Olish's Farm

I like going to Olish's Farm in Eastport. They always have such wonderful baskets of flowers outside. 

Blue House on the Hill

Port Jeff is a fun place to sketch houses if you can find parking. I lucked out near this blue house and sat across from it. Whenever I sit on a hill to paint or sketch I pray that I don't drop anything and have to go chasing it down the hill. lol 

Rhodies

Right now the rhodies are in bloom in this area. I painted this last week with my plein air group at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum.

 

Swan River Preserve

 The Patchogue Sketch Club went to Swan River Preserve in Patchogue last week. It was our first scheduled outdoor location for the season. After several days of warm weather, Wednesday turned quite cold. I went prepared with a jacket and a heavy sweatshirt to wear over it. By around 7:30 I was wearing both as well as a winter scarf. If one was in my backpack I would have put on a hat too.

Anyway I sketched down by the tunnel that goes under the Long Island Railroad. That is one of the few places where you can see the water. Most of the foliage is so tall that it blocks the water views. I tend to go back to this spot almost every time we go there to sketch.

Meadow Croft Garden

Meadow Croft Estate in Sayville is a nicely preserved historic estate in Sayville that was owned by John Ellis Roosevelt and his family. They were related to Teddy Roosevelt. They have a small garden with a birdbath that I like to visit and sketch.

 

Clouds Over the Dunes

I have a hard time passing up scenes of clouds over the dunes like this at Robert Moses Beach. 

Picnic in the Park

I went down to Sayville Beach Park for a while on Mother's Day. There were a lot of families around and this one was setting up for a picnic. It was a nice day for one. 

Burnett Fountain at the Conservancy Garden

Continuing my day of sketching with the NYC Urban Sketchers I moved to the English-style garden where the Burnett Fountain is located in a lily pond. It is a memorial to the children's book author Frances Hodgson Burnett, known for her novel The Secret Garden. The two figures, one a boy playing the flute and the other of a young girl holding a birdbath resemble the main characters in that book. It is a very popular spot. Everyone comes there for photos and a couple got engaged right in front of us while we were sketching.

 

Allium at the Conservancy Garden

The NYC Urban Sketchers recently met at the Conservancy Garden in Central Park. They are so tall and pretty they look like they are dancing.

Later in the day I did a tiny (3 x 4) sketch of them.

 

Wisteria at the Arboretum

I try to catch the wisteria when it is in bloom at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. It grows long the porch on the manor house. It doesn't bloom for long so I was happy to see it there again.

Somewhat Outdated Music Formats

 The Patchogue Sketch Club's theme recently was Outdated Music Formats. We still have a Panasonic cassette player and lots of cassettes with Jerry's music on them. That's how he saves what he's composed. For this theme I borrowed his player and when we all got together I borrowed a cassette of The Band from Laurie and a few 45s from Pat. I always loved that doohickey (a spindle adaptor...I looked it up.) that goes in the middle.  I have some of those in a case, but finding mine was too much work.

Assorted Sketches

 Here are a few sketches that were done for creativespark.com. 

As you can see the subjects really are different.

Riverhead Train Station

 I like checking out train stations to find something different. So many of the stations here don't have much character. The Long Island Railroad Station in Riverhead has some. I was glad to go back and sketch it.

Over the Dunes

 I love looking at cloud formations. These were over the park ranger's station at Smith Point Beach.

Train Ride

 One of the nice things about taking the Long Island Railroad into the city is there is usually someone I can sketch on the ride in or the ride home. This guy and his girlfriend looked very comfortable, although they shouldn't have their feet up on the seats.

Sketching Art on Park Avenue

 Last week the NYC Urban Sketchers combined sketching with observing installed art. New York based artist Carole Feuerman has 9 sculptures displayed along Park Avenue between East 39th and 34th Streets. They are located on the median in the center of the Avenue. The sculptures are hyper realistic and she describes them as "Sea Idylls." Each of them is life-sized or larger, some full bodies and some just part of a person. The statue at East 37 Street is called "Justice" and shows a woman in a bathing suit sitting on top of a chrome sphere that reflects the viewer as well as the street and world around it. I found them wonderful and I regret that I didn't have time to sketch all nine of them.

Below is "Brooke with Beach Ball."

My next sketch was of "Justice" which I referred to above. If you look you can see the tiny selfie I included at the bottom of the sphere.

Below is one of my favorites. Unlike the other sculptures this one is not wearing a bathing suit. 

This is "New York City Slicker." In addition to loving the sculpture, I thought the title was great!

I had only finished 3 of the sculptures before our "show and tell" but wanted to do another one so I stayed after we shared our work and finished another one before heading back to Grand Central Station and the train home.

This is "Survival of Serena."

Crab Meadow Beach

I haven't been back to Crab Meadow Beach in Fort Salonga for quite a while. It is a pretty spot on Long Island Sound. I figured I should go before the season starts because then I won't be able to park because I'm not a Smithtown resident. 

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all the moms out there a Happy Mother's Day!

This was sketched along the Great South Bay by Sayville Beach Park. 

Perfume Bottles

 The Patchogue Sketch Club had perfume bottles as our theme last week. I sketched a few of mine and one of my friend Pat's which had an atomizer. They were fun to do.

Pink Tree x 2

 

I have been painting our pink trees with watercolors but have been following my friend, Tina Koyama's postings about all her trees in bloom with interest. She has been using watercolor pencils. Originally she was drawing the blossoms with her watercolor (Inktense Pencils) and spritzing the area with water. Recently she started spritzing the page and then adding the color with the pencil. She got a different result each way. I attempted to do the same, spritzing my paper and then adding the color with the watercolor pencils. However in my case I didn't leave it alone. I wanted stronger color so I added additional color over the pencils with my regular palette of watercolors.

Here is the first attempt. You can see the color got away from me in the spritzing on the bottom right.

I did a second sketch across a double page spread in the square Arteza sketchbook I have been using for a project. I am happy with the way both of these came out. Maybe I'll try this method again in the future. Our pink trees are disappearing and all the spring green leaves are opening in their place. I'm sorry to see them go.

 Thanks, Tina, for your inspiration.

Clouds over the Bay

Sometimes the clouds are what attracts me to paint something. I saw the sky and knew I had to find an open area to see far in the distance. Although Hecksher State Park is on the Great South Bay in Islip, you could see all the way down to the Captree Bridge in the distance. 

Dean's Seafood

 Places like Dean's Seafood in Bay Shore are fun to sketch. I love quirky buildings and all the stuff around to include...or leave out.

At the Train Yard

The train yard in Riverhead has some interesting old train cars. Of course the red one attracted me immediately. 

 

Stamp Sketches

The Patchogue Sketch Club had stamps as our theme recently. I know I had saved some stamps from foreign cards and letters but couldn't find them. What I did find were some stamps in small postage amount from long before we started using the "forever" stamps. When they raised the postage I would buy some 1, 2, and 3 cent stamps to add to the last stamp that was used. I like this one of the Connestoga Wagon. 

My friend, Pat, can always be counted on for fun items for our themes. She came in with a bag of stamped postcards that she received in the past as well as some loose stamps, like this one from France. She is very good at sharing what she brings.

Smithtown Historical Society

 I love old buildings that are full of charm like this one of a blacksmith's shop on the grounds of the Smithtown Historical Society.

Zentangle

 The South Bay Art Association had their general meeting last week and we all worked on zentangles. We did them a few years ago and I enjoyed doing them, but probably haven't done more than one since then. Here was what I worked on this time.

West Avenue Dock

Sketching at the West Avenue Dock in West Sayville is always fun. There is always something interesting there to sketch. It might be a ship that is being restored or a pile of concrete slabs like here. Don't you love all those tires? lol

Lombardi's Love Lane Market

The town of Mattituck on the north fork is a cute town, but I never find a parking spot on Love Lane where most of the shops are. The other day I lucked out because it was midweek and there were several spots available. I pulled into one that gave me a great view of these two planters in front of the entrance to Lombardi's Love Lane Market. When I finished painting I headed in to see what they had. It was an interesting assortment of foods...a little different from a supermarket. 

Pink Tree at the Station

Like my friend, Tina Koyama, at this time of year I stop in my tracks for trees covered in pink blossoms. (I think she sketches many more of them than I do.) I was driving by the Oakdale Train Station and spotted this tree. I had to stop...#1 It was beautiful and #2 there was a parking space waiting for me. I found it hard to differentiate the color of the blossoms from the brickwork and am not sure if I succeeded.

Queens Botanical Garden

On Earth Day the NYC Urban Sketchers celebrated and sketched at the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing.  There were quite a few events going on in the garden related to Earth Day. Groups danced, taught about recycling, taught about composting, and gave away trees. 

I started out doing a large sketch of the trees and flowers that were in bloom. A few kids cooperated and hung out on the grass in front of me.

I knew that I couldn't capture everything in a large size so I did a page in my sketchbook with some small sketches of what was going on. Here is how I set up the page.

I started with a sketch of someone dressed as a bee. It turned out that this was Howard Wassinger, a beekeeper and owner of HnH Apiary in Queens. He and his wife had a table where they were teaching people about beekeeping and offering them a taste of the honey they get from their hives. At one point he yelled over to me that he was coming over to see what I was sketching and was surprised to see himself as my model. He was thrilled!

Next I moved on to the beehives that were nearby. These belong to the QBG.

I walked to the other end of the park and found a few sketchers at work. Breanna was sketching with us for the first time. She and her husband recently moved to the area from Montana...quite a change.

Helene' is French and now lives in NYC. She has been sketching with us for a few months now. She was so excited that I had sketched her.

As always our day ended with our "show and tell" where we share our sketches from the day. I always love to see what each person selects for their subject.