Monday, March 31, 2014

Hoyt Farm

Last week I visited Hoyt Farm Preserve in Smithtown. In season it is a park that is open to Smithtown residents (which I am not) or people accompanying residents. I figured that they wouldn't be charging to park, or checking to see if you belonged at this time of year. Besides, I was going to sit in my car and sketch anyway. Luckily there was an interesting barn right near the parking lot. I will have to go back with one of my friends that lives up there and see what else is on the property. This is 5 x 7.


Sunday, March 30, 2014

Gillette Park

This was sketched from my car as a sketch for the other blog I contribute to (Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens) which has been sketching Gardens & Parks. This is Gillette Park in Sayville. It is about  5 x 5.


Saturday, March 29, 2014

Bayport Aerodrome

I have passed a sign in Bayport for the Bayport Aerodrome so many times, and finally I decided to go check it out. It is a small airport with small private planes and mostly grass runways. It was colorful and fun. I think you need be a member to enter with your car but I think you can walk through the gate with no problem.
I sat in my car outside the gate to paint this since it was too cold for outdoor painting.
(Spring temperatures where are you???) This is about 5 x 7.


Friday, March 28, 2014

Mountain View Farm

When I go upstate I try to make the trip worthwhile and do more than one sketch. After the sketch below we headed to have lunch and then went and did one more sketch. This is Mountain View Farm which I believe is no longer a working farm. It hasn't looked like anyone was there in a long time. I like it because it has a great shape. I'll have to do the other buildings sometime when I'm up there. There is a  falling down barn that really needs TLC that I would love to sketch. 
This is also about 5 x 7.


If you would like to see my sister's sketches from the day, they are here:
http://isketch4fun.blogspot.com (I'm not sure if this will work here)

or you can find the link for "Mickey's Sketches" on my links on the side.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Red Barn and Silos

On Saturday my sister and I drove up to Middletown, NY to pick up paintings we had in the North East Watercolor Society's Member's Show. Afterwards we took a ride into Goshen to look for and sketch some barns in the area. We tend to sketch the same barns each time because they are the only ones we find that we can park near. lol I have painted this several times before but I decided to do it much closer this time. It was cold and damp so we sketched from my portable studio. This is about 5 x 7.


Here is the sketch with the scene I was painting. As you can see the barns were quite a distance away.


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Camellias

Last week I took a drive over to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay (see post below). Every year from February to mid-March the camellias in the Camellia House near the main house that is part of the estate are in bloom. It is a beautiful sight and I was afraid I had missed it. With all the snow we had this winter I kept putting off going because I figured the grounds there would be messy with snow, ice, and mud. And then I went away to South Carolina for a workshop. I decided to chance it and go see if they were still in bloom. Of course it wasn't as dramatic as some years because many of the trees had already lost their blooms, but there were definitely enough trees in bloom to make me happy.

The day was sunny but cold. At the Camellia House the sun was shining through the glass windows of the greenhouse and it was warm enough that they had the doors open for ventilation. It was perfect for sketching!!! I sketched two to a page, directly in watercolors...no pencil lines first. It was a nice quiet day during the week so there were no crowds to get in my way, and the few people who were walking around were very polite and loved my sketches.





Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Cactus Garden

The other day I visited the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. In the main greenhouse they have a room filled with cactus and succulents. Since it was a quiet day I was able to sit on my sketching chair and not be in the way of other visitors. This is about 5 x 7.


Monday, March 24, 2014

Bowling

Last Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club headed to the Patchogue Bowl to sketch. We have been there to sketch before, and probably have sketched a few of these people before since we always go on the same night, and the same league teams play on that night. It is a fun, colorful place to sketch when it is too nasty out to sketch outdoors in the evening.


Sunday, March 23, 2014

The Glass Greenhouse

The Glass Greenhouse is located in Jamesport on the north fork of Long Island.
I went there searching for some color instead of our drab winter browns.
I hit the jackpot because they did have a table of flooring plants outside and I was able to sketch them from the warmth of my car. lol


Saturday, March 22, 2014

Bayport Flower House

The local nurseries and garden centers are slowly getting ready for Spring.
I sketched this from my car in the parking lot at the Bayport Flower House. I was hoping for some actual flowering plants outside, but I guess it is still a bit too cold for that.


Friday, March 21, 2014

Playground Sketches

On the Paper, Paint Pencils, and Pens blog (link on the right) we are currently doing sketches that relate to parks and gardens. I took that quite literally and went down to the park to sketch. I found a spot where I could see from my car. There were kids and parents playing on the playground equipment, but they were active. Sketching doesn't create enough heat to keep me warm if I sit outside in this cold. I would just end up cold and cranky if I tried...I know my limits. LOL




Thursday, March 20, 2014

Treasures from Dad

Happy Spring!

Over on the Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens blog at the beginning of the month we were sketching things from the kitchen. I decided to  sketch two things that I have from Dad. He had a few beer steins, but I really only remember him using them when his best friends came over. After he passed away I wanted one of the steins. The other one that I remember had a top attached to it.
I'm not sure where that one is or who in the family has it.

The other thing of Dad's that I have is his honing stone for sharpening knives. My mom made a roast beef almost every Sunday, and before carving the roast he would take out his special big knife that he kept in a box and that nobody else ever used. Then he would start to sharpen it. I was always fascinated to watch him slowly pull the knife across the stone over and over. I'm sure from week to week the knife must have been sharp enough, but he would make sure it was so he could cut the roast beef extra thin. You really had to watch our for your fingers when Dad sharpened the kives...just like you had to watch out when my mother decided to wax the floor. lol
Here is dad's honing stone with my knife, not his.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Sunken Meadow View

Sunken Meadow State Park is on the north shore of Long Island on the sound. There are some lovely views of the hills and the water...and Connecticut if it is a clear day. It was cold the other day when I was there so I sat in my car facing an opening in the fence where a path was leading down to the water. This is about 5 x 7 done in my Stillman & Birn Beta Sketchbook.


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Kitchen Sketches

I have been participating on the "Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens" blog and our theme for the beginning of the month was "Kitchens." Please feel free to click on the link at the top right to see what we have done, or even to join us. Since I was traveling for part of the month I used some sketches that I had already done for some of the days. Here are a few that I don't think I posted here and a few brand new ones.

Some bok choy waiting to be cooked.


A bottle of white balsamic vinegar.

Coffee maker, knives, and loaves of Italian bread.

My fridge and part of my cabinets and counters.

My stove area...cleaned up using "artistic license."





Monday, March 17, 2014

Caroline Church of Brookhaven

With the lack of leaves on the trees it is easy to see through to the architecture you don't always notice. I don't know why this is the Caroline Church of Brookhaven since it is in the town of Setauket. Some times things don't make much sense. Anyway this church is always fun to sketch.


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sayville Dock

There is always some kind of activity going on down by the Sayville dock with the boars, repairs, fishermen, birds, and assorted marine materials. That's why I go down there to sketch so often. This was done in my Stillman & Birn Beta Sketchbook and is about 5 x 7.


Saturday, March 15, 2014

Gilgo Beach

Like Tobay Beach which I painted yesterday, Gilgo Beach is along Ocean Parkway and is a beach mostly for the residents of the town. They have a bay side and an ocean side. There is a passageway beneath the parkway to get from one side to the other. Gilgo Beach has long been known on Long Island as one of the surfer beaches. Again, I hadn't been to this particular beach before. From the parking area you can also drive along a road to a number of private homes that are along the water...some cottages and some bigger houses. I sat in the car in the parking lot to paint this view of the beach grasses and the back of one of the cottages.


Friday, March 14, 2014

Tobay Beach

When I go to the beach it is usually to the same two beaches. The other day I decided to ride along Ocean Parkway which goes from Jones Beach on the most western end to Captree State Park on the eastern end. On the way I passed a few beaches I had never visited. During the summer season you have to be a resident to go to certain beaches. I stopped at Tobay Beach. This is the beach my husband went to when he was young with all his cousins. It was cold and damp by the water so I sat in the car to paint this in my Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook
This is about 5 x 7.
.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

John

I did get home from the last leg of my trip fairly early on Tuesday and relaxed a bit. In the evening I joined the WetPaints sketch group for portraits. This is John. He was willing to pose for us as long as he could read while he was posing. It was fun to do his beard and mustache. The scraggly look was different.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Murrell's Inlet

Fairly close to where the collage workshop was held in South Carolina is an area called Murrell's Inlet. You have palm trees and beach grasses and pelicans, egrets, and gulls sometimes. In the last few years they built this boardwalk that runs through much of it, but I like the spots without the boardwalk because you can see sitting down without the railing obscuring your view.


There were some people fishing in front of us. I sketched one woman. 
The corner of the boardwalk nearest to us was decorated and they were going to have a wedding ceremony there, but we left before the wedding party showed up.


I sketched one palm tree by itself.




Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Shrimp Boat

The day after the fiasco with the bathtub and my face, my sister and I went out plein air painting near Myrtle Beach. Last year we found this quaint town called Georgetown with this historic center and several shrimp boats and shrimp companies. We headed back there again on Saturday and I did this painting of one of the boats. I like the nets hanging, but the boat has so many parts, and I'm not sure what they are. I did my best. lol This is about 5.5 x 8. It was sad to see when we got there that a big section of the historic stores and restaurants has burned down in a fire in the fall. I hope they will be able to rebuild them.


I forgot to add this photo of the sketch with the scene behind it.



Sunday, March 9, 2014

Stained Paper Collage - Day 5

The final day of class I worked on two collages. The night before  we had gone back to the studio after dinner and I started a sunrise from one of my photos. I finished it the next morning. This is a 7 1/2 inch square.


Here is a photo of the class with Jerry Brommer posing with one of our collages and one of him speaking to the group.



Then I did this 11 x 15 of Tinturn Abbey that I had visited in Ireland last year. I used a small painting I had done on site as well as a photo I had taken for inspiration. As you can see, this one isn't finished yet. We only had until about 2 pm to work on Friday because  they were having Gallery night on our floor and they had to set up and hang all the paintings. When I finish it at home I will post the completed collage.


Gallery Night at Springmaid Beach Water Media is always so great. We have cocktails and walk around to see the work that was created by all the students in the different classes that week. They hang them in groups by instructor. Since we had so few people in our class we each were able to put in most of our paintings. Here are a few photos of what our group did.









My sister, Michelle, who came with me.

Me with my paintings.

It was great to see how different each person did their collages using different subjects, papers, and collage materials. We learned from each other as well as Jerry Brommer. People were so willing to share information and materials.

It doesn't show much in this last photo, but on Friday after going in the indoor pool I went to take a shower. I slipped getting into the shower and landed in the tub hitting my leg, lip, face, and eye. I was a little red and puffy in this photo, but now I look like a prize fighter. My face is all black and blue and swollen. I know I am lucky because I didn't break anything, my teeth are still in my mouth, and I am not too sore. The biggest lesson I learned this week was to use the grab bar in the tub. lol




Friday, March 7, 2014

Stained Paper Collage - Day 4

Today we continued working on collages form our minds or our references. I decided to work from a reference photo of a pond with a waterlily. This is 8 x 10.


We did get to walk on the beach at sunrise. It was drizzling a bit on the way back and there wasn't much color in the sky. I did catch a big wave.




Thursday, March 6, 2014

Stained Paper Collage - Day 3

For day 3 of the stained paper collage workshop with Gerald Brommer we moved on to more realistic paintings. He told us to work on whatever we normally paint, or anything we would like to do, but use the same collage ideas for that subject. Since I usually paint landscapes that was the first thing I planned to do. I brought along a batch of photos of assorted subjects I thought I would like to do in collage...I probably had about 15 photos from locations, some photos of paintings I had done, and a few small paintings I had done. It was decision time.

I decided to do the Senaque Abbey in Provence that I had visited when we were in France. At the time of year we visited the lavender fields were no longer in bloom, and I was so disappointed. I brought reference photos I had taken of the building and copies of paintings I had done of lavender fields at home. I put them together. This collage is 11 x 15 and took most of the day to complete. As certain stages the collage has to dry before you can add details in the form of paint or ink.

Here is the painting the way it looked partway through.

And here is the finished collage.

I also started a second painting that I will show you tomorrow. 

Today here in Myrtle Beach, SC we had clouds in the morning and rain all day long. Luckily we are inside working and only need to run from the conference center across about 20 feet to the restaurant for meals. The rain did hold off long enough this morning for us to walk on the beach before breakfast. Again because of the clouds there weren't any good colors at sunrise, but at least today there was a touch of pink in the sky if you look closely.





Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Stained Paper Collage - Day 2

Our second day in Jerry Brommer's class had us working on florals without making a flower...just shapes. The goal was to use the collage papers to give the impression of a floral, varying the size of the pieces and having more detail and smaller pieces near the COI as with the abstracts.

I started with an 11 x 11 square. 


This is also 11 x 11.

This collage is 11 x 15.

We were playing around with different mats to crop and find a smaller piece that makes a small painting. I cropped the painting above this way. I like this...what about you?

It is always amazing to me to see the variety of different pieces created by students in the same class. We are lucky because we only have 10 students in the class. Most of the classes here average about 22 - 24 students.

Today was not nice weather-wise. It was drizzling this morning so we didn't walk on the beach. I did take a photo from the balcony before we went downstairs for breakfast. That is the Springmaid Pier you can see in the photo. I am hoping the rain will be gone by tomorrow, but that isn't the forecast.