Recently the NYC Urban Sketchers met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I used tan toned paper and dry watercolor pencils to sketch "Air" by Jean Pierre DeFrance in the European sculpture gallery.
Here's another sunflower done for the Ukraine project. I'm trying to do them different ways. This was done using one of my photo references.
We have a lot of canals running through Sayville. This is near Land's End and Brown's River Road near where the ferries depart for Fire Island.
I have been doing a postcard project where, along with other artist, I am creating postcards to be sent in support to Ukraine. I have done some landscapes, seascapes, a few still lifes, and a few of their national flower, the sunflower. This is 4 x 6 done in watercolors. My friend, Mary Jo Ernst, a fellow Urban Sketcher from Michigan, is organizing the drive and the postcards will be sent to her at the end of the month. Since sunflowers are not in bloom here at this time of year I am using photos I have of them as inspiration.
The theme for the Patchogue Sketch Club last week was "ceramic." I collected a few interesting and colorful pieces from home to bring and sketch.
Last week I drove a friend to her cataract surgery appointment at Stony Brook Hospital. I had some time before I needed to be back to pick her up. I headed over to Bagel Express in East Setauket. They not only made a delicious egg on a bagel, but it was a great place to sketch. I couldn't pass up a hanging bicycle over the coffee station!
A recent Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt list included a building, stairs, a sign, and a vehicle. I got them all covered in one.
I often go back to sketch at Meadowcroft Estate in Sayville. This is the dirt road entrance to the property, looking back toward the street. The fragmites hide the water nearby.
I don't know where my mind has been but I missed several posts so I am catching up with about 4 new ones.
This painting was also done in Sea Cliff. From where I was sitting to paint I couldn't tell if this historic building is still used as a chemist. I also checked on the internet but didn't find anything that gave the history of the building.
Recently a friend and I took a ride to Sea Cliff which is on the north side of Long Island. It is a lovely town overlooking the water with lots of interesting old homes like this pink one. A number of them were small like this one, but with a lot of charm.
In Patchogue there are quite a few restaurants/clubs along the canals that eventually lead out to the bay. Of course they opt for a tropical feel with palm trees outside. I'm sure this is a fun place to have a bite to eat or a cocktail and watch the water when the season starts...but they're not quite ready.
The Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt had sea shells as an item to sketch. I did my setup as a continuous line and then added watercolors to the sketch.
We had a warm, but rainy day recently. I headed over to the Bayport-Blue Point Library where Island Dreams Coffee is located. When I arrived it was closed and the sign said it would reopen at 3:00. That was fine by me because there was nobody blocking my view of the counter. A young woman from the local high school arrived at 3:00 and opened the cafe for business. By that time there were other people waiting for coffee. I hadn't left room for the young woman but found that I could fit her in behind the pastry display. lol I did have a coffee, but I find it very annoying that they don't have any brewed decaf coffee available. I find that in a lot of places.
A slightly warmer day took me up to Short Beach in Smithtown. If it wasn't for the wind I probably could have sat outside to paint, but I sat protected in my mobile studio.
We had a lot of very cold days recently so if I went out I was painting indoors or from my mobile studio. This house is directly across the street from my church, Good Shepherd. I sat in the driveway of the grounds pulled all the way over so I was out of the way. I'm always attracted to the trellis in front of the house.
Riding around in Islip I found this house with a lot of lobster buoys along one of the canals. It reminded me of the houses in Maine. They were prepared with a few boats too.
After 3 sketches in the bar area I made my way back to the Ace Hotel Lobby. There were sketchers all over. I found a spot to sit in a comfy chair and a view of...you guessed it...sketchers sketching. My only problem with the lobby was that it wasn't well lit and it was hard to see the details of what I was sketching...which could be a good thing. lol
The NYC Urban Sketchers were scheduled to meet at a fashion exhibit at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology) for our sketching location last week. Unfortunately when we got there we found out that we couldn't use stools, backpacks had to be hand-held, and only dry media could be used in this very DARK exhibit. We are adaptable and the organizers offered another location...the Ace Hotel. A few of the sketchers stayed to sketch standing in the dark, but my travel buddy, Suzala and I checked out the exhibit and then headed to the Ace Hotel which was a few blocks away. Many members of our group were already there working.
There was a nice hotel lobby with comfy seating, but it was fairly dark. Off to the side was the entrance to Koloman, their lovely contemporary French restaurant that was very European in feeling. I went in to scope it out and found Leslie sitting at the bar with her coffee and pastry. She was busy sketching the bar area. As long as we ordered something they were fine with us staying in the front of the bar area which had a huge window that overlooked the street. It also had a ledge all across the window which provided a good space to work.
I started sketching Leslie, who was now joined by Elaine. The waiter took my order and before I could finish my first sketch, my coffee and this delicious croissant with jam and butter was delivered. It made such a great subject that I had to sketch that too...but quickly so I could eat the croissant! So I switched and started sketching the croissant on another page leaving space for the rest of the presentation. As soon as I had the croissant sketched, I moved back to the sketch of the sketchers because I know people, even sketchers, tend to move after a while. They were now joined by a random person not affiliated with our group, but I included him too.
 |
| Left to right: Me, Leslie, Shawne, Elaine and Kim. |
After sketching at the camilla house (see yesterday's post) we decided to stop for coffee. Suzala checked with her daughter to see which coffee shop in Oyster Bay would be best for us as a sketching location. She suggested Southdown Coffee. We found a small table tucked near the window with a nice view of the counter...and sketched away.
On one of the bitterly cold days recently my friend and I met at the Planting Fields Arboretum and headed over to their camellia house. I hold what I believe is one of the largest collections of camellias in the world. It is beautiful to see them when they are in bloom. They will only be in bloom for a few more weeks, so I'm glad we got over there when we did.
These were done for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt recently. They are all tiny sketches.
 |
| Fast Food |
 |
| Cold water, trees |
 |
| An animal...a bridge |
After painting and sketching at Hicks Nurseries we needed a pick-me-up and headed over to Starbucks in Plainview. For some reason there were barely any customers. Luckily there were several baristas behind the counter, so we had people to sketch while we had our coffee.
Last Sunday we had heavy rain here on Long Island. My friend, Suzala and I wanted to go sketching somewhere and I suggested Hicks Nurseries in Westbury. They have a huge greenhouse with plants and assorted garden supplies. The tropical bromeliads caught my attention and I sat myself down by a table of them. The sound of the rain on the glass ceiling was so loud at times!
The staff at Hicks Nurseries kept coming over to see what we were sketching and to talk about art with us. The loved that we were there sketching...and so did the shoppers.
One of the items on the list for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt was "barn." This one in Bellport looks like it needs a little TLC.
These were all done for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt.
 |
| an umbrella |
 |
| rocks |
 |
| something that protects |
I find doing continuous line sketches so much fun. Of course when I am done with the lines...
Last week our Wednesday night sketch theme was dolls. My friend, Rosanne O'Reilly belongs to a doll collectors club and they had a meeting earlier in the day. So she volunteered to bring some of her dolls for us to sketch. She brought about 8 of them, so there were a lot to choose from. A few other people brought in dolls that they had at home too. I selected this fashionable one with the name, Gene, dressed in a beautiful outfit.
Back in January I had taken part in an online collage workshop. The instructor was great, and I've tried to keep the supplies out and available so that I can continue collaging for a while. Cat demonstrated a variety of techniques to make and paint our collage papers. We used bubbles, stencils, marbles, cling wrap, and all kinds of items to make marks. These 3 x 3 collages were done with a limited palette of primary red, primary yellow, black, and white to keep them cohesive. I did 12 small collages and then two larger ones (5 x 5) with that same color scheme.
Next I switched to a palette of primary blue, primary yellow, black, and white. So far I've only finished two 4 x 4 collages with those colors. I plan on doing more with this color palette and then maybe try a neutral palette and some black and whites.
After it snowed the other day I was driving through Sayville and had to stop and sketch this snowman. The house behind it still had a few Christmas decorations on the lawn and fence, but I used artistic license and left those items out.
For Valentine's Day Jerry bought me a bouquet of flowers and a cyclamen plant. The plant was wrapped in paper with Valentine hearts all over it. I did get to draw the cyclamen plant, but haven't done the bouquet yet.
We recently had about 4 inches of snow. Although it is an inconvenience it definitely improves the wintry look of things. This was painted in Brookhaven.
Last Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers met at Industry City, Building 2 in Brooklyn. This is a revitalized area of a number of industrial buildings that have been converted into retail spaces, restaurants, galleries, etc. This truck apparently is used in nicer weather as a food/drink truck.
