Art Day with Mickey

I recently had an "art day" with my sister, Mickey who lives in New Jersey. Of course we decided on a day and then the forecast was for temperatures in the 90s. We were tempted to postpone the art day but decided we would do something indoors instead. When I got to her house we decided to go out sketching before lunch while it wasn't quite as hot as they were predicting.

We went to The Gardens at Wycoff which is a few minutes from Mickey's house.

The roses were in bloom and were just gorgeous. I did this across a double page in my sketchbook and worked on each of these without any pencil sketching at all...just directly in paint.

After lunch we worked on collages using stained paper. This is the method we used in the workshop we had taken with Gerald Brommer back in March. I did this sunrise which is an 11 inch square.

Sketching in Cold Spring

Yesterday the NYC Urban Sketchers ventured out of the city for a day of sketching.

My thanks to John and his wife Karn for welcoming us to their home and their town of Cold Spring yesterday. It was such a wonderful day and despite the fact that we were so far out of the city, members came by train and car to experience Cold Spring and were not disappointed. Susan and I drove from Long Island and it was worth the 2 hr trip!

Our first sketch spot was down by the waterfront. I couldn't resist the gazebo with the flags and the Americana red, white and blue banner hanging...great Cold Spring charm.

There were some of the usual members and some that joined up with us for the first time.

Of course I took some photos of everyone at work.

I had a few minutes to sketch Lucy.

Next it was back to John's house which we decided looked like we were in Provence.

Everyone got lunch which we shared in the shade in the garden.

We talked "shop" ...

... and shared our work from the morning.

Then it was off for round two of sketching along Main Street.

I sketched a cute house first.

And then a store which I sketched there and added color to at home.

Around 4:00 we went back to John's to relax in the shade and have a cool drink while we talked.

Some of the sketchers headed home, or back to the waterfront to sketch.

Susan and I went back to Main Street and did one final sketch.

I got inspired by some of the other sketchers who had used lettering with their sketches.

It was such a great day! My thanks again to John and Karn for welcoming us, 

and to John for organizing our day so well.

At the Lighthouse Show

Last night was the reception for the Fire Island Lighthouse's 12th Annual Art Show. 

I had two paintings in the show...both of lighthouses. One was of the Fire Island Lighthouse itself and another was of the Pemaquid Lighthouse in Maine. Imagine my delight to arrive at the show and find out that one of my paintings had already sold. Yeah! Here I am with the painting of the Fire Island Lighthouse that sold.

The show continues until July 20.

The reception was really very nice...as always they did a great job with snacks and wine and live music. It is always very hot inside the lighthouse so after viewing all the work we spent the rest of the evening outside enjoying the beautiful night.

Here army friends Carol, Sue, and Ruth outside on the deck.

Another photo of Sue and Ruth behind the lighthouse on the bay side.

Sue sent me a few photos she took with her phone.

Here are Kathy, Carol, Ruth and me.

We stayed to watch the sunset, and I took a few pictures. Part of the sky looked like it was on fire.

I just love watching the sunset!

Jean's Garden

Last week my plein air group PALS met at the garden of one of our members in Bellport.

Her yard was just so gorgeous and her roses were at their peak.

My thanks to Jean for letting us visit. This is 8 x 10.

Pera Bell

Recently the Patchogue Sketch Club sketched along Main Street in Patchogue. I saw where I could see the restaurant Pera Bell (which I'm told has the best burgers) and a bit of the Patchogue Theater.

Of course someone was outside talking on his cell phone, which I guess is better than having a smoke. This was done across a double page spread in a sketchbook that my friend, Gina made. The paper isn't watercolor paper so it doesn't do well with big wet washes, but it does fine for most other things in a painting.

This sketch above is in my sketchbook that will be part of a sketchbook display in one of the galleries in Patchogue. It will be with other sketchbooks done by other artists in the Patchogue Sketch Club.

Marina View

I started this sketch a few weeks ago when the Patchogue Sketch Club went out on a cold night, but needed to finish it. So last week I headed back to the marina to do the details and the background.

Lydia

Two weeks ago I joined the WetPaints Group for their sketch night.

We always have a model, even if it is one of the members like Lydia.

I was really happy with the way this came out. 

Bellport Garden Tour

Today my art group took part in another garden tour, this time in Bellport. I was in charge of organizing the artists but I had no idea what any of the gardens looked like. I rode around the area to see the homes on Tuesday but all you could see of any of them was the driveway. lol So the properties were a surprise.

I painted in a garden with my friend, Marlene. It was a huge property with a lovely house and pool. I decided to focus on the flowers around the pool fence. Here is the view I was doing with my painting in front.

And a larger view of the painting. It isn't quite this blue but I don't have it to take another photo because the homeowner bought it. Yay!!!

Here I am in action at my easel.

Marlene was painting a settee on the porch with the owner's dog sitting on it. 

I have to tell you this was right up Marlene's alley since she often does pet portraits.

Here is Marlene at work. Marlene sold her painting too. 

When I finished my painting I took a tour of a few of the other gardens that were nearby.

I wanted some photos of the other artists for the PALS Plein Air blog.

Here is Liz.

Liz was at a lovely garden with a view like this.

Susan BG was painting a small building on the side of the garden she was working in.

Susan T and Laurie were at the same garden...one painting in the front and one in the back.

Here's Susan in the hot sun.

And Laurie in the shade.

Gina was at another lovely garden.

I missed getting photos of the other artists. They must have been touring the gardens when I came by.

It was a perfect day for painting!

My friend Susan sent me this photo from today.

Arboretum Sketch

Where was my head yesterday? I forgot to post something.

This was done last week at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale.

The landscaping there is great...but I also wanted to do a closeup of a few of the flowers.

Painting at Bridge Gardens

Last Tuesday I painted at Bridge Gardens in Bridgehampton with the PALS group of plein air painters. The garden is about an hour's drive from here and the weather did not look good...but we went anyway. It was extremely humid and misting. When we arrived at the gardens which are part of the Nature Conservancy I decided I would sit in my beach chair to paint. That way I could attach my beach umbrella to the arm of the chair and be semi sheltered. It worked for the most part, but there wasn't anything that helped make the paper dry. LOL Luckily I worked on 5 x 7 paper so it wasn't too bad.

Next I went up the hill and sketched under the wisteria arbor next to the house. I was using my accordion sketchbook that I made (from Cathy Johnson's video) and that paper sopped up the moisture even more if that is possible. I was working in watercolors and ink but the paper ended up being too damp to use the pen until it dried completely. I did most of the watercolor work at the garden and when the paper finally dried (hours later) I went back in with the pen.