Nashville

Believe it or not but I haven't had a chance to sketch or paint outdoors.

I will be traveling for the next few weeks and have been busy packing.

I don't know if I will be able to post from Ireland...it all depends if I can find somewhere to use the internet. Please check back to see if I have posted. If I can get online I will be checking blogs to see what everyone is up to.

I did finish one last page for my "fake journal." I will leave you with that.

April 22 - Nashville, TN

Windowed House

Today I sketched part of a house in Sayville. I wouldn't want to have to wash all those windows. lol

This was done in my Stillman & Birn Alpha Journal and is about 4 x 5.

Here are the next two pages from the fake journal.

April 20 - Grenada, MS

April 21 - Memphis, TN

A Day in Brooklyn

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens this morning because it is cherry blossom time there. Our first stop was at the Japanese Pond. I did a painting of the pond with the orange Torii (gateway),  with the wonderful cherry blossoms in bloom in the background.

This is about 5 x 7.

I also sketched the crowd of visitors on the viewing platform across the pond.

This is about 3 x5 and was done directly in ink.

After lunch I painted a view of one of the staircases with the flowering trees and a few people.

This is 3 x 5 and done directly in paint.

Lastly I painted a view of a fountain with the greenhouse behind it.

This is 3 x 5 and done directly in paint.

After the gardens a few of us headed over to the Brooklyn Museum which was having some wonderful special exhibits. One was "Fine Lines - American Drawings from the Brooklyn Museum" which included drawings of Homer, Eakin, Sargent, Hopper and Hartley among others. There were even sketchbooks belonging to some of the artists.

Next we saw the John Singer Sargent Watercolors. That was great!

The last exhibit we saw was by Anatsui and was hanging sculptures that looked like fabric but really made from metal caps that were flattened and connected with wire. They looked almost like soft, draped fabric hanging. Here is a photo of one of the sculptures.

Isn't this gorgeous?

Due to the length of this post I will save the entry of the "fake journal" until tomorrow.

The Pond

On Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club met down at Shorefront Park in Patchogue. We decided to sketch at this small pond by the parking lot. This is about 4 x 6.

April 19 - Jackson, MS

Ardem

I painted with the SBAA portrait group on Tuesday morning.

Ardem posed for us. This is 5 x 7.

April 18 - Natchez, LA

I was driving through Sayville the other day and saw this house. I just had to stop and paint it.

This is 5 x 7.

April 17 - New Orleans, LA

Smith Point View

I hadn't been down to the beach for quite a while, and was feeling an urge to get down there. I drove over to Smith Point which is part of Fire Island. I didn't go over to the ocean side but painted on the bay side instead. This is 5 x 7.

April 16 - Mobile, AL

A few weeks ago I attended the BAFFA Chorus performance and while I was sitting in the balcony I sketched the chorus, some people in the audience, and the accompanist at her piano. After the concert I had showed the sketches to several people. One of them asked me if I could do a small painting of the accompanist for a gift. (Shhh!!! don't tell.) In order to do a painting I had to really know what the piano looked like so this took a bit of internet research. Most pianos that are shown are photographed so you either see the side or the key or both. I wanted to try to stay true to the original sketch which was posted on March 25 if you want to look back at it.

Anyway here is the 5 x 7 painting I did from the original sketch.

I am a day behind showing you my fake journal pages. Yesterday's post from the Sketchcrawl was long enough and I didn't want to add the fake journal too. So I will post two days of the fake journal now.

April 14 - Atlanta, GA

April 15 - 

Sketchcrawl #39 - NYC

Yesterday was the World Wide Sketchcrawl #39. My friend, Susan, and I went into NYC to meet with the NYC Urban Sketchers who had organized a sketching day for us. We met at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. This was my biggest sketch of the day and is about 5 x 8.

Because everyone was enjoying the location so much, we stayed in that area for a few hours instead of moving as originally planned. There were people singing in the Bethesda Pavillion so we had entertainment too. There was also music down by the fountain which made it really nice.

I did a sketch of the railing of the staircase that came down to where the fountain is located.

This sketch and most of the others below were done directly in ink (yeah!).

By the time I finished this sketch above some of us headed off to lunch. Everyone sketched at the table before the food arrived. I sketched Richard who was at the other end of the table.

After lunch we headed over to the Lincoln Center area. On the way we passed a street market and a few of us topped to sketch there. I loved this colorful truck. The waffles they were cooking smelled so good.

Next we met the afternoon group in front of Lincoln Center. Many of them were sitting on the edge of the dancing fountain. I decided on sketching the sketchers with the fountain view behind them instead of doing Lincoln Center itself. I sketched it in pen and before I could add color a security guard came to warn them that in a few minutes the fountains were scheduled to shoot really high, and they would get wet if they were anywhere near them. He was so right. The whole area around the fountain got drenched. I added the color from memory.

As much as it is spring, the temperatures were pretty cold yesterday and most of us were too cold to continue sketching outside. We found a cafe inside that wasn't open yet and it had tables and big glass windows facing the Lincoln Center plaza. I sketched Mia while she was sketching.

I sketched a few of the other sketchers too.

I took a few photos of some of the sketchers either sketching or sharing tips on materials.

Here's my friend, Susan hard at work.

Here are Melanie and another sketcher.

Mia was showing the sketcher from India all the wonderful pens and inks she had with her.

Finally we shared our sketchbooks and work. This is just a small sample of the work done yesterday. Through the course of the day we probably had about 28 people participate in the NYC Sketchcrawl. One woman lives in India, and a couple that took part were from Minnesota.

I hope you enjoyed sharing our day!

The other evening the Patchogue Sketch Club met down at the end of Blue Point Avenue. There is a parking area with a gazebo and a small beach. Even though it had been warm during the day, by evening the wind had picked up and it was cold. All the sketchers had to work from their cars.

This is about 4 x 6.

April 13 - Augusta, GA

Suffolk County Farm Sketches

I made a trip to the Suffolk County Farm the other day. It is a good time of year to go because many baby animals are born around now.

First I sketched the cows who usually stay put while they are eating, but once they are finished have no loyalty to the artist sketching them. lol

Next I went over to sketch the sheep who were all clustered together by the shed. There was one baby included in the group.

The peacock had his feathers spread when I sat down, but that didn't last for long. Most of the feathers I had to do by memory.

Inside there were some baby goats that were just one day old. Mama goat was ignoring them for the most part, until I almost finished the sketch. Then she decided it was feeding time.

April 12 - Savannah, GA