Dahlia Garden

The other day my plein air group was invited to paint in a private dahlia garden. There were so many dahlias to choose from, but this one really attracted me.

It was a damp day and my paint wasn't drying very quickly. While I was waiting I started this painting of red dahlias. I painted it directly in watercolors. I still haven't decided if I am going to add a background (muted colors maybe?) or leave it white. What do you think?

At the Beach

On Sunday I went to Smith Point Beach. It was a perfect day even though summer was officially over. It was in the high 80s with a slight breeze and a lot of sun. The water was rough from the storms out in the Atlantic, but a lot of people had come down to the beach for the day.

Right next to me was a family and the father and daughter both were sitting with umbrellas. The daughter fixed her umbrella so she was in complete shade, but she had no view.

The father had a similar setup but his umbrella was high enough that he could still see.

Meanwhile up by the pavilion there was a music festival going on. Throughout the day there were bands constantly playing and most of them were very good. I could hear them from where I was sitting on the beach, but at one point I went up for a while to watch the band and the people. Billboard Live was performing then. Sketching them was fun. When I was finally leaving at the end of the day (the sun had just gone down) there must have been about 300 people up there listening to the music.

I called my husband at 7:00 to tell him I was just leaving the beach and his response was, "Isn't it dark there?" lol

The Water's Edge

The waves have been too strong lately for most people, aside from very strong swimmers, to venture into the water. The remnants of the recent hurricanes have really churned up the waves. But people along the water's edge seem to be enjoying it if they don't go too far into the water. This was painted at Smith Point Beach.

Sky Over the Trees

After I did the ATCs at Smith Point Beach I did a 5 x  7 of the sky and ground. It was just too pretty to pass up.

ATCs Part II

Yesterday's Artist Trading Cards were all vertical, but I did a few that were horizontal too. I used a little more imagination for the skies in these.

Aritist Trading Cards

The South Bay Art Association is having an artist trading card event this Wednesday. I did a few ATCs the other day at the beach. I did them side by side, so if you could see them that way you would see the sky continues from one to the other.

Roast Coffee & Tea Trading

My sketch group met at Roast in Patchogue the other night. The weather outside was too iffy to chance getting wet. I sketched my friends who were sketching with the coffee shop as a background.

Alcohol Ink Tiles

I haven't done anything with alcohol inks in several months so I decided I should do a few before I forget how to do them. The top one is about 6 x 6 and the others are 4 1/4 x 4 1/4. I researched how to  protect them again. The protective spray doesn't seem to work so well. A bit of the color has chipped off some of the ones I did earlier. I'll have to let you know how it works when I finally use it. It gets poured on the tiles and should make them super shiny.

Boat House

One of my art groups organized a paint out at the Fire Island Lighthouse last weekend. This was the second time the group had a paint out there this year. I entered two paintings for display and sale. This is the second one which is of the boat house behind the lighthouse.

Pelham's Shops

Pelham has some interesting shops. I was attracted to the florist on the corner with its flowers and bridal gown in the window. Next to it was a sort of deli that was interesting too. I love awnings on buildings...how about you?

Pelham Tower

This clock tower is one of the things we all sketched while we were in Pelham. One of the people who lived in the house to my right came over to check what we were doing. He told me that until a few weeks ago the clock was missing its hands...so I guess we timed our visit well. There were so many lovely buildings with the rock walls like this. 

Pelham Doorway

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers ventured out north of the city a bit to the town of Pelham in Westchester County. It was a nice place to sketch with buildings that had a lot of brickwork and arches. I picked this apartment building entrance because on my side of the street there was an area where nobody could park. However that didn't stop cars from parking directly in front of the building across the street. lol I quickly sketched the lady who was waiting for her ride to take her shopping. I didn't think she would be there for long, but she surprised me...her ride must have been running late.

At the Edge

Maybe two weeks ago I threw a grey Graphit-Kreide water-soluble chunky pencil by Lyra into my beach cooler. I got it as a freebee in my swag bag in Chicago. Why did I put it in my cooler? Since it was a crayon I wasn't sure what would happen if the sun and heat were beating down on it. I have had wc crayons soften in the sunshine. I did put it in a ziploc bag so it wouldn't get wet.

When I was at the beach the other day the water was really rough...from the next storm (Jose') which is coming up the Atlantic coast. I sketched the water and the waves as well as the gull with the pencil and then added regular watercolors over it. I liked the effect I got. It was easy to soften the waves to make them look like they were splashing. I brought this home, framed it and submitted it with another piece I did yesterday to the plein air show and sale one of my art groups is having at the Fire Island Lighthouse. The painting itself is 5 x 7. I will have to check out what other colors this brand of pencil comes in. We were also given one in a dark blue, but that one isn't water-soluble.

Boatyard Revisited

Weeks Boatyard in Patchogue is one of those places that I can return to over and over. There are always new boats and an assortment of buildings from different angles.

Ink Sketches

On Thursday I had to bring my car into Nissan for an inspection and minor repair. I found a few models in the waiting area.

And later at the beach this lady modeled for me.

Corey Beach

On Wednesday our sketch group was scheduled for a last trip to Flo's in Blue Point. Unfortunately for us Flo's wasn't open during the week. So we headed down the street to Corey Beach. I sat at a picnic table to get this view.

Water View

My plein air group went to Avalon Park in Stony Brook on Tuesday morning. One of the prettiest spots is behind the grist mill overlooking the water. It was low tide when we were there. 

Beach Dunes

The beach season is winding down but I am stretching it for as long as I can. This was painted at Robert Moses State Park on Fire Island this week.

Church

On Saturday my friend and I made one more stop for a sketch. This is the Presbyterian Church of Sweet Hollow. Isn't that a pretty name? It is in Melville.

DACA Rally

When my friend, Suzala and I went to the Hicksville LIRR train station on Saturday we were there to sketch at the DACA Rally. Immigrants, advocates and members of the community marched in support of DACA and the immigrants it protects. The rally marched from the train station to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's local office.

We started sketching the crowd at the station while they were organizing. There were at least 200 people who took part. The only way we were able to sketch was standing up in the crowd. This was my first sketch. It was impossible for me to sketch a lot of the crowd before they started to march.

Since Suzala still has trouble walking long distances from her foot that was broken at the beginning of June we didn't march with the group. Instead we got back in my car and drove over to where the group was headed. Several speakers, some of them activists and some of them Dreamers stepped up to the microphone. I tried to sketch as much as I could in the time we were there...again while standing, which isn't easy. The organizers were so happy to see that we were documenting the rally and several of them took photos of the sketches.

Construction

Like so many of you I have been following the news reports of the destruction and effects of Hurricane Irma. Although it has lessened in intensity it has affected and will continue to affect so many people. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected.

Every time I have been to the Hicksville LIRR Station lately there have been workmen busily working on renovations. Usually I am taking the train form there and don't have time to stop and sketch. Yesterday we were there for another reason and were early, so my friend and I went up to the platform, plunked down our chairs and did a sketch of some of the workmen. They are putting a roof over the platform which will come in handy in wet weather.

Rye Beach

The other day I was meeting a friend midway between her house and my house at Rye Beach up in Westchester County. This beach is located on Long Island Sound about 1 1/2 hrs from me. I got there early before she arrived and pulled out my sketchbook. These are the buildings on the promenade by the beach.

On Line

I think it would be rare to go into Starbucks and find no line. That's where the Patchogue Sketch Club met on Wednesday evening. We were scheduled to sketch outdoors but we had on and off showers and rain most of the day, so two of us made an "executive decision" to sketch indoors. You can see where we went. lol The Starbucks location in Patchogue has a big table where we can congregate and you can either do the counter and the people waiting or the people at the tables and the comfy chairs.

I love the poses on the people but they don't like to stay still. Sometimes I combine part of the body of one person with another person. But these people (especially the lady in the green dress and the man in the checked shirt) had such distinctive waiting poses I sketched them completely. I did sketch in pencil rather than ink because they were moving so much that I needed to adjust the sketch of each person several times. It got easier when I got to the background. lol

Beachy Display

On Tuesday my plein air group was supposed to paint a windmill house out east, however due to repaving of local streets it was impossible to get there. So we went to the Peconic Herb Garden in Calverton instead which was nearby. They have a lot of outdoor displays but this indoor one caught my eye. It was set up in the end of a greenhouse, but it was much too hot inside to stay there. I was able to see this much while I was sitting outside the building looking through the doorway to the inside. All kinds of interesting objects were in view.

Beach Sketches in Ink

Well, Paint the Great South Bay is over. It really tired me out, so the other day I barely sketched. I did go to the beach at Smith Point to relax. I sketched the walkway from the parking lot to the beach itself, which goes under the road. I always thought it would make an interesting painting...maybe some day. 

When I picked my spot and set down my belongings I noticed there was a family in front of me. They had two little girls with them. One of them was sitting by herself with her had digging into a big bag of pretzels. She was so cute with her striped shorts and ruffled top, but that scrunchy sunhat was calling to be sketched. Luckily I did the sketch quickly because soon after they packed up and left. I guess the kids needed their afternoon nap.

Paint the Great South Bay Reception & Awards

Yesterday was the Paint the Great South Bay reception and awards ceremony. We were each allowed to hang 2 framed paintings and then display our other paintings outside on easels.

Here I am with the two paintings I put into the show.

Here are photos of a few of the other artists.

Debra Meekins

Cindy Fox

Pauline Hazard

Regina Haliday

Rosanne O'Reilly

Here are the winning paintings.

1st Place - Fabian Tacuri

2nd Place - Larry Johnston

3rd Place - Anderew Davidson

Honorable Mention - Segundo Orellana

Reese's 1900 Pub

On Saturday morning Paint the Great South Bay had a Quick Draw Event. I'm not sure why it is called a quick draw since it wasn't quick. The idea was that we would have our canvas or paper stamped in the morning. Then we could start painting at 9am and had to be back in front of the Patchogue Theater at noon. We could paint anywhere in the designated area but if you were going any distance it would cut into your painting time. 

I had checked out the town the other morning to see which buildings might have light and shadows on them. I liked the way Reese's 1900 Pub looked, but apparently so did several other artists. Four of us were painting pretty much the same scene but we were all using different mediums or standing in different locations. This was my view. Except for about 3 minutes there was no sunshine or shadows...so much for all that planning. lol

And this is the painting I did.

You can see three of us were lined up along the same side of the street. One artist, Larry, was up the block tucked into a store entrance.

(Left to right: me, Linda Davison Mathues, Cindy Fox) Photo by Laurie Devlin

 Here are two of the other artists working on their paintings.

Cindy Fox (photo by Laurie Devlin)

Linda Davison Mathues (photo by Laurie Devlin)

Pauline Hazard (Photo by Laurie Devlin)

At noon we went back to the front of the Patchogue Theater and if necessary matted and framed our work. Then they were placed on our easels for the public to view them and vote on them.

We hung around for about an hour while passersby were given tickets to vote on their choice for the quick draw winner. Larry Johnston was declared the winner. I came in second.

Left to right: Gina Lento, Krystle DiNicola, Frank Zambrano, Cindy Fox

I don't have a photo of Larry's finished painting but here is a photo of him painting it that morning.

Larry Johnston (Photo by Laurie Devlin)