House with Snow

Hopefully this will be the last opportunity I have to sketch snow until the winter. LOL This was sketched LAST Monday. We had about 1 1/2 inches of very wet snow. It stuck on all the grass and trees and looked beautiful. I had a meeting in the morning and by the time I got out of the meeting the sun was out and most of the snow had already melted. I did find a spot to sit and sketch were there were still clumps of snow.

Jewish Museum Sketches and Museums Along Central Park

The sketches I posted yesterday were from my travels to and from the city last week. Here are the sketches I did. The NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side. This was my first visit to this museum. On the second floor there was an exhibit of the fashions of Isaac Mirahi. I picked my favorite in the collection. It wasn't easy to sketch there because I couldn't use a stool and the "walls" were fabric stretched on bars. There was nothing to lean on!

I wandered around the rest of the exhibits on the 3rd and 4th floors. Most of the objects were really small or really ornate and difficult to sketch. I did find a few pots, a menorah, and a scroll case.

We had lunch outside and it seemed like it was warm enough to sit out for a while, so a few other sketchers and I sat long Fifth Avenue and first sketched the Guggenheim...

and then the National Academy Museum (which I've never visited).

To the City and Back

Last Saturday I joined the NYC Urban Sketchers in the city. We weren't meeting until 11, but I wanted to go in early and sketch somewhere. I took the LIRR from Ronkonkoma and had a view of this man and his son/grandson.

This sketch I did in pen but I find that there is a bad vibration on the LIRR as we travel, and it makes it difficult to get smooth ink lines. It doesn't seem to matter so much with pencil.

Once I got to Penn Station I stopped for breakfast at Central Market. My friend, Pat, always eats there and there is a great view if you sit all the way in the back. I sketched the people in front and behind the counter.

This man came and sat down between me and the counter. I had a little more time so I sketched him on my iPad using Art Rage.

 I'll save the sketches from the day for tomorrow's post. Before I caught the train back home I stopped in Penn Station and had coffee. Of course I couldn't resist sketching the people.

 My final sketch of the day was a woman on the train.

Digital Sketches

This is my last Easter related sketch. I bought an Easter lily and used ArtRage for this. I tried using just the watercolor part of the program for the petals but I didn't like the effect I was getting. As a watercolorist it just wasn't what I wanted, so I combined some of the other parts of the program for shading.

This had been done a while ago while I was out on the north fork of Long Island. There are still a few old barns around. I know some of the ones that are built partly into the ground were potato barns.  This one is a bit higher than some I've seen, so I'm not sure what it was used for. Long Island was famous for a long time for their potatoes. Now so much of the farmland has been developed. This particular barn and a larger one is on the property of a real estate office.

Easter Fun

On Saturday I headed over to Bellport to sketch the local annual Easter Bonnet and Crazy Hat Parade. Festivities started at the firehouse, moved down South Country Road and around the corner to the gazebo. I got there early and sketched some of the kids and adults waiting for things to start. This wasn't the official Easter Bunny for the parade...he's a local, harmless character who apparently likes to take part in most town events.

The event moved on led by an old firetruck.

The Easter Bunny then sat in the gazebo and kids came up to have photos taken and each of them got an Easter egg. I stood outside the gazebo railing to sketch the bunny event.

My friend was there taking photos for the local paper and she snapped this photo of me sketching.

Photo by Krystle L DiNicola

Happy Easter

This was sketched up on the north fork of Long Island. I had planned on having it be my Easter card, but I never got it to the printer so it was never sent out. I'm emailing it instead. 

Wishing you a blessed Easter filled with joy!

Port Jeff Boat

I was up in Port Jefferson the other day to view an art exhibit that I have two paintings in. Of course I brought along my sketching supplies. I wanted to sketch this red tugboat that is there, but due to construction I couldn't find a spot with a view of it. So I looked for a substitute and this was it.

Life at Panera

I can always find something interesting to sketch at Panera Bread. This lady in the coat made it into everyone's sketches the other night. lol

Keith

I have been trying to mesh what I learned in the workshop I took recently on painting figures from photographs with painting live models. I am much happier with the flesh tones I am getting. Keith posed for us recently and was a great model.

Roslyn House

I love houses that have character to them like this one in Roslyn! I sat in the park across the street to sketch this, hoping that the traffic wouldn't block my view too much.

Oh, No...Snow & Sayville Sketch

This is what I woke up to this morning outside my front door.

Thankfully there was a lot less of it than predicted...maybe about 1 1/2 inches. It covered all the trees, grasses and bushes and looked so pretty. I had a meeting until 11 and was hoping to go out and sketch  the snow, but by that time the sun had melted most of it. lol

This sketch was done last Sunday in Sayville. Saville seems to be my "go to" place and I can usually find something to sketch. I've wanted to sketch this antique shop for a while, but the traffic is usually too busy to sit across the street from it and see anything. For some reason that day the traffic never backed up that far when the light turned red, so I had a fairly good view. The problem was telling what some of the treasures were since a lot of it was in shadow.

Blue Point Dock

This was sketched along one of the canals in Blue Point. The boats are still covered or out of the water at this time of year. Spring may have arrived, but we are expecting snow tonight into tomorrow....here we go again!

Outside Roast

Patchogue has Roast, a coffee show we often frequent. I've sketched it many times from the inside, but I think this may be the first time I sketched the view looking into the coffee shop. If Patchogue just had easier parking I'm sure we would sketch there more often.

Manor House

We had a few days of mild temperatures and I was able to sit outside to paint. This was one at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale. This is the manor house.

Portrait #2

The day I did the previous portrait in the morning with one art group, I met with another art group in the evening for portraits. It was a well balanced day.

Portrait

This lovely lady sat for our portrait group the other morning.  I thought I wrote her name on the painting, but I can't seem to find it.

White Cap Fish Market

Here is a digital sketch I did sitting in my car near the White Cap Fish Market in Islip. I need to get in more iPad sketching. I'm getting rusty.

Coyle's

This was sketched outside Coyle's Ice Cream in Bay Shore. I could use a taste right now. How about you?

At the Dock

There is always something different to sketch down by the West Sayville dock.

Kevin

Right before I went away we had a friend's husband model for us. This is Kevin...he brought along his musical instrument.

 

Hot Dog Beach & Osprey Nest

I'm not sure how this beach on Dune Road in Westhampton got the name "Hot Dog Beach." I has had that name since I went there in 1968 and probably before that. It was a big hangout in the summer for young people for a long time, now it is a beach where in the summer only residents can park. I sat in the lot across the other side of Dune Road to sketch this view.

Then I did a smaller version as an ATC for an exchange one of my art groups was planning.

In the same area (in fact directly behind me at the end of the parking lot) was the remains of a barge where bands used to play. Right near it was a great osprey nest. I did an ATC sized sketch of that.

If you notice, I've been trying to watermark my sketches and paintings lately. I often post them on Facebook and know several people from there and other spots who have had their images stolen. I don't know if the watermark will help but I'm trying to remember to do that before I post them now.

Bay View and Amaryllis Update

I love being surrounded by water here on Long Island. Both the views of the bays and the views of the ocean bring a smile to my face. This was painted in Hampton Bays.

Here is an update on my amaryllis. I wonder how long it will be before I ever see a flower...

Labonne Boulangerie

While I was in Port Jefferson I headed over to Labonne Boulangerie to have a cup of coffee...and do a sketch too. They had some really unusual cakes there.

111 Spring Street

I found this cute house when I was driving around in Port Jefferson. How could I resist sitting there (in the car) and sketching it?

Liz

These were done before I left on my trip. Liz posed for us at our sketch group and I was able to do one long portrait and a few quick sketches of her.

Day 7 - Returning to Reality

Today we got up for our last sunrise walk in Myrtle Beach for this trip.

At breakfast we ran into some of the artists taking part in the second week of workshops at Springmaid Watermedia Workshops. I hope their week is as great as we had.

Here are a few assorted sketches I did at points during this trip. There wasn't time for sketching during the workshop days.

I did get to sketch my sister, Mickey, in bed at the hotel on the trip down when we stopped in Emporia, Virginia.

On the last day of the class while everyone was finishing up or packing up I did a pencil sketch of Ted from two different positions and Caroline finishing her painting.

We are in Fredericksburg, VA on our way home and we will be returning to reality tomorrow.