Antiques

I drove out to Southampton the other day and found this antique shop in the middle of town.

It was a gorgeous warm day and when I finished painting I went down and sat on the beach for a while. Of course the warm weather didn't last and once again it is brutally cold.

This is 8 x 10.

Six Corners, Westhampton

In my younger days I spent a lot of time out in the Hamptons in the summer. Each town has its own unique charm. This is a business at Six Corners in Westhampton where believe it or not, six roads actually do converge at a circle. I liked the style of this building...but I think it would make a better house than a business. Who knows, maybe there is an apartment upstairs and you can sit in that little bay window and look out. This is 5 x 7.

Portrait - Mary & Samantha

Yesterday was a busy portrait day for me. The South Bay Art Association does portraits in the morning almost every week.  I only join them through the winter since my plein air group also meets on Tuesday. Who knew it was such a popular day? Mary posed for us. I told her I enjoyed painting her hair. It was wild and wiry. She also had a great face with really round cheeks.

Then last night the Wet Paints Studio Group met for sketch night. People are usually surprised to see me work in watercolors. Everyone else uses either charcoal, pencil, or pastel.

Samantha posed for us. She is the daughter of one of the artists

In My Own Little Corner

If you look at the right side of my blog you will see a link to Paper, Paint, Pencils, & Pens which is a blog I am doing with a group of other artists. Please click on the link and come visit us there. This month we are doing sketches that fit the theme "Close to Home." I have posted many of my local landscapes there, but someone did a post of their chair and I ended up following suit.

This is the view I have most of the time when I sit on my living room couch. In addition to seeing the TV which is directly in front of me, I have a view of the loveseat, lamp, end table and window. This sketch was done with a combination of watercolors, inktense pencils and ink.

Then I sketched where I usually sit on the couch...with a pillow behind me for added comfort on my comfy couch. My tea is within reach, and a plastic box containing some of my sketching supplies so I don't have to reach far for anything. (Even the phone is within reach...lazy?...you bet! LOL Is it really this neat...no way! I used artistic license to eliminate much of the clutter that is on the table in front of me and by the telephone. Usually my laptop isn't on the coffee table. It is in my lap and my feet are resting on the coffee table. Now you can picture my setting.

Port Jeff House

A bit north of me is the town of Port Jefferson, or Port Jeff for short. This is one of two spots where you can take the ferry across to Connecticut. The town has a lot of interesting, old houses, many of which are on very steep properties. This one was on a bit of a hill and had a view of the harbor. I could easily sit on that wrap-around porch and watch the ferries and other boats come in and out.

Village Wine Shop

This 5 x 7 painting was done for two of my closest friends who owned this shop, the Village Wine Shop in Maplewood, NJ for the last 17 years. They recently sold the business and are now retired...and so far loving it. I used GoogleMaps to find an image of the shop to work from. This was given to them as a "congratulations and happy new stage of life" card. They were thrilled.

Tea Time Needed

The last few days were spent visiting family in NJ. My niece is visiting from Australia and was going to be in the area for only two days. My sister from Maine was here with her husband to pick up Kathleen and take her to a wedding and then back to Maine for the rest of her visit. Kathleen is a dancer and was performing a piece at a club in Harlem Thursday night. So we went to see her dance. She is always great and it is fun to see her young enthusiasm for an art form that she loves so much.

Here is Kathleen with her snowman and her dad. This was the first time she had seen snow in over 2 years. She was home last year but in the summertime.

This was taken of my sister, Tina, Kathleen, and George in the club we went to where she performed.

I thought about bringing along my sketchbook to the club but I knew she was having a lot of friends come to see the performance, and I didn't know what it would be like. Now I wish I had brought it, but it would have been difficult sketching because it was rather dark.

I left NJ to drive home yesterday in dense fog. It was eerie in spots and I kept thinking it would make nice paintings, but I couldn't stop. By the time I got home I was ready for a nice cup of tea to relax me..so I sipped and sketched when I was nearly finished. This is my favorite mug with a painting of Monet's on the front. It has a crack in it and I am waiting for it to fall apart some day. lol

Stony Brook Train Station

Every time I pass this train station I think to myself that it is like a small town America station. The only problem is there is really no place to sit to sketch it most of the time. I was finally able to do it after the snow when the bank across the street was closed. I sat in their parking lot right past the drive through hoping nobody would come along on this snowy day and need me to move. lol

Frozen Bay

Most of the area around the edge of the bays here has been frozen for a few weeks. When the tide comes in and out it breaks up the ice into large and small chunks...think a bay sized slurp. lol

The ice clanging together makes a lot of noise and when it cracks it makes noise too. When I was down by the Sayville dock the other day, the wind was really blowing and there were whitecaps on the bay which kept hitting the frozen chunks. It was wild! I was sitting in my car on the dock looking back toward the shore. This was done in my Stillman & Birn (new) Beta Bound Sketchbook and is about 5 x 7.

Coffee Bar Sketches

Last Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club met at Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company in Patchogue. We have sketched there many times but I think this is the first time our sketch night coincided with a musical performance. Brian did a great job of singing while we sketched him and some of the patrons on hand. 

Iced In

Much of the water around the bays near me is frozen. It has made for some different views of the areas with the snow and ice. This is one of the docks nearby in Sayville. This is 5 x 7.

Don and Bottle & Fruit Sketch

This is the portrait I did last week when I met with the South Bay Art Association's Portrait Group.
 I am getting happier with the skin tones I'm getting.

I did a small still life of a bottle and fruit too.

Snowy Lot

Since the snow is still around I'm painting and sketching it as much as possible.

This was done in the parking lot of the Smith Haven Marina. The views of the water weren't too exciting, but I liked the disturbed snow in the parking lot. lol

This was done in my Stillman & Birn Alpha Sketchbook...in fact it is the last sketch in that book.

I have tried several of the Stillman and Birn sketchbooks. Michael Kalman was nice enough to send me samples of some of the books when they came out. Each of them is different. I think I like the Beta Series the best. It seems to work the best for the watercolors I do. The Alpha paper is thinner and when I do sky washes it doesn't handle it as well as the Beta. But both of them take ink so well! I will have to order another of the square sketchbooks. I really liked that size. I have sampled the bound and spirals and still can't decide which one I like best. The spiral makes it easy to put the other side of the paper out of the way...but the bound one gives you that possibility of maybe, just maybe, sketching across the double page spread. I am currently working in a bound Beta but haven't done a double page spread yet.

Snowy Hillside (adjusted) and Stony Brook Grist Mill

I did redo the sky in "Snowy Hilltop" making it darker. Here is the before and after. It will have to stay as it is now...no more changes. lol I did go back in and darken the trees on top. I wish I could post them side by side but I can't figure out how to do that. I liked the original by I think the stronger color in the sky is much more dramatic. What do you think?

Before

After

This sketch was done of the front of the Stony Brook Grist Mill. Unfortunately the wheel is on the side of the house and there is absolutely no place to sit to sketch it, even if you are sketching from outside of the car. I was sitting inside the car. This was done directly in ink and then I applied the watercolors. (In the spring the overhang is covered in wisteria.

Snowy Entry

No, I didn't forget about yesterday's painting. I did darken the sky, but now I need to darken the branches of the trees a bit. I'll repost it soon.

This painting was done from my car on the property of the Smithtown Historical Society last week. I loved the snowy bushes and the ice hanging from the roof edges.
This is 5 x 7.

 I think I have done more snow paintings this year than I have done in my entire lifetime put together...and we had another storm overnight which changed to rain and is now supposed to turn back to snow tonight. Enough already! I hope you are safe and warm wherever you are. We lost power a few times today for a few minutes each time, so I cooked dinner ahead of time just in case. I wouldn't want to be without food. lol

Snowy Hilltop

This may still be a work in progress. An artist whose work I admire on WetCanvas saw this when I posted it there and suggested that I deepen the color of the sky to make the snow more dramatic. (He does a lot of snow paintings.) I am thinking about doing that and if I do, I will repost it. I wish I had Photoshop so that I could play with it and see how it would look before I try it...but then, it is just a painting...I can always do it over if it doesn't work out This was done out on the north fork of Long Island while sitting in my car. The tire marks going up to the top called to me so I had to stop. It is 8 x 10 (bigger than I usually do from the car).

Out in the Snow

During and right after each of our recent snowstorms I painted from inside my apartment. We are on the ground floor and look out at a somewhat wooded area. (Thank heaven we don't overlook the parking lot...imagine what you would be seeing. lol) I did this painting looking out my bedroom window, standing up and using my new easel. My neighbors have two red plastic Adirondack chairs that they left outside. They made a nice contrast with the snow. This is 8 x 10.

Sketches from My City Visit

The NYC Urban Sketchers met in the city on Saturday. Some of our members are taking part in a sketch swap with our sister city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Saturday was the day we were supposed to be sketching in our respective areas for the swap. I will only be posting my sketches from the day that are not part of the exchange. I think I have decided which of my sketches I will be sending off. I was paired with Fabiana from the Sao Paulo Urban Sketchers. I am still waiting for her mailing address for her sketch, but we did exchange emails. Hopefully this will work out and we will actually exchange sketches. Montreal and Genoa are also doing an exchange.

I headed into the city on the Long Island Railroad and during my 1hr 15 min trip I sketched a few people. At first I didn't have a good view of anyone (I hate when that happens!) but midway through the trip someone sat where I had a view of them. Here are the sketches I did going into the city.

The train schedule either gets me into the city an hour before we are meeting or late for our meeting time. lol So I always head in early and use the extra time for a sketch. I got off at Penn Station which is at 32nd Street and 7th Avenue. I decided to go upstairs to the street and sketch. I was dressed warmly with my hat, sweater, coat, thermals, and gloves. At first all went well, but then when I started to paint the sketch I had problems. MY PAINT FROZE ON THE PAPER! I must say this is the first time this has happened to me. The paint turned grainy and wouldn't move...and the water brush wouldn't release water. I decide to skip the rest of that painting for the time being, and head over to Lincoln Center. I worked on the sketch on Sunday to finish it...in the warmth of my kitchen using a photo I had taken of the scene. 

The sketchers met at the David Rubenstein Atrium on 65th and Broadway. It is part of Lincoln Center and is an interesting spot. There is a vertical garden wall on one side and. there are views to the outside as well as a cafe. Many of the sketchers focused on the people at the cafe counter.

 Here is my sketch from the atrium.

I took a photo of Jimmy taking a photo of his sketch.

I also did a sketch of Jim while he was sketching and part of a sketch of Jimmy and Mark. We left that location before I was able to complete all three of them...but sometimes that's what happens.

From there we moved on to the lobby of Alice Tully Hall which was also in the Lincoln Center area. Here we had a better view of the tall buildings outside. Everyone got very busy. I think through the course of the day we had about 15 sketchers participating...a lot for a very cold day.

Alison, Julie and Josiah had comfy seats that they shared with a man napping.

Mark and Jim (who was taking a sketching break)

Svetlana and Jimmy

Suma

Here is my sketch against the backdrop that I was sketching.

And my touched up version of the scene.

Lunch is always an important part of our day...sketching works up an appetite. lol We headed over to PJ Clark's for lunch and sketched while waiting for our food. I did these sketches directly in ink, which is always a challenge for me. I know I rely much too much on my pencil and eraser.

I could only sketch the 4 people who were on the other side of the table.

After lunch the group split up. Mark and I were catching our rides home in the same direction so we walked through the city streets looking for a location for one more sketch before we called it a day. That is the sketch that I will be sending to my swap partner in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Until she gets it I'm not going to post it here or anywhere. If it so happens that the sketch doesn't get sent you'll be the first to see it.

I did one more sketch on the train going home...there was one cooperative model who sat facing me.

Downtown Bay Shore

I find that even the backs of buildings make interesting subjects to sketch. I found a parking spot in one of the lots in downtown Bay Shore and sketched this collection of buildings along with the snowy street.

St James General Store

The St James General Store in St James is a fun place to visit. They have a bit of everything in the store and a selection of candy that I remember from childhood...like Turkish taffy and those dots on paper. It always brings back memories. Besides...it is such a colorful place too.

Icy Harbor

With the cold temperatures here lasting for so long things have become quite frozen. I went up near Northport on the northern side of Long Island and drove all the way out to one of the beaches...about 7 miles down this peninsula. The harbor there was just huge chunks of ice. When the tide comes in and out it moves the ice and cracks it. In spots it was piled up in chunks. There were some fishermen in this harbor working to crack more of the ice so their boats could get out into the channel. It looked very eerie.

Captree View II

While I was at Captree I also did a small painting of the Fire Island Lighthouse across the Great South Bay. It looked so small from my vantage point. I'm usually much closer when I go to Robert Moses State Park.

Captree View

The other day I headed over to Captree State Park which is located on the easternmost end of Jones Beach Island in the Town of Islip. Part of the park has a fishing dock, marina, restaurant, and numerous charter boats that go out fishing. But this end of it has some dunes and a view of Fire Island, the watertower at Robert Moses State Park, the Coast Guard Station, as well as the bridge that goes across to Fire Island. There was snow around the dunes which gave it a nice view. I sat in my car and was warm and comfortable dreaming of warmer days at the beach.

Longwood Estate in the Snow

After yesterday's snow I wanted to go out and take some photos of the snow on the trees before it fell off. One of the places I went was Longwood Estate in Ridge. It has this big, white historical house and  several red outbuildings and barns. There had to have been about 8 inches of snow on the ground and just the road in and the parking lot had been plowed. So I trudged through the snow to take the photos below. I also took along my small moleskine watercolor journal, my tiny palette, a pencil, and my water brush just in case. It wasn't too cold...maybe about 35 degrees. When I got over to the caretaker's cottage, I went up on the porch and sat on the box there and painted the view in front of me. The trees covered in snow were so pretty that I ended up painting across the page on both sides.

This is the view I was painting.

Here are a few photos of the estate grounds.

This is the church.

This is the caretaker's cottage where I sat on the porch and painted.

Here are some of the barns.

Here is the entrance.

And here is a wide view with the house. I've painted here many times in the fall. Imagine all those trees in autumn colors.

The snow was undisturbed except for where they plowed.

 I was the only one who put footsteps in the snow.