Oyster Bay Views

On Sunday the NYC Urban Sketchers ventured out of "the city" and came to the burbs. My friend, Suzala organized a day in Oyster Bay on the north shore of Nassau County. Unfortunately the trains to and from Oyster Bay only run each way every two hours so the sketchers had to time their visit with the train schedule...or be stuck for another 2 hours. Most of them wanted to head over to the beach since they don't get that in the city. It was a hot day so I had no desire to walk to the beach in the heat nor to sit on the beach without any shade. I opted to stay right in town where I could find shade.

Luckily there was a lot of shade across from the restaurant, "2 Spring." Not only did I have shade but there was a bit of a breeze. While I was sketching the staff was setting up for lunch outside. They noticed I was painting and kept coming over to see my progress. Suzala was on the other side of the restaurant painting the view down the street and they kept chatting with her as they passed. They also offered us water and told us we could come in and use the rest room if we needed too. It was very nice inside and the food smelled great! 

Next I headed down the main street to the next corner, found some shade, and sketched this view. The building was once the summer office of Teddy Roosevelt when he was in office. Now there are some kind of offices upstairs and a restaurant, Wild Honey, downstairs.

We took a break around 2:00 to chat and have show and tell. The first train back to the city was leaving in about 40 minutes and most of the sketchers had planned to be on it. We did our show and tell and then most of us headed over to the Bonanza hot dog and Italian ice stand that the town is known for...the chocolate ice is delicious.

A few sketchers stayed longer but it was hot so we sat in the shade by the gazebo and mostly talked and only Suzala was sketching. It was a nice relaxing way to end the day. Even though we get together each week, everyone is busy sketching and we really don't get a lot of time to talk. It was nice to find out a little more about some of the people.