Office Supplies

 For some reason I'm a bit behind posting this sketch. 

The Patchogue Sketch Club had office supplies as our theme last week. 

Assorted Sketches

Sometimes for the scavenger hunts on creativespark.art I do direct watercolors like this one of the seashell...

or this one of the jelly jar...

and this one of a bicycle.

Sometimes I just do a sketch of something fun. I was in Mattituck this week and came across NoFoDoCo, which is short for the North Fork Donut Company. With a name like that I just had to go in and of course got a treat. This Boston creme donut was delicious.

 I hope you've enjoyed some treats recently!

Magnolia Blossoms

 It is hard for me to pass up magnolia blossoms without painting them. This was done at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River.

Front Garden in Northport

I was in Northport the other day. I usually paint down near the harbor but instead I rode along Bayview Street. There are some wonderful old houses. This one had blooming trees and a wonderful fence. How could I resist. I made a u-turn and sat right behind the trunk of my car so I could get a good view and not block the sidewalk.  

Carousel

 At the end of last week I noticed that they were setting up for a carnival down at The Grange, a park that is about 5 minutes from me. The rides and booths seem to always look the same so I was looking for a different view.  I parked my car and the carousel was right in front of me. None of the booths were open and there were only a few workers there, so I sat and sketched. I was far enough away that I didn't have to worry about the horses being anatomically correct. lol That's always a good thing. I thought I would get back there while it was open over the weekend, but that didn't happen.

Tractor and Flowers

 Last week I took a drive to Waterdrinker Family Farm in Manorville. I've painted there a few times with my plein air group. Every year they have a big tulip festival and as I drove along the fence on the side of the big field I could see some people out by some of the tulips. I didn't want to go out into the field and felt that it would be a while before the bulk of the tulips were blooming. Instead I drove over to the sales barn and right in front was this wonderful red tractor. I liked the scene with all the plants on display.

Fire Island Clipper

 I've sketched the view in Sayville of the ferry terminals many times. It is always fun to capture this scene. I finished just in time. While I was packing up my supplies they started boarding the ferry.

Union Square Park

 Last Sunday my friend, Suzala and I took the LIRR into NYC to see the American Watercolor Society Show at the Salmagundi Club on 5th Ave. It was definitely worth the trip! There are always several people I know personally who have work in the show and I find works that are outstanding. It is good inspiration.

 Of course we brought along our art supplies so we could stop and sketch before going home. It was a really nice day, and Union Square Park was filled with people enjoying the sunshine and the wonderful trees and flowers that were in bloom. While we were painting we were entertained by a great musical performance by someone playing the xylophone. We found a good spot to sit with a table and chairs and captured the views.

  

We even got in some exercise as we walked from Union Square Park on 17th Street back to Penn Station on 33rd Street.

Huntington Train Station

Last Friday my friend Suzala and I met at the Huntington Train Station to sketch. She had come across this interesting trestle while riding with her husband. No matter what view I picked it meant sketching a few cars because we were in the parking lot of the station. We were parked in a "residents only" parking lot so we stayed close to our cars so we wouldn't get ticketed. Of course the parking meter person came along but after seeing what we were doing and talking to Suzala he didn't give us a hard time about the parking. He didn't stop and pose for us either. lol

Forsythia in Bloom

I love seeing the forsythia in bloom. There was a lot of it on a corner in Sayville. 

Pat's Flowers

Last week the Patchogue Sketch Club's theme was flowers. My friend, Pat, brought in a collection of what was blooming in her garden. 

Along Main Street

I was up in Port Jeff the other day and found a parking space right by some umbrellas and colorful flowers. It was meant to be sketched. Done from my mobile studio which had the best view. 

Sketchbook Revival Part IV

 

I'm pretty much done with the lessons I wanted to do in Sketchbook Revival. Emma Freeman had a great lesson using fabric and assorted items to make a "Stitched Wabi Sabi Fabric Scroll." I searched around and found a piece of fabric with a sort of quilted design. Then I added some stitching, some seashells, a piece of birch bark, and some beach glass. I will have to replace the long, thin shell. It fell out and I can't find it. I did the fabric strip shorter than Emma suggested because I wanted to attach it to a page in my Sketchbook Revival sketchbook. 

Roisin Cure did a lesson on "Beach Bodies." I took a workshop with her at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Porto, Portugal a while ago. She is really good. I watched her lesson but really didn't want to follow her exact photo for the lesson so I passed on doing it. However we had a godsend of a GORGEOUS, 85 degree day recently and I went to the beach. There were so many people there that it looked like summer. I did a sketch similar to her idea, although I didn't add color. It wasn't done in my Sketchbook Revival sketchbook. Instead I used a small sketchbook that I had in my beach bag.

Karen Abend who started Sketchbook Revival hosted the last lesson that I planned to do which was a "Mini Doodle Diary." She had us do mini sketches to go along with 8 prompts she gave. She worked from her imagination to do her sketches, but I worked mostly from life. Several of the sketches I did while sitting in my car in a garden center parking lot. It was drizzling lightly outside at the time. That's where I did the chicken (which was a metal garden sculpture that was about 5 feet tall), the daffodil, the pink tree, and the scene looking out my car window. 

Tulip Party

Jerry bought me a tulip plant for Easter. Things got busy but I managed to sketch them before they started to droop. 

As they started to sag I tried using them for prints on my gelli plate. The flowers fell apart when I pressed them down on the plate. I'm sure it would work better with fresher flowers and maybe different colors. This time it worked better than the first time I tried. I had 6 tulips so I was able to do 3 prints. I like the way the dark image and the colored background came out.

Here are my results starting with what I feel is the best of the three.

Kups Krazy Dogs

While riding along Main Street in Islip recently this food truck caught my eye and I turned around to see if I could get a good sketching view of it. How could I not be excited by that color and fun sign? I sketched and then moved on...no tasting of the dogs was done. 

Pretty In Pink

 Our pink trees are finally blooming and seem to be everywhere! They can stop you in your tracks.

Sketchbook Revival - Part III

 I have completed quite a few of the lessons from Sketchbook Revival...more than I have done in the past. Some of them didn't seem like something I would want to try but I watched the videos and made an attempt. Here are the recent ones.

Angela Fehr's lesson was on doing spontaneous watercolors. It was fun watching the paints mingle, but it wasn't something that excited me.

Joy Ting Charde had us pick a medium to do a colorful landscape. We did a sketch similar to one of Diebenkorn's paintings. I used mostly watercolors. 

The we worked from a reference photo using his colors instead of the colors in the reference. This was another lesson I thought I wouldn't like but I was surprised that it was fun. I went a lot brighter with the colors than I usually work and in addition to watercolors I added some liquid acrylic inks. I was pleased with how this turned out.

Crazy Hat Parade

On Saturday Bellport had their annual Crazy Easter Hat Parade. Although it isn't anywhere near as crazy as the one in the city it is fun to see. Eggs, bunnies, flowers, feathers, ears...anything was attached. The Easter Bunny was giving out candy to the kids. Sketching wasn't easy because #1...I was standing and #2...people would step right in front of the person I was sketching and have a conversation with someone. I was patient and was able to get a few sketches done before the Easter Bunny climbed onto the fire engine and the parade started down Main Street. The hats were judged and prizes given out...even 2 doggies got prizes. 

Daffodil Path

I love seeing all the flowers that are in bloom. The daffodils seem to be everywhere right now.  

Flower Baskets

When I was in Setauket the other day I stopped at Pantaleon's Farm Stand. They had some great, colorful baskets of flowers. 

In Bloom

The trees here are finally in bloom. I apologize because I don't know one blossoming tree from the other.  This may be a cherry tree or maybe not. I just know that they look great!

 

Star Magnolia #2

Happy Easter everyone!! 

While I was at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum I decided to do a quick sketch of a star magnolia blossom, but this time in watercolor and ink. I figured I should do another one....who knows if they will still be in bloom when I get back there.

Star Magnolia #1

I took a ride to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum the other day thinking the tulips would be in bloom, but I saw white blossoms across the path and headed that way instead. The Star Magnolia tree was starting to bloom. I had my Strathmore Toned Tan sketchbook with me and I always have a tube of white gouache so I was all set. The shading on the blossoms was done with watercolors as was the branches. All of this was done with direct watercolor. I added a bit of blue background to help make the flowers stand out.

 

Gabrielson's Plants

 Gabrielson's Country Farm in Jamesport was chock full of flowers and plants for spring when I was there the other day.

East Creek View

I was out on the north fork of Long Island on Sunday and took a ride down to Jamesport beach. I liked the view across the water. It called out for a double page spread. This was done in my sketchbook for the library project. 

Sketchbook Revival - Part II

 I am still working slowly on some of the lessons from this year's Sketchbook Revival. 
Here are a few more pages.

Joanna Sharpe's lesson was called "A Little Every Day, Watercolor Play." She had us use watercolor washes leaving an area to do some lettering. Her lettering is whimsical and uses exaggerated features and embellishments to the painted page. I did one section similar to her piece and using the same phrase she did.

Then I did a second one with a phrase of my own.

Alison Wells had us create a "Mixed Media Gratitude Art Journal Page" where we collaged and stamped and used negative painting. 

Terri Burt's lesson was "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day" and involved sketching quirky houses (mine doesn't look too quirky) in permanent ink, adding color and inking again with water-soluble ink that can be wet to create shadows and shading. It is something I've done before but I enjoyed it.

Tamara Laporte's colorful lesson was to create an "Expressive Portrait of a Fox." We used colorful watercolors and inks to help show the texture in the fox's face and body.

I still have a number of lessons to go.

Bait & Tackle

 A bait & tackle shop in East Moriches...a fun find.

View to the Bellport Dock

This was sketched looking at Bellport Dock down Bellport Lane.

 

Recent Sketches

Here are a few sketches that I did recently. I took the Long Island Railroad from Hicksville recently. I got there a little early but was able to pull out my small sketchbook and capture a few of the people in the waiting room before my train arrived. 

One of the items we had to sketch for the last Scavenger Hunt on creativespark.art recently was wheels. I found these two bikes locked together.

Dock in Blue Point

I did another sketch in the small book for the sketchbook project. This is a small dock area in Blue Point. Luckily there are a few spots where you can see in through the reeds.