Ink Sketches

Between the direct watercolors I've been doing, I've had limited time to just sketch in ink. I have done a few for CreativeSpark.

This was a still life of fruit and veggies as well as glasses and a knife done for one of the Scavenger Hunts. I did this as a continuous line 

As much as I like the line sketch I couldn't resist adding color.

The lobsters below were done for a Scavenger Hunt and the prompt was "an animal." This was also a continuous line.

This was the latest ink sketch done for the current Scavenger Hunt on CreativeSpark that I'm hosting. It fit the hunt items for people and a bench.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #30 & 31 - Lavender By the Bay

I'm not stopping the direct watercolors yet since the month isn't over. Here are #30 & #31 done at Lavender by the Bay in East Marion on the North Fork of Long Island. The company has 2 lavender fields, but I like this one best...it is more scenic. I painted there with a few other urban sketchers and we made a day of painting, going out to lunch, shopping at farmstands, and finally enjoying ice cream at Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe in Riverhead.

 

Left to right...Sara, Me, Susan, and Elaine

30x30 Direct Watercolor #29 Eyelash Salon

 Who knew there was an eyelash salon in Sayville. I never noticed it before...maybe because of the hydrangeas and the white fence that catch my eye. Direct watercolor #29.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #28 - Bayport Marina

This direct watercolor was done at local marina in Bayport. I was there on a Sunday and it is fun to see the families going out for a trip together.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #25 #26 #27 - Carl Schulz Park

 The destination for the NYC Urban Sketchers was Carl Schurz Park at 86th St and West End Avenue. The park had a bit of everything. I completed 3 direct watercolors there. One block away was a small, dead-end street called Henderson Place. It had homes that reminded me of Paris.

Back inside the park I found a tunnel under an overpass. You could see an area with flowers and a statue past the tunnel. From where I was sitting to sketch I couldn't see what it was a statue of, and later found out it was Peter Pan. (Who would have guessed?)

Then I moved to another shady spot where my friends, Anna & Jen were sketching. I did a third direct watercolor of them at work.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #24 - Herald Square Sketch

I went into the city recently to meet the NYC Urban Sketchers up at Carl Schulz Park near 86th St. The train time for Penn Station brought me into the city with about 45 minutes free before I had to get on the subway at Herald Square, by Macy's. So I stopped in Herald Square Park to do a direct watercolor sketch before I headed uptown. 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #23 - Yaphank Lake and the Hawkins House

My plein air group, PALS planned to meet recently at what I thought was a historical building on Yaphank Lake. Apparently I didn't read the email close enough, and I was wrong. I got to the location and nobody was there. I started a direct watercolor (#23) and painted until another member, Liz, came along. Since it was just two of us we thought we might be in the wrong location. I reread the email and the group was going to another location nearby that was a historical house near the water. 

The Hawkins House was our actual location for painting that day. Since we got there late I didn't want to start a large painting so this is 5 x7. The house was great, and I really liked the seating area on the porch.

 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #22 Meadow Croft & Flowers

The lawn at Meadow Croft Estate in Sayville had some lovely yellow flowers...perfect for a 30x30 Direct Watercolor.

The Patchogue Sketch Club went to the Swan River Preserve in Patchougue the other night. The foliage there is so tall it is hard to find a view to sketch. I ended up focusing on some small flowers against the slats of the fence.

 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #21 At the Arboretum

Recently I took a trip over to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I wanted to paint the roses on the trellises and wasn't sure if they were blooming yet. According to one of the horticultural specialists the aren't at their peak yet, but as you can see they are blooming. Hopefully I will get back there and do another painting. I love this spot because it reminds me of Monet's Garden when I painted there. 

When I finished the roses on the trellises I went into the walled garden. These flowers are Canterbury Bells. I used a bit of oil pastel on this in addition to the watercolors.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #20 Olish's Farm

I like looking inside greenhouses, like this one at Olish's Farm in Eastport. They always have such nice displays outside. 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #19 Scenes from Port Jeff

Recently my friend, Suzala and I went to Port Jeff. Rather than ending up at an event that we were planning to go to, we walked around the town to find something to paint. I wanted to do a direct watercolor for the challenge. We found a spot in the shade outside a restaurant that looked really great. As I was finishing up, a lady with a little boy came over to see what I was doing. Looking at it she realized she was the lady with the cap sitting at the table. lol 

Next we moved to the main street in town. There was a spot with a view of Yogo Delish, a yogurt place. Luckily there was no parking allowed in front of the spot where we were painting, or directly across the street where Yogo Delish was, so we had a good view.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #17 - Beach Apparel

 I don't know about the beaches in other places, but here on Long Island most of our beaches have a shop that sells shirts and sweatshirts from that beach and assorted useful items for the beach. This was the "shopping area" at Robert Moses State Park and was done with direct watercolor.

30x30DirectWatercolor #17 Geese + Sunbather

Down by the bay in Bayport the other day I saw a group of geese hanging around. Of course there were about 8 to start with but only 2 managed to stay around long enough to be models for my Direct Watercolor #17.

When I was at the Robert Moses Beach recently I tried sketching with Procreate on my iPad. It is difficult to sketch on it in bright sunlight because it is very difficult to see what you're doing. Considering this was a half-blind sketch I don't think it came out too bad.

 

30x30DirectWatercolor #16 & Holbein Workshop

I am always attracted to umbrellas and if they are red that's the icing on the cake. My 16th 30x30 Direct Watercolor was done at the Greek Bites Gill in Moriches. This time I can say I've been inside and have sampled their food, which is really good. 

Recently the Patchogue Arts Council hosted a Holbein Workshop where the Long Island representative, Jim Minet had us try out assorted Holbein art materials, watercolor mediums,  and Legion papers like Stonehenge and Yupo.

We started with Hobein watercolors on Stonehenge paper using a reference photo. We moved on to Holbein gouache and their acrylic gouache.

We tried painting on Yupo paper, a synthetic, plastic-like surface. I forgot how much fun that was to use...and also how frustrating too.

Jim also had us work on their black paper. The gouache especially worked well on that. In addition we tried the Holbein irridescent medium that can be used with watercolor or gouache.

Below you can see the irridescent medium in the shell I painted. I think all the participants enjoyed the workshop and the freebies that we went home with at the end of the night.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #15

My plein air group met at the West Sayville Maritime Musuem grounds recently. I went out on the dock to paint this. I always worry about dropping something and having it fall through one of the cracks.

For Creative Spark the prompt was a motorcycle. I found two out in Moriches.

 

30x30DirectWatercolor #14 Flowers & Trees + Pool Time

This direct watercolor for the 30x30 Challenge was done in Sayville. I liked the bright spring greens contrasted with the purple and pink flowers.

I had my iPad with me at the pool over the weekend. There were a few people sitting at the edge of the pool so I pulled out the iPad and used Procreate to do a sketch.

 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #4 + More

 For my 5th 30x30 Direct Watercolor I painted the view across the Great South Bay from Smith Point.

When I was at the Teddy Roosevelt Reenactment there were other sketching opportunities. One was this1903 Brewster carriage.

I also captured a few people sitting around watching the activities going on.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #3

My friend, Suzala and I headed up to Oyster Bay where they were having a reenactment event of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. We sat near the entertainment where horse riders were taking part in shooting and lancing events. Drawing horses is difficult enough, but they were moving a lot while I was trying to paint in direct watercolors. I was fairly successful.

Even after I did one painting for the 30x30 challenge that day I did a few more directly in watercolor.

This one below was done in water-soluble graphite and watercolors.

30x30 Direct Watercolors #1 & #2

Every year in June Uma Kelkar & Marc Taro Holmes present the 30x30 Direct Watercolor Challenge. During the month the participants strive to create 30 direct watercolor paintings. No pencil or ink lines are allowed. I've been participating for a number of years. I definitely think this challenge makes me more observant and also makes me stop and think about the composition of my piece and what goes in front of or behind something else. It is fun to take part in this.

Both of these small ATC sized paintings were done in the garden area at the beach.

Susan's Poppies

My friend, Susan has poppies in her garden and I try to get there to sketch/paint them each year. I waited a bit too long this year. The last rainstorm we had pretty much knocked them down. I did the best I could with what was left. Thanks, Susan! 

Yesterday I wanted to remove some of the blogs on the side of my page that have been removed and can no longer be seen. I was still planning to keep the inactive ones because sometimes I like to go back and look at them. Somehow in removing the blogs I removed ALL of them, and I couldn't find a way to correct what I did. So I spent some time redoing the "gadget" and relisting some of the blogs that I knew how to get to. I probably went from about 30 of them down to about 12. They were the most active...and if you are reading this you are probably included. I hope so!

Lighthouse Prints

 The Patchogue Sketch Club has been doing some printmaking. I designed a lighthouse template and made a few black & white prints and ghost prints.

I was happy with the way these came out, but I wanted to try a multi colored print. That isn't as easy as it sounds. I ran out of time at our meeting and our printmaking is supposedly on hiatus for a while as we return to outdoor sketching. I will try to do it at home, but at present I only have black ink. If I get it done I will post the results.

Steps Above Port Jeff

 I like painting up in Port Jefferson. The houses on the north shore aren't on flat land like they are here on the south shore...so they are often on hills, or slightly raised above street level. This house had quite a few steps from the street level up to the front door. Of course I love the white picket fence in front.

Flowers at the Market

 When I was out on the North Fork recently I was attracted to all the flower displays like this one at Bayview Farm & Market in Aquebogue.

North Fork Umbrellas

 Riding along the main road of the North Fork, I saw these red umbrellas over tables of purple flowers. It was a outdoor seating area for the bagel store in the small strip mall.

Sayville Farmers Market

I like capturing the people at the Sayville Farmers Market. There is always some interesting activity.

Ice Palace

The forecast for the day was rain, but it looked like it was clear enough that I could get out someplace local and sketch before that happened. The colorful Ice Palace in Oakdale caught my eye. I didn't trust the weather so I sat in my mobile studio in the auto repair parking lot across the street. It was a good thing I did because it did pour for a few minutes and then rained lightly for a while. I was smart enough to sketch the people when I first got there...just in case they had to leave and seek shelter.lol Once the heavy rain passed there were other people who stopped for ices and sat under the umbrellas. I still haven't tried their ices, and I've sketched there before. 

You can see the other sketches I've done of the Ice palace in 2022 here and in 2012 here.

Views from Pier 57

The NYC Urban Sketchers recently met at Pier 57 along the Hudson River. It had some interesting views like this one of "Little Island," a park jutting out into the river with several different levels. I was sitting on the top level of Pier 57 which luckily had some huge areas that were shaded.

I moved over to the other side of the 3rd level and sketched the building that houses the Pier 59 Studios. Pier 59 Studios is a multimedia fashion studio at Chelsea Piers, and is said to be the largest commerical photography/multimedia studio in the world.

Later I went down to the 2nd level which didn't have much shade. I tucked myself under a overhang from stairs leading up to the 3rd level. These ladies were sitting straight ahead of me and looked like interesting subjects to sketch.