Tuesday, July 30, 2019

A Bit More

Things have been too busy and I forget to take photos of my work or post. This was done yesterday in Haarlem.






Saturday, July 27, 2019

L K Bing Workshoo

My workshop yesterday was with LK Bing. We did a small value study and then a larger piece.

I also included the group photo after the last sketchcrawl.








Friday, July 26, 2019





Life has been busy and extremely hot in Amsterdam...record setting. I have been trying to sketch before it gets too hot but the second sketch didn’t happen that way. We went out sketching about 7 PM when it should have cooled off a bit. Doing this sketch I was just dripping! The weather should change tomorrow. 

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

My Neighborhood in Amsterdam




I haven’t ventured too far from my neighborhood to sketch. There is so much right here! The first sketch was done along a nearby canal. The bottom sketch is my apartment and the boat docked outside. My apartment is the first door on the tight with the delft vases in the window. Today it was very hot...about 97 degrees. Luckily there wasn’t much humidity but it still saps your energy. Last night I fell asleep at 8:30 but woke up at 3:30 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. I did stuff on the internet and then went out to take sunrise photos.


Tuesday, July 23, 2019





Canals and bicycles dominate the scenes here in Amsterdam..

Monday, July 22, 2019

Philly Airport Sketches





Waiting for my flight from Philadelphia to Amsterdam. Heading to the Urban Sketchers Symposium.
#uskamsterdam2019

Saturday, July 20, 2019

At the Pool

Today we have had a heat advisory all day. The temperature was in the mid 90s with high humidity. I decided to head to the pool to try and keep cool. It was fine if I was in the water, or wet from the water and sitting under the shade of an umbrella. Here are a few people who were keeping cool in the pool.


I have been packing. I am heading off to the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam on Monday. I will be adding a few days to that part of the trip and then taking the train to Paris for 5 nights before I fly home. I hate packing! I don't know which is worse...deciding what clothes to pack or deciding what art materials to pack.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Porch Seating

I like front porches with furniture to sit on. It looks so welcoming like you could just stop by and sit a spell. This was sketched in Sayville this morning.


Thursday, July 18, 2019

Dinner

Last night we had Chinese food for dinner. For some reason the take-out I get isn't usually packaged in the white cartons any more. I went to a different place this time and when I saw the containers I knew I wanted to sketch them. When I told my husband not to throw out the containers he looked at me like I was crazy. lol


Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Maritime Museum

Yes, I skipped a day of sketching...this is happening too frequently. lol We were off visiting good friends yesterday and today, so I didn't get to sketch at all. I remedied that tonight. We got home about 5 PM and I headed out to meet the Patchogue Sketch Club at the Long Island Maritime Museum in Sayville. It was a hot day today so I was afraid the weather would be unbearable there but there was a nice breeze for a while and it was about 6 degrees cooler than here. There are some old boats there that are always fun to sketch.


Monday, July 15, 2019

Bryant Park Part 2 & Beach Sketch

Bryant Park has a lot of different views. I decided to stay put in the shade but had a nice view across their lawn to the back of the NY Public Library. These two people were sitting and cooling off in my line of site, so I included them too.


Here are some of the sketchers who were with us on Saturday. A few had already left by this time.


Here I am with one of my sketches at show and tell.


It has been a long time since I sat on the beach and sketched people, but I was able to do that today at Robert Moses.



Sunday, July 14, 2019

Bryant Park Part 1

The weather forecast was for sunny and hot in the city, so as soon as we got to Bryant Park, Suzala and I found the shadiest spot that had a good view of the Bryant Park Fountain. We pulled over a table and a few chairs and set up to sketch. Other NYC Urban Sketchers joined us and we ended up with a big crowd of sketchers under the shady trees. Typical of urban sketching something often happens to change your view. All of a sudden the water in the fountain stopped! Who expected that? It turned out that they were cleaning out the water at the base of the fountain. It took them about 20 minutes and then the water was turned back on.


Here I am working on my sketch surrounded by just a few of the other sketchers.


Since it was a comfortable, shady spot I just turned a little and did a sketch of the Bryant Park Cafe which was right across from us. Both of these sketches were done on 5 x 7 loose papers.





Saturday, July 13, 2019

People Here and There

Today I took the Long Island Railroad into the city. That always gives me some time for sketching on the train. I did two this morning.



Later in Bryant Park I sketched some of the men playing bocce.


Friday, July 12, 2019

Vinyl Painting 2

The deadline for the vinyl record paintings is while I will be away so I made sure to finish my second painting so I can hand it in next week. Sunflowers always make me smile. This one was also done with acrylics.


Thursday, July 11, 2019

Patchogue Charm

I am always looking for interesting spots to sketch when I drive around. This was on Maple Avenue in Patchogue.


Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Flo's

Tonight the Patchogue Sketch Club met at Flo's in Bluepoint. We've sketched there many times before and it is always fun. I usually focus on the building but this time I picked a table. Some of the people I included were sitting at the table but left over time, so new people were added. I loved sketching the two little kids...but they moved a lot.


My friend, Pat took a photo of me sketching along the street.


Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Vinyl Record Painting 1

The South Bay Art Association is having an exhibit of paintings done on vinyl records. Records were passed out to members and we were told to use any medium and any subject we want.  I discovered that vinyl isn't so easy to work with. I usually work with watercolors but I wasn't sure they would work on the vinyl. I decided to work with acrylics instead. First I covered the record with 2 coats of gesso followed by several coats of white acrylic before it covered the black of the record. I'm pretty happy with the way this came out...now on to the second one.


Monday, July 8, 2019

A Bit of Produce

Sometimes I just don't get an outdoor sketch done...and today was one of those days. It was rainy this morning and then I went shopping. It didn't clear up until around 1:30 and I wanted to get some exercise in the pool. But I knew I had to sketch something, so I pulled out some of the produce I bought earlier in the day and voila'. This is a direct watercolor.


Sunday, July 7, 2019

The Lakeland Farm

On Lakeland Ave in Sayville there is a really nice farm/farm stand called "The Farm." It has a field with lots of flowering plants that can be bought and this rustic lean-to where they sell produce and other plants. I only did a small sketch of part of it and it was mostly done in direct watercolor. I had sketched in the umbrella in pencil and then thought to myself that I should do direct watercolor instead so the rest of it was completed that way.


Saturday, July 6, 2019

Gantry Plaza State Park

Today the NYC Urban Sketchers met at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City. The park houses these structures called gantries. They were built in 1925 and are actually huge cranes that picked up boxcars from barges on the East River. Then they were transferred onto train tracks that once ran up to the edge of the water. From there the boxcars could go on to further points on Long Island, or upstate and on to New England. They could transfer 100 ton cars and were very quick and efficient. The train tracks are gone but it is nice to see that the gantries themselves were restored and kept to mark this time in NY history. 
#momentsketchers

The weather forecast was for scattered thunderstorms but we decided to take a chance and go anyway. It was hot and humid and rather uncomfortable unless you were sitting in the shade. I wanted to capture the Long Island logo on this gantry which meant sitting out on the walkway in the sun.


I moved over to the shade  to finish the sketch above and then do the sketch below. I used the Elegant Writer pen for parts of this and I think its bleeding effect worked well with the added watercolors.




We took a break for lunch in the shade and then one of my friends and I headed to a market to get something cold to drink and cool off in the air conditioning. As we were walking down to the water again to sketch the Pepsi sign we felt a few drops. There really wasn't any place to sit and sketch this view that was protected. We lucked out and the rain held off.



We did gather at the end of the day for our "show and tell." We got about 2/3 of the way through showing our work when the raindrops started to fall. We finished up quickly and all headed home. Luckily my friend's husband had driven us there and was waiting up on the main street for us with the car.


Friday, July 5, 2019

Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society

The Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society in Bellport has this wonderful colorful garden in front of their main building. There wasn't a good place to sit in my chair, so I used my mobile studio to paint this morning.


Thursday, July 4, 2019

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to those who are celebrating here. Today is a special 4th of July. It would have been my mother's 100th birthday. She was a Yankee Doodle Girl loved by all of us. Family was the most important thing and she relished her children and her grandchildren. I miss her every day. Here are a few photos of her.

Mom at age 15.

Mom (left) and her older sister, Mary.

Glamour girl.

Mom and me.

Today my art group (The South Bay Art Association) held our annual Artists on the Lane show. I was helping to run it. We had 67 vendors and a lot of people came out in the heat to see the show and shop. I had a little free time to do a sketch. Our organization's booth was holding a raffle of donated artwork. The proceeds go toward scholarships to local schools.





Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Patchogue House

I had a busy day today running around to help setup for a big outdoor art event tomorrow in Bellport that my art organization sponsors. There will be about 70 vendors. We did all we could do this afternoon and I need to be there at 7 a.m. to check in the vendors. I also had an art reception for one of my friends tonight. I am so tired! Today's heat didn't help. I did find a little time while I was in Patchogue this morning to do a little painting of this house.


Tuesday, July 2, 2019

A Seat in the Lavender Field

My plein air group was scheduled to go to Lavender By the Bay in East Marion this morning. Even though I didn't get back from Maine until last night I wasn't missing this great place for painting. I love going out in the huge lavender field and being surrounded by the fragrance. It is a very popular spot...in fact there was another art group painting there today in addition to all the regular customers.
This is my painting from today. I needs a little tweaking before I call it finished. I do like how I was able to capture the softness of the lavender color in the back near the fence. Of course I had to visit their shop and buy some lavender sachets and dried lavender too.


Monday, July 1, 2019

On the Ferry

30 x 30 is finally over and I can get back to using ink more often. I will still try to do some painting directly in watercolors. Our Maine trip came to an end today. We left Maine around 9:00 AM, stopped for lunch in Kittery, and reached the New London ferry dock early enough to catch the 4:00 ferry back to Orient Point which then is about 1 1/2 hrs from home. This was the emptiest ferry we have ever been on. Usually the cars are packed onboard, but there was lots of space today.

We headed upstairs but there were very few people around. I headed into the bar area and sure enough there was a couple seated at the bar. I figured they weren't going anywhere for a while and I was right. They were there for the entire sketch.