Friday, April 30, 2021

Fun at the Playground

 While I was by the park in Sayville I watched the kids playing around in the playground. They were enjoying the weather and having so much fun.



Thursday, April 29, 2021

Quick Walk

Yesterday we were supposed to have temperatures near 80, so I headed down by the water in Sayville. With the breeze off the water it was a bit chilly and I thought a jacket was needed like this couple going for a quick walk. Of course there were people in shorts and the little kids running around in the playground looked warm enough in short sleeves. I did have on my flip-flops!



Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Lefty Lucy Glamour

 Lefty Lucy posed last night for "Let's Art With Lefty Lucy" in a beautiful gown,,,very glam!

The final 20 minute pose.

5 minute pose

10 minute pose


10 minute pose done in direct watercolor.



Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Northport Harbor

 On Saturday instead of zooming with the NYC Urban Sketchers I met up with three members of the group who happen to live on Long Island like I do. All of us have been anxious to get together and sketch so we met at Northport harbor. I've sketched in Northport before, but when I got there Ruth texted us where she was and she happened to be in a location that I hadn't been before. I faced this long building that must have been part of a boat club or something similar. People walked along the building to the front and then I couldn't see them. I was attracted to the dock with the walkways in front and all the jumbled things underneath the overhang. When I started sketching that area was so dark that about the only thing I could see were all the round buoys so I used a little artistic license for what was there. Although originally I thought about doing this horizontally. I wanted to be able to fit in the rocks and grass, the walkway and the view under the pier, so vertical seemed like a better choice. We all did one sketch and then just enjoyed hanging out in the sunshine and catching up on what we've been doing since we last got together. It was a really nice day!




Monday, April 26, 2021

Pink Has It

 As you can see, I am partial to these pink magnolias. This was done at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum last week. I used Strathmore toned tan paper for this. Soon the trees will have lost their blossoms. There is so much spring green around right now.



Sunday, April 25, 2021

Yellow Magnolia

Usually when we think of magnolia trees we visualize the pink and white blossoms. This year I found a few yellow magnolia trees. This one was in Bayport. They are pretty but I still think I prefer the pink ones. They look more delicate for some reason. Which do you prefer?



Saturday, April 24, 2021

Still Life

 While participating in the Wet Canvas Scavenger Hunt I put together a sill life for two of the items on the list. The tomatoes are for "tastes good" and the perfume is for "smells good."



Friday, April 23, 2021

Anatomy Night

 Rain was forecast for Wednesday night so the Patchogue Sketch Club did a Zoom meeting. We did some anatomy sketches. It was interesting but I don't think it taught me anything about anatomy. Here are my sketches.





Thursday, April 22, 2021

Lefty Lucy Night

 Tuesday was "Let's Art With Lefty Lucy." This week she was dressed like a Muppet named Janet. I didn't remember her, so I checked and Janet played guitar in the Muppet band. There wasn't much of a resemblance except for the hat and the ropelike yellow hair. It was fun to sketch her anyway.








Wednesday, April 21, 2021

People & Faces Workshop

 On Monday afternoon I took a mini workshop through Etchr. The subject was drawing people and faces quickly as an urban sketcher. I've had a lot of practice putting figures into my sketches but I tend to fuss and take my time. I have been approached to possibly do sketches at a wedding ceremony...I haven't committed myself yet but I thought this workshop might give me some hints and it did. The workshop was given by Ro'isin Cure' from Ireland. I took a workshop with her at the Urban Sketching Symposium in Porto a few years ago. It was a good workshop. The colors she usually uses are Paynes grey, burnt umber, burnt Sienna, yellow ochre, and opera or opera pink. You can pretty much mix any skin tones from these colors.

She sketches people directly in ink using a fude fountain pen that she turns over so she is using the other side of the nib. She gets lines that are almost like sketching in pencil. She also sketches in brown waterproof ink. I have a fude pen but it is filled with waterproof black ink and of course wouldn't sketch the way hers did. So I was at a bit of a disadvantage in that respect. We worked from a reference page of sketches she had already done and she explained her process for each sketch as we followed along. She tends to leave a lot of the sketch white (especially on the face). 

She also spoke about the differences in sketching adults vs children and gave a few hints about sketching the "older" adults. Here are my results. 



Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Over the Fence

 The flowering trees have really captured my attention this year. This was sketched in Sayville down by the beach. This fence was facing the parking lot at the beach. I used white gouache and watercolors for this and it was done on Strathmore tan toned paper.



Monday, April 19, 2021

Bellport Pink

 A friend had posted a few photos of pink trees in Bellport so I took a ride out to check them out. This massive one was on the front lawn of one of the beautiful quaint houses in the village I didn't want to be too obvious so I sat in my car to paint this. Otherwise I would have to sit in the street which I didn't think would be too safe. I am going to miss it when the leaves fall off these beauties.




Sunday, April 18, 2021

Daffodils in Bloom

 On Wednesday evening the Patchogue Sketch Club ventured outdoors to sketch together at a socially distanced event. We went to the Sayville Rotary where there were a lot of daffodils in bloom. I did a batch using watercolors and watercolor pencils. It was really nice to get out with the group again...even if we needed to be socially distant.



Saturday, April 17, 2021

Tulips on their Last Legs

Do tulips have legs??? lol This is my final sketch of my Easter tulips. The petals are shriveled and dry but I think it still makes an interesting sketch.



Friday, April 16, 2021

Magnolia Blossoms

The other day I went to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. The magnolias there had just started to bloom. I took my painting chair and sat down near the lowest blossoms and sketched one branch coming down from the right and another from the left. I met quite a few people who were visiting the arboretum and stopped at a social distance to chat along their path. It was a really nice day. 



Thursday, April 15, 2021

Lefty Lucy Glam

 This Tuesday Lefty Lucy looked really glamorous...almost like a Hollywood star which may have been what she was going for. 










Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Tulip Sketches

 I bought some potted tulips for Easter, and as usual they were fair game for sketches. I did one of the entire set of them and then just a single tulip. I am also working on a larger painting of them which I'll post when it is finished. They are still in their pot looking very shriveled and ready for the trash...but I may just have to sketch them one more time. lol




Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Forsythia 2

 For this sketch I pulled onto the edge of an empty field when I saw the forsythia. This was somewhere in Oakdale.



Monday, April 12, 2021

Forsythia 1

 Right now the forsythia is in full bloom here on Long Island. I love seeing all the yellow bushes. Of course it seems the most scenic areas are usually along highways or where you can't stop to sketch. lol I did find a view right around the corner from me with forsythia in front of a house.



Sunday, April 11, 2021

Hyacinths

I was at a farmstead recently and they had a table of hyacinths. They always make me think of spring. Usually I see just purple ones but they had a lot of pink ones too. 



Saturday, April 10, 2021

Birches

Although the trees are starting to flower there are still a lot of areas where the winter browns are still showing. I like how the white birches interrupt the browns. This was done in Brookhaven.


 

Friday, April 9, 2021

Arboretum Pink

This week I took a ride back to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. I was hoping that more of the flowers would be in bloom and was pleasantly surprised to see that some of the trees had pink buds on them already. I think this is a star magnolia.


 

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Lefty Lucy as a Kitty

Tuesday night Lefty Lucy posed as a kitty.  I think she could pose in anything and still be fun to sketch.

Two 10 minute sketches.


The final pose for 20 minutes.



Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Hagia Sophia

On Saturday afternoon the NYC Urban Sketchers continued their virtual event. Some people continued sketching in Cappadocia, Turkey but some switched to Istanbul which is about 400 miles away. I used one of my own photos that was taken when I visited there when Jerry and I took our cruise. I did a half-day tour of Istanbul and then left the group to do some wandering and sketching on my own rather than going back to the ship. In this photo I am standing near Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque which was part of the tour.



Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Flying Above Cappadocia

The NYC Urban Sketchers virtually visited Cappadocia, Turkey this weekend. Until I read about it in the email I didn't realize what a gem it was or even where Cappadocia was. It is a very interesting place with homes built into the strange rock formations, sometimes 8 levels below ground. One of the biggest tourist attractions is hot air ballooning over the area at sunrise. The photos are spectacular so I can just imagine what the tour is like! 

I've always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon but Jerry would never agree to it. He is worse than I am about keeping his feet firmly on the ground.



Monday, April 5, 2021

Flats of Flowers

 A few days before Easter I went out looking for a potted Easter plant as an interior decoration. 

When I pulled into The Farm, a farmstead in Sayville there were tables with flats of flowers calling to be sketched. For here on Long Island it is still too early to plant these in the ground.



Sunday, April 4, 2021

Happy Easter

 Wishing a Happy Easter to all of you who are celebrating today. 

May your spring be filled with hop, joy, and love!



Saturday, April 3, 2021

Spring Daffodils

The first really noticeable sign of spring here have been the daffodils that are popping up everywhere. Their sunny faces always make me smile.



 

Friday, April 2, 2021

Women in History

On Wednesday night, Mark organized our sketch event on Zoom focusing on politically relevant women past and present. Twice during the evening he posted photos of 3 women. We were welcome to sketch one, two, or all three each time.

I started with Angela Davis. This was an old photo of her. I couldn't resist doing that afro.


In the same group of photos were Emma Goldman and Susan B Anthony. I liked the photo of Emma Goldman and her clothing looked a bit easier to do than the attire on Susan B Anthony. I couldn't do three of them in 45 and still do any justice to any of them.


The last group of photos included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Malala Yousafzai. I figured I would start with Malala and then do RBG, but I ran out of time. 

I am so thankful to Mark Propper for coming up with a new topic each week and doing the research to find images, or find the time to do a still life setup for us. Rumor has it that if the weather is good next week the group will be sketching outdoors. I'm not sure how that will work for me since I have to make dinner for Jerry before we meet. 


 

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Lefty Lucy Glam

I don't know how I missed posting for two days, but apparently it happened. Sorry about that!

Tuesday night was "Let's Art with Lefty Lucy" on Zoom. She apologized to those of us who have been sketching with her from the beginning because she says she is running out of costumes, so this one is a bit of a repeat. Of course she changed it up a little since the last time and even if she hadn't I wouldn't mind. I guess it is a bit flapper and a bit glamour.

This was the longest post...20 minutes. 


All of the sketches below were 10 minutes each.