The Bean

We had a damp, rainy morning on Thursday and I needed to go out sketching somewhere. I called one of my friends and we met at a new coffee shop in Patchogue called The Bean. It has become very popular and was fairly crowded. We had a hard time finding a place to sit and sketch.

Waves

I went to the beach at Smith Point Beach on Wednesday...needed to see the water. It wasn't a real beach day. It was too windy. But the surf looked great.

Starbucks

We had rain the other day and I wanted to get out and sketch somewhere, so I headed to a local Starbucks. The nice thing about coffee places is nobody cares how long you linger. 

The Barn

In the town of Ronkonkoma there is a drive-thru store called The Barn. It is a great spot to stop quickly when you don't want to run inside a store to shop...just pull up and order what you need. I remember when my sister had her boys and we would be heading home from some place, places like this made it so convenient to pick up food when the boys were finally asleep in the back seat. This looked like a fun...and fairly busy spot to sketch from across the street.

View of the Mews

Just outside one of the gates of Central Park's Conservancy Garden there was this great view across the water to what I think was once a boathouse. Now it is a visitor information center.

Conservatory Garden Statue

On Saturday I went into the city to meet the NYC Urban Sketchers in Central Park at the Conservatory Garden at 5th Ave and 105 St. It is a beautiful and well-tended section of the park. We've sketched there before. This formal garden has an English, French, and Italian garden within it. This was painted in the English garden. I was surprised to see that the water lilies were still in bloom...I guess due to the unusually warm weather until recently. I loved the statue and tried to find the title of it but had no success.

Lifeguards Only

At Robert Moses State Park right near the concession area there is a building and what is like a lifeguard garden around it. There is a funny sign that sort of looks like a shark bit it and lots of driftwood pieces standing up like statues. Over the dune is a volleyball net. There are usually a few lifeguards hanging out in the building, but now that it is off season I don't know if there are any around. I know the park stays open year round, and has a lot of visitors because the Fire Island Lighthouse pathway is at the eastern end of the parking lot. There is some staff there year round. I love visiting there at all times of the year.

Beach Sketches

On Wednesday I went down to the beach in Sayville. It was a Jewish holiday so the local kids were off from school and there were a number of them around the beach and play area. These three were fun to sketch.

Then that evening the Patchogue Sketch Club went to Shirley Beach for what will probably be our last beach sketch night for the year since it is getting dark so early and we have other events planned for the next few weeks. This was my first visit to Shirley Beach. In fact I didn't know it was there. First I sketched the view looking down the beach along the bay. 

Then I noticed that the sun was setting, so I turned around to capture that. It was hard to do because the colors changed so fast and the air was very humid so the paper wasn't drying. It is hard to do layers of watercolor that way. lol

Waiting at Nissan

Rain was forecast the other day so I figured it would be a good day to take my car to Nissan in Patchogue for service. There are always a few willing models in the waiting area to sketch...even a lady with tattoos on the right. They told me I would be there for about an hour and a half...but I was done in about 40 minutes and barely got this sketched and painted. I'm noticing I didn't add color to the hand or face of the lady with the tattoos. lol 

Winery

We have a number of good wineries out on the east end of Long Island. This is one of my favorites, Paumanok in Aquabogue. The wine is good but what I like is that you can actually see over the vines and how the vines follow the contours of the land. Most of the wineries here are very flat and you can't see the tops of the rows.

Awaiting Florence

Over the weekend while Hurricane Florence was devastating parts of North and South Carolina, it affected our surf up here on Long Island. I thought the waves would be bigger but the undertow was really strong even if you were standing at the very edge. My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the storm's path. This was sketched at Smith Point Beach.

Bubble Man

On Saturday I took a workshop from another urban sketcher at Columbus Circle. I haven't finished the piece of artwork from the workshop, so I will post that at another time. In the afternoon I met up with the rest of the NYC Urban Sketchers near the model boat basin in Central Park. Since I had been there over Labor Day Weekend, I focused on an entertaining scene of the bubble man busy at work. I'm lucky I can blow tiny bubbles. These huge ones always amaze me. He even blew bubbles inside bubbles.

Last week I had seen a post on the  Urban Sketchers Perth Facebook page by someone from Perth who was visiting NY and posted a photo from Brooklyn. I invited her to join our group if she was free on Saturday, telling her where the group would be but that I was taking a workshop in the morning but would be sketching with the group in the afternoon. I also said how I had enjoyed meeting some of the members of the Perth group when I was in Australia. So when I found the group in the afternoon I asked if anyone from Australia had met up with them. Jacqui had found them and sketched with them in the morning. She went off to sketch a bit away from the group in the afternoon but promised to come back for our "show and tell" at the end of the day. Here is Jacqui Masters sharing one of her sketches of a lamppost from Central Park. She was really sweet and so thankful that I had contacted her and let her know we would be sketching. 

We also had another visitor. Debo was in NYC from near Savannah, Georgia for a doctor's appointment for her husband. She has visited before but this was the first time I met her.

One of the nice things about the Urban Sketchers is meeting people from other places and having a common interest. You can meet great people that way!

Alcohol Ink Tiles

Just in case you were missing seeing my alcohol ink tiles here are a few recent ones. A friend of mine said she would like to buy a sunflower tile and wanted to know if I had done any southwestern design tiles. She wanted one as a gift for a friend she would be visiting. I told her I hadn't done any southwestern designs but I would give it a try. She also wanted larger tiles so I did the 6 inch ones instead of the 4 inch ones. The inks are very unpredictable so I'm never sure what I will get. I brought her 2 sunflowers (not pictured) and these two. She bought all four of them.

(BTW the white circles are not part of the design but a reflection of the lighting in her kitchen. 

I will be doing several shows before Christmas so I need to get started on developing an inventory for the shows.

Carnival

On Friday night I met my friend, Suzala to go to a carnival in Merrick. It was mostly rides and games, with a little food thrown in. We wanted to paint the scene at night and it was pretty dark by the time we finished. It was fun.

Suzala painting.

My painting and the scene.

Sunflower Field

I have painted this view of the Suffolk County Farm many times, but have never seen sunflowers in the field...cows maybe, but not sunflowers. This view is on the exit ramp of a very busy highway here on Long Island. The ramp runs on the south side of the Long Island Expressway and there is this very roomy spot next to the marked exit ramp. I'm always expecting the highway police to come along and give me a hard time about parking there, but so far I've been lucky. It isn't like I'm anywhere near the traffic coming off. Just one side of the field had the flowers so I backed up into the corner to get this view. I always sit in my car for safety when I paint or sketch there.

Fountain in the Mist

After painting the fountain I posted yesterday I must have had fountains on my mind. The Patchogue Sketch Club was meeting at Post Morrow in Brookhaven on Wednesday evening. There is a fountain there too, although I've never seen any water in it. I debated about not going because as I pulled out of my garage it was already starting to sprinkle. Our weather had been iffy for days with showers popping up quite often. I ended up driving to the location only to find that it was misting there too.  I started to paint directly in watercolor figuring that if I worked quickly I might be able to complete something before the weather was too bad. I went back to my car and got my painting umbrella which helped keep part of me dry but wasn't doing anything for my paper. I stayed for about 40 minutes and I did as much as I could before it got worse. I took the sketch to the car before I packed up and when I got home I notices there were all tiny water marks on the painting from the mist. I could have worked on it more but I like the effect.

Sayville Fountain & Breakfast

I was passing by this fountain in Sayville and noticed it had water. The last time I sketched it I think it must not have been summer because the water wasn't running. There was part of a house in the scene but I used artistic license and left it out. Most of the water is saved whites but I also added a few narrow drips of water with my white gel pen.

This was a sketch for a recent scavenger hunt on Wet Canvas...food and fruit. It was hard not to eat the breakfast before sketching it...thus the bites taken out of the peach. :)

Lunch, Anyone?

While I was at the festival in Patchogue the other day there were booths selling lots of foods. I liked the colorful look to the sausage & pepper truck, although that is something that would never tempt me. I worked on this until I heard that the zeppole eating contest would be starting shortly. I had friends that were taking part in that so I didn't want to miss it. For anyone unfamiliar with zeppoles they are fried dough, sort of like a doughnut but shaped more like an oddly shaped ball, then they are dusted with powdered sugar. They are delicious but turn to lead in your stomach. lol

A Classic

On Saturday I went to a festival in Patchogue and there was a car show as part of the event. I couldn't resist sketching this 1932 Oldsmobile. I met the owner, who was a classic himself and probably older than the car. lol

Last Lobster

Lobsters were on sale at the supermarket last week so I figured I'd better grab a few before the price goes back up. This little fellow posed nicely for me. I didn't have to keep moving him back to the correct spot. :)

Pine Neck Park

At the end of Pine Neck Avenue in Patchogue is a small park with a bit of waterfront, a boat launching ramp, and a dock. Just as I was getting ready to sketch a family came along with fishing poles and crabbing nets. This young man stayed put for quite a while.

Return to the Eastport House

On Tuesday morning we made a return to the same house in Eastport as in the post below. The owners are such nice people. They put out cold water in a cooler for us and fresh picked blackberries. It was another hot day so I found a spot in the back of the house that was in the shade for most of the morning. I liked the collection of pots in the back garden. Again they had fencing around the garden to keep out the deer which will eat everything they can get.

Eastport House

Last week my plein air group went to paint at a house in Eastport. The owners have this historic house which is surrounded by gardens in the front, the back, and on both sides. There was a big area that was a vegetable garden in the front of the house, surrounded by 10 ft high wire fencing to keep out the deer. I ignored all of that and focused on the side of the house, the side garden and the flag. It was a very hot day, close to 99 degrees and I was painting out in the sun...with very little shade.  I ended up leaving before this was completed because I was just too hot. I had to finish it up at home. I am really happy with the way it came out.

Pine Neck Avenue

The Patchogue Sketch Club met the other night at the end of Pine Neck Avenue in Patchogue. There is a small beach area, a boat launching area, and a dock. Right after I sat down a family with a few children came along to do some fishing and crabbing. This young man stayed nearby most of the time.

Sunday in NYC

On Sunday I went into NYC with two other artist friends. We met at the Met Breuer which is a small museum that is part of the Metropolitan Museum. The exhibits here are more modern/contemporary than you would find at the Met itself. We viewed sketches that were in the exhibit Obsession: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele, and Picasso from the Scofield Thayer Collection. It was a great exhibit and you could easily see the influence of each on the work of the other.

Then we went to the Neue Galleri where we had lunch and then saw another exhibit of the works of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. These included some nudes, portraits and landscapes. It was wonderful. This was one of the paintings on exhibit by Klimt and the detail and amount of gold and silver in this was just so impressive. I had only seen this in books and it just amazed me.

We had a little time to walk through a bit of Central Park and stop by the boat pond to do a quick sketch. I did the ink on location and started to add the color with watercolor pencils but we had to leave to head to the next part of our day.

Our final stop was the Flute Bar for a Dr. Sketchy session. I have posted some sketches from their events before. Basically they have what is a burlesque model that poses in several outfits. Our model for the afternoon was Tiger Bay who I believe was Miss Coney Island 2017. Several other NYC Urban Sketchers happened to be there too. Costumes, music, a model, contests and friends. What more could you want? Here are a few somewhat risqué sketches from yesterday afternoon. Quick poses and longer poses. Tiger Bay posed in one costume made of tiny pom-poms, one made of feathers, and a final one of leather.

We left here on a 7:40 am train and  got back at nearly 10:00 pm. It was a full day!

Catching Up - Varney's & Hog Farm

It seems I have somehow managed to get back in here and post. I don't know what happened, but I'm glad to be back. I will post two images today to try and catch up.

First is Varney's, a restaurant on the outskirts of Bellport. I liked the cheery sunflowers on the left. I've eaten here and they have great mussels.

On Saturday some of the sketchers from the Patchogue Sketch Club met at Hog Farm in Brookhaven for a bit of sketching. One of our members has a farm share there so she goes there a lot and asked if we could come along with her. I decided the produce looked too good to resist. I made sure I was standing out of the way of the customers while I worked. I did buy some tomatoes before I left...yum!

Welcome to Patchogue

My Wednesday night sketch group met near Harbor Crab Restaurant in Patchogue this week. There was a nice view of the restaurant and marina...and we were lucky to have a breezy night and no skeeters.

Pondering the Ocean

This was painted at the beginning of the week when I was at Smith Point Beach. I like capturing people in their beach poses.