The Islip Grange

 On Wednesday evening the Patchogue Sketch Club met at Islip Grange Park in Sayville to sketch. It is a fairly large park with  a group of historic buildings from around the Civil War era including a church a barn, and a windmill. This is a two room building that I think was used as an office. This particular building seems to be in the worst shape of all of them and the town of Islip has been promising for years to make renovations. So are there has been a tarp on the roof for the last several years.

Heavy rain was forecast for later the evening and by around 7:00 it looked like rain was headed our way so we all headed to the safety of our cars. By about 8 it was pouring.

Beach People

 It is always fun to capture the poses of people on the beach. I did that during my visit to Robert Moses State Park this week.

Lefty Lucy Channels Stevie Nicks

 Lefty Lucy was back this week channeling a bit of Stevie Nicks.  Her bright red gown and hat really made her stand up. It wasn't until the last sketch that she was close enough for me to notice that the veil on her hat had spider webs...so fun!!

These were all 5 minute poses.

Here are a few 10 minute poses.

The finale is usually a 20 minute portrait.

Post Morrow

 Last Sunday the South Bay Art Association finally had a meeting in person. In fact it was a "field trip" on a different day. Usually we meet on Wednesday evenings once a month and for most of the last year we have been doing Zoom general meetings. With things slowly opening up this visit to Post Morrow was planned for the weekend. 

The Post Morrow Foundation works to preserve the rural, cultural and historic character of the hamlet of Brookhaven and surrounding areas in Suffolk County, New York. This includes undeveloped areas to be kept in their natural state as a sanctuary and open space or natural garden. We were scheduled to have a tour of the property which includes trails and a boardwalk along the creek. Unfortunately the guide never showed up or contacted anyone. That was a bit of a disappointment, but I hadn't planned on taking the tour because it involved too much walking for me right now. Instead we had a short meeting and someone in the group led the way around the property. We were asked to bring art materials and do a piece of art while we were there. Quite a few members remained and painted.

I've sketched at Post Morrow several times. This piece turned out too green for me. I should have used the sketchers as my center of interest and made them larger and just did some of the greenery as the background. But here is my sketch/painting from the day.

Several members took photos and here is one of me working on my sketch.

And here is Krystle, who is the President of the South Bay Art Association taking a photo of my work for social media. Krystle is one of the great photographers in the group.

Irises

  At this time of the year I always want to sketch each kind of flower that I know shows up in the spring. Some aren't always easy to find in a spot where I can sketch them. I checked out Gillette Park in Sayville the other day and they finally had some irises in bloom. Some ladies were sitting on a bench by the biggest group of them and I didn't want them to think I was eavesdropping on their conversation, so I moved to another group. 

Blowing in the Wind - Part 3

 Like I said, I had a hard time deciding which windmills to sketch.

This one is in East Hampton and I've passed it many times..

This is a German windmill, located somewhere near the North Sea.

I did the six windmills on one sheet of paper. A friend on FB said they look like windmill trading cards. lol

Blowing in the Wind - Part 2

 The decision of which windmills to sketch last weekend was hard. There were really so many interesting ones that I wanted to include.

When I was in Amsterdam many of my sketching friends went to the Zaanse Schans which is a village with quite a few windmills. I missed the side trip because I arrived a day after they went. From the reference photos I'm really sorry I missed going.

Back in the early 70s I did a summer trip with my sister, Fran which included Greece. Among the places we traveled was Mykonos, Greece. I remember seeing the windmills there, but at the time I didn't do any sketching in public. There were so many good locations that I missed.

To be continued...

Blowing in the Wind - Part 1

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers had the theme of "Blowing in the Wind" and captured windmills all over the world. It was very hard to narrow down the selection of windmills that called to me...so I did more than one. 

The first windmill is from the Moulin Rouge in Paris. I did see this one in person when I was in Paris. It is in the Monmatre section. My friend, Lois and I took a small tour of the area when we were there.

The second windmill has a stone base and is located in Cesis, Latvia.

Continued tomorrow...

Dune View

 Good weather made me sneak in a few hours at the beach again. I'm so lucky that Smith Point is close enough even if I don't have a lot of time to stay there.

Pre-surgical Testing

 I am having hip replacement surgery on June 9th and have been getting clearances from assorted doctors. On Thursday I went for pre-surgical testing and of course I brought along my sketchbook. I find that when I go to the doctor's office if there is something to sketch and I pull out my sketchbook, someone comes in to do their test/procedure almost immediately. If I don't have the sketchbook I sit and wait.

I tried sketching in the waiting room but was called in too quickly to get anything other than the top of the hand sanitizer dispenser sketched. Next I was in a room where I was asked a zillion questions about my medical history and then told I needed to give a urine sample and then they would do blood tests. When I came back to the room there was a big carryall with lots and lots of blood vials. No phlebotomist in site so I was able to do an ink sketch of what was in front of me. I added the color at home. La Shawna had a delicate touch and it went well.

Next I sat in a very boring hallway for a very long time waiting for someone to take me to x-ray.  There was nothing to sketch except doorways. Then I was wheeled through the labyrinth of connecting hallways from one building to the x-ray room in the hospital itself. There was a patient ahead of me so I sketched her while we waited. My x-rays were done fairly quickly and then I was done. Of course I was now on a completely different end of the hospital and had to walk through all the hallways back to where my car was parked. :(  I was glad all of that was over.

Beach Sketch

 The temperatures here reached 90 degrees for part of the day on Wednesday. I just had to go to the beach, especially since I won't be able to go for a while after I have the surgery. I headed over to Smith Point Beach. I'm not real steady on my feet so I sat up on the concrete by the concession instead of going near the sand. There is a nice view from up there.

Wisteria

 Every year I wait for the wisteria to bloom at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. They used to have a lot of it at the back of the manor house, but it seems that every year they cut it back more and more. Apparently the vines were ruining the porch. This year there is one vine going up by the cafe door and this small amount along the other side of the porch. It still looks so pretty.

Graphite Sketches

 Sometimes I like the way my sketches for the Wet Canvas Scavenger Hunts look. These were done for the last hunt #677 which was hosted by my friend, Ai Nukoolkit.

We were asked to sketch a leaf or as a challenge several different leaves.

On the left is my sketch for texture. On the right is something that comes in a pair (flip-flops) as well as something that comes in multiple units (toes).

Ink Sketches

 The other day I was down at Sayville Beach and did a few sketches just in ink.

My Austronesia Event

As part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month the NYC Urban Sketchers did a sketch event this weekend called "My Austronesia." I learned a lot from our guides Cecilia and Jess. Cecilia created an entire website of information and references to use. I sketched this beautiful woman from Madagascar.

Right before lunch we met up again. Here are a few screenshots that Mark (our leader) took of the sketchers and some of the finished or nearly finished sketches.

 

Swan River Preserve

 The Patchogue Sketch Club met the other night at Swan River Preserve in Patchogue for our Wednesday evening sketching. It was so nice to be outdoors sketching with friends! I did this directly in watercolor in a small moleskin sketchbook. The sky was wonderful that night. I wish I had done a page of small skyscaps.

Deli or Country Store?

 Driving around in Patchogue I came across this deli...or is it a country store? I called me either way.

Bellport Pink

 There are still a few pink trees around if you search. This one in Bellport took me by surprise so I stopped to sketch it. I'm not sure what is in that part of that building. I know that in the back there is a bicycle repair shop.

Tuesday with Lefty Lucy

 Lefty Lucy never disappoints me. She always has an interesting outfit and great poses. "Let's Art with Lefty Lucy" is always fun.

Here are some of the quicker sketches.

 

Here a few 10 minute poses.

This is Lucy's final pose for 20 minutes.

Tied Up

 It seems I haven't sketched a boat in a while for some reason. I was down by the water in Sayville and this scene was right across the canal along the bulkhead.

Relaxing

 I tend to gravitate to the same locations over and over and Sayville Beach Park is one of those places. This time I was in my mobile studio facing the tennis courts. There were some young boys hanging around with their bikes. When I first started the sketch there were three boys, but of course one of them had to get up and start riding around. These two pretty much sat still until I had sketched them and then all three of them were zooming around the tennis courts on their bikes. (Off to my left blocked by a few SUVs they were setting up chairs for an outdoor wedding facing the water. I'm sure it would have been nice to sketch but I couldn't hang around that long.)

Arboretum Tulips

 I did get to find some tulips in bloom at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum last week. There were big groupings of them to pick from. I did a few.

Daffs from the Memorial Garden

 The forecast the other day was for temps near 70 degrees so I headed over to Smith Point Park to the ocean. There was a lot of construction going on around the pavilion area so I took a walk over to the Flight 800 Memorial Garden. Usually there are some flowers in bloom and I was hoping for tulips. I wasn't that lucky. There were a few daffodils still in bloom but they were outnumbered by blossoms that were past their prime. I sketched them anyway.

Jen's Specimens

On Wednesday night one of the members of the Patchogue Sketch Club hosted the even because Mark was away. The weather forecast was for wet weather so Jen got some of her specimens out and ready for us to sketch.

We started with a few shells including that of a horseshoe crab. 

Then we moved on to a replica of a human skull.

My final sketch was the shell of a turtle. I just loved the patterns in the scoots of the carapace if the shell which were very interesting.

Palms Past their Prime

Several of the restaurant/bars along the river in Patchogue use tropical palms to give their outside seating a tropical feel. The problem is when it gets cold there is no room inside the buildings to keep the trees trough the winter...and many of them look like this. These were in the parking lot by Harbor Crab.  I hope they find a way to dispose of them before the new ones are brought in. This was done with Noodler's Brown Ink which is water-soluble. I think it looks more sepia than brown, and I like the color.

 

Kitty from X-Men

This week's sketch theme for "Let's Art with Lefty Lucy" was inspired by Kitty from the X-Men. (I had no idea who she was and had to google her.) Apparently she is some kind of super-hero and has a dragon friend named Lockheed. Kitty was much easier to sketch than the dragon. I just couldn't see it well in any of the poses. Of course when we were all done I asked if we could see the dragon and we got to see it up close...but that didn't help in the sketches. lol

These are 2 minute, 5 minute, and 10 minute poses.

The next two sketches were 10 minutes.

This was the final 20 minute sketch.

 

Flowers and Stone

 I love going to nurseries and farm stands to see what they have on display outside. Olish Farms in Eastport always has interesting displays of flowers. I liked these spring flowers but really liked the stone rooster in front of it. I had to leave without checking it out closer because I was afraid I would end up bringing it home. I wonder if it had a space inside for a plant...