2014 Highlights

It is hard to believe that 2014 is almost over...just a few more hours. My thanks to all of you who have been visiting my blog throughout the year. I really appreciate all your support and comments. In return, I love having so many wonderful blogs to visit and so many wonderful blogging friends.

Thank you all!!!

I am lucky to belong to several very active painting and sketching groups...the NYC Urban Sketchers,  the PALS Plein Air Limner Society, and the Patchogue Sketch Club. I get to do a lot of sketching and painting with some great friends and artists. My thanks to them too!

To close out 2014 I would like to do a bit of a mini review of my year in art.

January was cold and snowy...a perfect opportunity to paint looking out from my living room and bedroom windows at the snow.

February brought more snow, and more snow. lol I went off to Longwood Estate in Ridge for a plein air painting session. It was cold but just warm enough to finish a small painting if I was dressed properly.

I found a frozen harbor up in Northport. That day I had to sit inside my car to capture the view.

In March I was lucky to take a stained paper collage class with Gerald Brommer down in Myrtle Beach. Here are two of the collages I did in his class.

April brought blooms to the trees in Union Square where I sketched before going to the American Watercolor Society's Show to see some outstanding art.

I also did the World Wide Sketchcrawl #43 in the gritty Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn in April.

Here I am in "Newsday" one of the largest newspapers on Long Island. One of the staff photographers found me painting the forsythia in Setauket and took a photo for the newspaper.

In May I took part in "Every Day in May." The challenge on May 24th was to draw a cat, so I sketched my good friend, Susan's cat, Mocha. This was one of the last sketches of her cat before he died. 

Everything was in bloom in May at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay.

And the SBAA Member's Show was held at the Phoenix Gallery in Bellport.

June was busting out all over with flowers, flowers, flowers.

I was one of the artists who painted during the Sayville Garden Tour and my painting was purchased by the homeowner. Yay!

The Fire Island Lighthouse held its annual show and my painting sold there too!

In July I took part in World Wide Sketchcrawl #44 with the NYC Urban Sketchers. 

We sketched right across the river in Hoboken, NJ.

I headed up to Maine to visit my sister and just had to go to my favorite place up there, 

the Pemaquid Lighthouse.

With the NYC Urban Sketchers I visited the Chinese Sculpture Garden in Staten Island...

a beautiful, relaxing spot that I loved.

August meant lots of time at the beach and lots of models to sketch.

I participated in the 3-day plein air paintout "Paint the Great South Bay."

Sketching with the NYC Urban Sketchers has made me fearless and now I'll sketch any bridge in front of me like this one located in DUMBO in Brooklyn.

In August I also had my first solo art show at the Comesquogue Library in Port Jefferson. I had 28 paintings hanging there.

September started with a dahlia painting at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum.

Then my husband and I headed off on a Mediterranean cruise for the rest of September stopping in several locations including Athens and Rome.

I sketched at the Acropolis among other places.

I also met up with my blogging friend, Celia Blanco, (who I had never met in person before) in Rome and we toured the city and painted together. Here we are at the Spanish Steps. We had such fun!

In October after the cruise ended we headed to Lake Como, Italy. I painted in many of the small towns along the lake. These sketches were done on the ferry that I took from town to town.

We stayed in the picturesque village of Varenna, my favorite of all the towns there.

When I got home in October it was time for the Wet Paints Studio Group's Member's Show. My collage "Sunset I" won first place in mixed media.

The colors on Long Island were really great this autumn.

At the PacMac Festival in Patchogue I sketched the Tri-County Brass Band while they played.

November was exciting because my niece, Beth, ran in the NYC Marathon. I did a sketch on location which I turned into a painting for her for Christmas. She loved it!

On one outing with the NYC Urban Sketchers we sketched inside the subway station which I've always wanted to do.

Some of the urban sketchers went to a "Dr. Sketchy" event and sketched models posing as opposite genders. It was a lot of fun...so much fun that we made a return visit in December.

For the Wet Paints Studio Group I was asked to do a "Meet Your Fellow Artist" and speak about my art and show examples of my work. Here I am talking to the crowd.

December started with the PALS Plein Air Show and Sale at the Gillette House in Sayville. It was a fun weekend with my fellow artists shown here and business was good! They are such a fun group and I am honored to be a part of them.

I sketched a few Christmas related subjects like Christmas tree lots.

I had to sketch the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree when I went into the city. 

It was freezing that day but I worked anyway!!!

My last stop outside of NY for December was a trip up to Maine right after Christmas to visit family. I did sneak in a plein air sketch of Damariscotta while I was there.

In December I also participated in the World Blog Hop. You can see that post here:

http://watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-hop-around-world.html

Wishing all of you a healthy, happy, prosperous 

and inspired New Year!!!