhaven that goes across the Carmans River. I left out the traffic on the road, but I like the view. This is about 4 x 6.



Blue Point Avenue View

Yesterday I took a ride down to the end of Blue Point Avenue in Blue Point. There is a small park with a gazebo and fishing area that we've sat under when we go there to paint. The gazebo is still standing but if you look from there back to the main road most of the houses have lost docks, parts of the outside of their homes, and a great deal of the contents of the homes themselves. By one house the water was up to the back steps even now. The water levels seem to be much higher than they were before Hurricane Sandy arrived, maybe because so much of the land by the water was washed away. It is heartbreaking to see, but the residents of the area are busy cleaning everything out and repairing what they can.



Stumped

Before I sketched down by the dock in Bellport yesterday I joined my PALS plein air group at a little park in Brookhaven. What had once been a shady park with beautiful trees over the stream and bridge is now going to be a very sunny location since several of the big trees had to be cut down. That's what I decide to paint...one of the stumps from one of those big trees. All the cut trunk pieces and branches were piled over for pickup on the other side of the park.  I was really happy with the way this came out. I posted it on WetCanvas yesterday and someone contacted me and wants to buy it as something to remember the hurricane by. This is about 5 x 6.



Yesterday I went down to check the dock in Bellport, and there was a lot more damage than there seemed to be in Sayville. I don't know how the dock furthest out is still standing when the inner sections are really in ruins. Some of the trees are uprooted, one gazebo was knocked down and the water line went really far past the first street. The Bellport Yacht Club is still standing, but I can't imagine what it is like inside. You can see Fire Island off in the distance. That area got really hit hard and there were two breeches where the ocean met the bay.

 

We are expecting strong winds and heavy rain today as the Nor'Easter heads our way. I hope it doesn't undo all the work the crews have done to the power and phone lines. Stay safe everyone!



The Dock in Sayville

Yesterday I headed over to the water in Sayville where I often paint. Much of the debris and sand have already been cleared away, and on the few streets I drove through the buildings were still standing. Who knows what they are like on the inside though. While I was there I sketched a dock from the parking lot of a spot appropriately named "Land's End."



Tree Trimmin'

I couldn't do the LIPA crews and leave out all the tree trimmers that made it possible for LIPA to do their job. On my way home yesterday I came across this crew hard at work. By the time they were done there was nothing left of the tree at all.



LIPA Crew

This morning I decided I needed to sketch something that represents the situation here on Long Island after Hurricane Sandy. The LIPA management (Long Island Power Association) was very much unprepared for the devestation we received, but the crews have been working night and day to repair the lines that are still down in many areas. My thanks to the local crews as well as the crews who have left their homes in other parts of the country and Canada to help us out.



Finally Back

Hurricane Sandy sent me a bit off course for the last few days. Long Island was severely affected by the storm, but luckily my immediate area had no flooding or damage. We did lose power for a day and still don't have cable service. But we are so lucky compared to many here who lost their homes or suffered damage, or are still without power and heat in their home. My thoughts are with them all. The face of Long Island has changed dramatically in some spots.

 

Right before the storm arrived I did get to finally meet an internet friend for the first time. Lin Frye (Her work is under the links on the right, if you want to see her wonderful work.) was up visiting family and taking a watercolor class with Jean Haines on Long Island. She gave me a call and we went to a demo that her instructor was doing in Dix Hills. It was so much fun to meet Lin after many years of following each other on WetCanvas and our blogs. Unfortunately or fortunately Lin got stuck here as the storm roared through and spent several extra days at her sister's house waiting to get a flight back home to North Carolina. I'm still not sure if she left as scheduled today. The good thing was that I got to go over an visit her again while she was here, which I wouldn't have been able to do if she left as originally scheduled. It is always fun to meet people I've followed. Thanks Lin for sharing all your art information and allowing me to share some of your time!

 

"Longwood Estate" was painted before the storm when I went out with my plein air group. The storm has knocked down a great number of trees here on Long Island, so I am afraid that the next time I visit this spot it may be changed.

 

Have a wonderful day!