Office Supplies

 Our theme for the Patchogue Sketch Club recently was office supplies. For me these things are more like art supplies, but I guess that they fit either.

Islip Lake with Snow

The snow had collected over by the small lake in Islip. I like this spot that has the lake in the background and a small creek in front...sometimes even a small waterfall. The snow added some nice character to the landscapes.

A Rose is a Rose

 I had saved one rose from my Valentine's Day bouquet that Jerry gave me. The flower was already dried out and papery with a sort of dusty pink color. I did this in watercolors and a touch of Neocolors.

Portraits from Drawing Is Free

I took part in the portrait sketching with drawingisfree_org again, using Neocolors and some ink to do the quick poses. It is fun to do, but I wish it took place a little earlier. It starts at 12 noon on Mondays here in NY, and lasts for an hour. I'm usually out the door by then, so Mondays have become a slow start day.

Uncle Giuseppi's

 Around Thanksgiving we had a new market open in Holbrook. Uncle Giuseppi's Market is an upscale Italian shopping experience. They have pretty much anything Italian I can think of. There is a fresh seafood counter, a butcher, fresh pasta and sauce, a huge deli, a gelato stand, coffee & expresso, a pizza stand, fresh soups, etc. The last time I had been there I decided it might make a good location for an indoor sketch day. There is a seating area at the front of the store with tables and a microwave if you need one. I headed there, grabbed a decaf coffee, and sat at a table looking at the checkout aisles. Of course there was something to separate the checkout from the seating area, but I ignored the plants and the lovely Italian ceramic bowls and plates for sale on the shelves. It turned out to be a good spot for sketching and I was able to catch some shoppers, the cashier in front of me, and the backdrop of areas of the store. I showed the sketch to the cashier and she was thrilled that I sketched her. She called over another woman who had been sneaking looks at the sketch while I was doing it. They had me show it to the store manager who was impressed. 

Snow and Tree Sketch

The trees down by Sayville Beach are a bit crooked due to years of the weather events down there as well as the normal wind. I like how they are misshapened. 

Sketching at Sotheby's

The NYC Urban Sketchers recently met at Sotheby's on Madison Ave and 75th Street. This was the weekend group's first visit to their new location which was the old Whitney Museum. When we arrived we found out that only the second floor was open for sketching. Installations were being done on the third and fourth floors. The area that was open wasn't very large, but it had some interesting art. Luckily it was a fairly warm day (50°) so some of the sketchers headed outside to sketch the neighborhood...otherwise it would have been wall-to-wall sketchers.

I began with a sketch of my friend, Anna who was sketching the blue bust of Venus. As I finished sketching Anna more sketchers arrived, so my sketch expanded to include them too. On a pedestal near me on the right was a sculpture of ropes made of wool by Olga de Amaral called "Eslabon en Torsion." 

More and more sketchers came along. At the end of the day at show-and-tell there were 43 sketchers. Like I said, it would have been very crowded there if we were all inside. I moved my stool and was facing Marc Chagall's "Femme Centaure et Ane Vert Sur Fond Rouge." Of course there were a number of sketchers between the painting and my seat, so I included them.

Here are a few photos from the day.

Islip Beach & Frozen Bay

 I have a hard time resisting heading down to the beach. I ventured over to Islip Town Beach. There were a few other people around and I think they had been feeding the birds and that's the reason they were hanging around. There were lots of snow piles and part of the Great South Bay is still frozen there.

The docks still have ice around parts of them at the bay marinas and parks. I like the look of the water and the frozen areas.

Snowy Oakdale

 My challenge was to find different scenes that still have snow. This was down near a restaurant in Oakdale.

Snowy Scene Outside

I've sketched this view many times from my living room. It doesn't change much from snowstorm to snowstorm, but it is the only view I have on this side of the building. I used my Strathmore Tan Toned Sketchbook for this. In fact it is the last sketch in that notebook. We had about another inch of snow on top of what we already had, but the snow has started melting because it was a lot warmer..even though we were still having light snow. The snow on the railing was melting and slid off before I finished the painting.

Assorted Indoor Sketches

 I did a few sketches for Creative Spark recently.

A moka pot and almond biscotti.

A kitchen view.

Fruit, an egg, and a jar with water-soluble ink.

Snow Painting

When the roads seemed like they would be clear enough I took a ride down to Sayville figuring it was a good opportunity to paint snow from my mobile studio. The problem was finding a location where I had a nice view and could also park. Because of the amount of snow the town was still busy plowing the secondary roads so many of the small parking areas weren't touched yet. I did find a spot that was out of the way of local traffic and was a street wide enough for another car to pass me if necessary. Look how blue the sky was!

Inside in the Blizzard

The timing of the blizzard was perfect. I was inside because of the snow the previous day. Several friends had been taking part sketching quick portraits over Zoom. A woman (Chloe from Paris) organizes the event and people join in from all over the world. The models are other sketchers and each pose is limited to the length of the song being played, somewhere between 2 1/2- 5 minutes. Because the poses are so short you need to work in a medium that you can finish in that short amount of time. I used my Neocolors which worked out OK. 

Here is what the snow looked like out my opened garage door...lots of drifts.

I had Jerry take a photo of me in the morning standing in the snow on the patio wearing my "think summer" sweatshirt that my sister, Michelle had made for me many years ago. It is a bit big but it sends the right message. lol

Blizzard Morning

About a week ago we were expecting a blizzard here on Long Island. It was supposed to start in the late afternoon as light snow and then intensify in the evening and into the next day. I knew I would be stuck indoors at least one full day so I decided to sneak out early before the snow actually started. It was very windy and cold. I headed over to Southdown Coffee in Patchogue. There were a few people hanging around inside and quite a few that stopped for coffee and left. I was sketching for about 45 minutes when and employee came around and told us that they were closing at noon...which was in 5 minutes. It was snowing already so I could see the point. I had all the ink done and most of the color so I packed up and headed home. I was inside the rest of that day, the entire next day, and a good part of the next day. We ended up getting about 18 inches of snow. Luckily our staff in our development does a good job of handling the snow fairly quickly.

Rinx in Port Jeff

 Port Jefferson has a small ice skating rink called Rinx. I hadn't been up there for a while, but it is a great spot to watch the skaters. It is right outside the Port Jefferson Village Center. The skaters and their families are downstairs in the center, but upstairs has a great area with comfy couches overlooking the rink. For most of the time I was the only one up there. Here is the sketch I did there previously.

Pampering

 A pedicure is one of my indulgences that I make sure to keep up with all year long. It had been a while, but Lee definitely helped my toes and feet feel good.

Hector

 The celebration of the 18th anniversary of the Patchogue Arts Council coincided with the night the Patchogue Sketch Club normally meets. Their party was held at Spy Coast a restaurant/bar in Patchogue. Since we are members of PAC we were invited to the party. There was live music, socializing, cake, and a model for us in the rear of the room. Hector, who we have sketched before, posed for us. He is really a good model and comes prepared. We didn't have the setup we usually had, but it was fun anyway.

Hector always take photos of the sketches we do of him. Here is Hector taking photos.