The Farm

For my Paint the Great South Bay location yesterday I went to a local garden center/farm stand called "The Farm" on Lakewood Avenue in Sayville.  I have sketched this spot several times in the past but the area where you can paint is small so usually I just sit in my car to paint so I won't be in the way of the customers. I did stop there the other day to buy tomatoes and asked the man behind the counter if I could come an paint. I explained what the event was and he told me it was fine to come during the week, Wednesday being their quiet day.

Since it was a small area I was glad that no other sketchers joined me. I think we might have been in the way. I thought I knew what I wanted to paint, but then I saw this display with sunflowers just calling to be painted. I introduced myself to the lady that was there who turned out to be one of the owners. She was very sweet and told me I could paint anywhere and if I wanted her to move things around she would happily do that. Here is the view I decided to paint.

And here is the finished piece. The owner liked it so much she bought it immediately. That always makes a plein air day extra special. Since the painting was done as part of Paint the Great South Bay I will pay a sales commission to the Patchogue Arts Council who is running the event.

She had some beautiful hibiscus that were as big as dinner plates. lol

While I was painting my friend, Michele DePaolo came to see what I was up to and took this photo of me while I was working. A celebrity also visited while I was there...Michael Kors the designer stopped by. He looked familiar but I didn't realize it was him at the time. The owner asked me if I had seen him.

Boats and a Rickety Building

Yesterday I called the Frank M. Weeks Yacht Yard in Patchogue (see yesterday's painting) to find out if we could paint in the actual boat yard. I've been there before but have always painted from my car. I explained to the owner about the Paint the Great South Bay event and he said he had no problem with some of us coming over to paint on the property. So I contacted some of my fellow artists and we headed over there.

There were a few worn looking buildings and some great boats. Here is where I set up my easel...across from a dilapidated building with lots of character.

I figured out how to set the timer on my iPhone to take a selfie while I was working. It was a cold and damp morning...note the sweatshirt. (I later changed to a fleece jacket.)

While we were painted assorted workmen came over and told us stories about the old buildings and some of the boats.

Here is my completed painting.

Several other artists joined in and painted.

Cindy working on her painting.

Gina painting one of the buildings in pastel.

Cindy trying to keep her painting dry.

You'll notice that Cindy has an umbrella up. It started to rain lightly just about the time I was finishing up my painting so I put it in the car quickly so the watercolors wouldn't get wet. Cindy wanted to at least finish her boat before stopping. I think she was successful with that part but still needed to do the trees.

A Sweet Time Sketching

Paint the Great South Bay caught the attention of a few of the businesses in Patchogue. Last night Kilwins Chocolates invited the participating artists to come and sketch inside their shop. The deal was to sketch something sweet and get something sweet. Each of us had a coupon to be redeemed for a free ice cream upon completion of a sketch. Only a few of us showed up but we definitely enjoyed ourselves. Those who didn't join us really lost out on a great opportunity.

From the time we walked in, this idea felt like it would be trouble with a capital T. It smelled so good inside and we were surrounded by candy in all its various states...candy pieces, fudge, caramels, popcorn covered in caramel or chocolate...you get the picture. There was someone making dipped chocolate pieces. There was also someone making caramel sauce for the caramel apples. How could I, a chocoholic, survive in there? I knew I couldn't sit there and sketch chocolate...that would be too hard to bear, so I picked the caramel apples covered with chopped pecans inside a display case. I don't like caramel apples or candy apples, so I figured this was a good choice. At least I wouldn't be drooling over them while I sketched. People loved seeing us sketching the sweet treats.

I had my stool tucked in the corner so I would be out of the way. Here is what I was facing.

Don't they look yummy? Even I thought they looked delicious.

The store itself is really cute. We are hoping to take our regular sketch group back there another night.

Rosi Berry was also sketching the caramel apples but from afar.

Gina Lento was sketching some small boxes of assorted chocolates.

Cindy Fox got up close and personal with several items in the display case.

Pauline Hazard sketched the whole display case.

When I was done I traded my coupon and my sketch for a cup of New Orleans Praline ice cream. I took it to go since I hadn't eaten dinner yet. I shared it with my hubby for dessert after dinner. It was delicious so this store may be a problem since I am in Patchogue so often. lol

The owner of this Kilwins location is going to display our sketches inside the shop.

Morning Painting

This morning I decided to go along the canal in Patchogue to paint my next piece for "Paint the Great South Bay." I texted a friend and asked her if she wanted to join me and then I posted the location on the FB page for the event. Gina and 2 other sketchers joined me there.
#paintthegreatsouthbay

I have sketched the Weeks Yacht Yard several times in the past, but each time the painting was fairly small. This time I wanted to do a panorama of the scene. Here is my setup...

and the final painting.

Here are a few photos of the other artists.

Gina Lento at work.

Larry Johnston capturing the scene.

Rosi Berry at her easel.

Paint the Great South Bay - Nocturne Painting

I am participating in a week-long plein air event called "Paint the Great South Bay." Artists who sign up have their canvases or papers stamped and then can paint anywhere in the designated areas until next Saturday when they submit 2 pieces of their art done this week for a "wet paints show and sale" in a gallery in Patchogue. 

The event started yesterday and to kick it off we had a nocturne painting session along Main Street in Patchogue. We started at 6pm and some artists were there until 11pm or later. I focused on a clock, some planters and the view across the street toward the Patchogue Theatre.

Here is my painting at the beginning of the night. I had a book light to help me see what I was doing on my paper. It would have helped to have one for my palette too.

I was working at my easel. I think the display window from the store near me added a bit of light for my view too.

Here is the finished painting. I did about 90% of it on site and the rest of the final details at home.

Here are photos of some of my friends that were painting nearby.

Gina Lento was working on the church steeple.

Regina worked on the Patchogue Theatre.

Cindy Fox also worked on the church steeple.

Segundo did a sketch of Main Street.

The event continued today, but I had other plans and didn't participate. Hopefully I will paint somewhere tomorrow.

Beach Sketches

I am trying to get in as much time at the beach as possible and usually make time to do a few sketches. These were done with my Elegant Writer pen.

Summer Concert

On Wednesday the last of the summer concerts were held in Gillette Park in Sayville. The band, Seven Turns, an Allman Brothers tribute band was playing. They were pretty good and the crowd love them. I wish I could post these sketches side by side because that's how I drew them...but on separate pages. 

I got to the park around 6:15 and I started with the audience sketch before the concert started because I knew by 7:30 it would be nearly dark. I didn't sketch everyone...just a sample of some interesting poses. Once the band started playing I knew I had to sketch them too, so I moved to the left side of my Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook. There was a sketch on the other side of the page, but the paper is good and nothing showed through. It got dark before I was finished but I had brought along a book light to use which helped a lot. (My friend Gina had the idea to bring a book light the last time we sketched there, so my thanks to her for a good idea.) I am real happy with the way these came out!

Dahlia

My plein air group was invited to paint at a private garden this week. The couple takes part in dahlia competitions. Their flowers were just gorgeous!

Oyster Bay - Part II - Sweet Tomato and the Bonanza Stand

We met up for lunch in Oyster Bay at a very rustic place called the Bonanza Stand. It had hot dogs and fries which are supposed to be very good, but I went across the street and got a healthier lunch at a place called Sweet Tomato. When lunch was over I went and sketched Sweet Tomato.

The Bonanza Stand also is known for their Italian Ices...after this sketch I did go get a chocolate Italian ice which was absolutely wonderful! It is made with Ghiradeli chocolate. It was so rich I couldn't finish the whole thing...and I ordered a small.

Oyster Bay is definitely worth another visit.

Oyster Bay - Part I - Wild Honey

On Sunday the NYC Urban Sketchers made a visit that was a little closer to me...the town of Oyster Bay. It was quite a ride for those coming from Manhattan or Brooklyn, but we ended up with about 22 people showing up for the day. For me by car it was about a 45 minute ride because it is on the north shore of Long Island. Oyster Bay is the home of Billy Joel and at one time was the residence of President Teddy Roosevelt. This building once housed his office upstairs. Now I'm not sure what is upstairs, but a lovely restaurant called Wild Honey is downstairs. It has been there for a long time.

Festival del Amor

The Patchogue Arts Council has been celebrating the Summer of Love all summer long with art shows and events. On Saturday evening they had their "Festival del Amor"and the Patchogue Sketch Club was invited to sketch. A few of us showed up. I only stayed for part of it and my friend and I were there before the flamenco performance started. The stage was set with a large poster and the chairs were covered with lovely Spanish shawls. I did add the guitarist to this page when he started playing.

The flamenco dancers from Sol Y Sombra were really good. Their were 3 women in colorful, tiered dresses and a gentleman in a colorful shirt. The dancing was intense. They each did a solo piece and it was hard to sketch them because they moved so much. These are composites of some of their movements. The bad part about sketching was that it took so long to get the actual sketch and color done that I didn't get to "watch" the performances as an audience member. I wish I had been able to watch more of it and appreciate the dance.

While the festival was going on my friend Amanda Reilly was painting one of her large canvases. Isn't she amazing?

Another Beach Day

With a storm off the coast the water at Smith Point Beach was really rough for a few days this week. It was after to dig in the sand or just watch the water than try to swim.

Beach People

I tried to use the technique from the workshop at the beach the other day. Some of it was semi-successful.

This time I did a regular painting of people in front of me.

Anne Watkins Workshop

If sketching at Governors Island wasn't enough, several of us were scheduled to take a workshop sponsored by the NYC Urban Sketchers with Anne Watkins starting at 6pm in Bryant Park. My friend, Suzala's husband, Rick, was a prince and had driven us into the city in the morning and spent the day with us at Governors Island. Then he drove us uptown for the workshop. The workshop was on doing fast gestures of people with watercolors. Anne works with flat brushes, something that I generally don't use. She wanted us to paint our subject in large blocks of color softening with water where the shoulder or back turned away. We used very little detail and she wanted us to use mass not line. I had a very hard time not using line, but I did my best. Here are a few that I thought were successful, although Anne thought I still used too much line. Since we didn't start until 6 it was really getting dark by the time the workshop was nearly over. We wrapped up about 7:45.

A woman in a colorful sari was sitting near a man who was on his cell phone.

My friend, Rayle was working nearby.

Paula was close by painting too.

Suzala was working on her gesture sketches.

A man on his cell phone was nearby...a good model.

Olivia was painting near the wall overlooking the park.

Here is a photo of Anne Watkins doing her demo.

All in all, it was an interesting method, but since I don't want to paint exactly like someone else, I will use some of her ideas, but I'm happy using line to show the shape too.