Pac Mac Festival, Patchogue

At the end of October I took part in the Pac Mac Festival in Patchogue. It was a celebration of all the arts and lasted for about 10 days. There were art galleries with shows, music venues around the town,  theatre presentations, movies, etc. in various locations. As part of the South Bay Art Association I had 2 paintings in one of the pop-up galleries in town. The Patchogue Sketch Club was invited to come and sketch some of the events, but until the last day of the festival I didn't get to sketch anything.

I looked at the schedule that last Sunday and the Tri Valley Brass was playing outdoors in one of the squares. It was a cold, windy day but I found a spot to sit where the wind was blocked. The band was very good and it is always fun to sketch or paint to live music. I couldn't fit all the musicians on the page, so I tried to at least get a few different instruments. After the performance when the group saw the sketch they loved it. Several of them asked permission and took photos of it. Somehow it ended up as part of an article in one of the local papers, the Advance. I was a bit annoyed that they didn't mention my name in the article, but luckily I had signed the sketch before anyone took photos of it so my name was there. The director of the Tri Valley Brass contacted me later and was interested in buying the sketch, but I haven't heard back from her since I gave her a price, which I guess happens.

Thne I went in search of a few sculptures. Most of them weren't anything I would sketch, but I thought the "Farmer Series" by Dave Rogers was cute. The characters were constructed from old vacuum parts and old milk pails.

Then I found the "Marine Debris" sculpture by Carolyn Munaco which was in the Terry Street Garden. It was created from debris that was found in our local waters. There were coffee cups, coffee cup lids, plastic bags, wrappers, flippers, plastic shovels, and an assortment of other garbage that was left behind. It is really disgusting when you think of all the trash that finds its way into our oceans and bays causing all sorts of problems.

It was a fun local event to be part of.