Autumn Colors

This was sketched down by the bay beach in Bellport. 

Inktober Continued

 

My Inktober sketches continued. (I've lost track of the days these fit.) 

#inktober #inktober2026

Fill a page repeating the same subject.

Your hands while they're drawing.

Combine two random objects.

 

 

Halloween Scenes

I did a few Halloween inspired mini paintings at Olish's Farm in Eastport. They always have such great setups of their merchandise. I began with some pumpkins done directly in watercolors.

My second small painting was of some sutumnal flowers nearby. Some gooseneck squash snuck into the painting too.

Autumn Colors

Happy Halloween 

Our trees are slowly changing color, so rather than an Inktober post I'm posting some colorful trees that I found when I was out this week.

Inktober Day 23

 The Inktober prompt was to sketch my food. Here's breakfast...

Later in the day I was out and couldn't resist sketching a few Halloween decorations on someone's front lawn.

Inktober Day 22

 This sketch fit the Inktober prompt as well as one of the items in the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt. I had hoped to get close to the lighthouse but for some reason the entrance to the parking lot and part of the street was flooded. I wasn't sure if it was from the tide or not and didn't want to take a chance if the water was still rising. I did this from a street a bit away but the lighthouse was pretty far in the distance.

Inktober Day 21

This time I used colored brush pens for my Inktober sketch. The colors are fun and perfect for an autumn tree on location. 

Here is a little more autumn colors. I went to an art group meeting the other night and we painted autumn leaves. It was fun being with the group.

Inktober Day 20

 The Inktober prompt was "still life with three objects." My onion, cut pepper, and delicata squash worked for this one. Unusual for me that I didn't add color.

#inktober #inktober2026

Beach Waves

Another nor'easter was far off the coast here. It brought us strong winds, pounding surf, and coastal erosion. I hadn't been down to the ocean since before the last storm so I headed over to Smith Point Beach to see the effects. Directly in front of the concession stand and the beach staircase the dunes are completely gone. Here off to the side there are a few dunes, but the beach has been shortened a lot. The waves were pretty strong and had a nice spray so I sat and painted this view.

This is what the erosion looks like in front of the concession pavillion. At high tide the water goes under the stairs.

Inktober Day 19

 Today's prompt for Inktober was "high contrast: black vs white. The shadows on Bellport Lane heading to the town dock looked perfect for this.

#inktober #inktober2026

Vineyards and Inktober Day 18

I headed out to the north fork of Long Island to sketch and paint on Sunday. My first stop was Paumanok Vineyards because I know I can get close to the vines with no problem. I did this directly in watercolor. 

I needed to do some ink sketches for Inktober. The theme was overlapping objects. I stopped at Jason's Vineyard in Jamesport. First I sketched the view of the vines at the pack of the parking area. I took a photo of it and then added color.

They had a nice seating area outside with tables and umbrellas. People seemed to be having a good time over there. I did an ink view and then colorized it.

Halloween Parade

The NYC Urban Sketchers headed to the Tomkins Square Halloween Dog Parade last weekend. My friend, Susan was hosting and we started out at the location where the marchers were lining up. We had about an hour before the parade was actually starting so we hoped we would be able to sketch a bit before it got too crowded. Catwoman and her cat dog were the first ones there so I was able to sketch them and the vehicle. I was sitting on my stool so I was looking through the bars of the barricade. The doggie wearing the tutu was there early, but she didn't like staying in one spot and her owner moved around a lot too. 

The crowd behind us got bigger as the morning went on and at one point Susan couldn't see anything from her chair so she said she was going to try moving to another spot. That didn't work well for her at all and I think she ended up being frustrated because she didn't get to sketch much of anything. After several phone calls the two of us met up and planned to go into Tompkins Square Park and meet up with any other sketchers who showed up. That was where our show-and-tell was supposed to take place. But when we walked over to the park security told us that nobody was allowed to come into the park because that's here all the marchers were ending up. Security was trying to get everyone out of the park. We didn't have a way to contact anyone else so Susan posted on FB that there would be no show-and-tell because the park was closed. It turned out there were about 8 sketchers in the park sitting near each other. They had their own show-and-tell and actually were able to sketch a few of the dogs from the parade.

Susan and I were tired and sort of lost our ambition to sketch by that point. We needed to get away from the huge crowd and we ended up walking quite a ways over to Union Square Park on 14th Street. We sat in the park for a while and then went to get some water at Whole Foods before heading home.

It was a fun experience trying to sketch that crazy crowd...but I don't think I would do it again!

Inktober Day 17

 Today's prompt was "use three values." I found a Bronco in the parking lot when I went shopping. It was perfect for a black brush pen, a gray brush pen and the white of the paper.

#inktober #inktober2026

Inktober Day 16

 

With a prompt of "frames" I wondered if the frames themselves would be the items being sketched or what was in them. Since I sketch mostly from life and en plein air I did a live subject. I headed over to Islip Town Beach because even though it is fall, today's temperature nearly reached 80. There was a collection of about 30 gulls on the sand near where I was parking. Before I could even think about getting out of the car raindrops started falling...slowly at first but with more intensity after a while. So I sat in my mobile studio and designed a few frames. Then I filled each with a sketches of gulls.

#inktober #inktober2026

Inktober Day 15

 "Snippets" was the prompt today for Inktober. I know that at this time of year Bellport has their scarecrows hanging so I headed there. These are all small...no larger than 3 x 4. Two are fun scarecrows for the contest...Red Riding Hood and Serial Server. Notice I added a bit of color to Red. Her coat definitely needed the color. The pumpkins and the corn stalk as well as the welcome anchor were on display in front of Porters on the Lane.

#inktober #inktober2026

Inktober Day 14

 The prompt for Inktober today was "foreground/background." This was sketched in Sayville by Green's Creek County Park. I used a brush pen for the foreground and then a Lamy Pen filled with Noodler's Gray Ink tof the back bulkhead and the water.

#inktober #inktober2026

 

Inktober Day 13

My prompt for Inktober Day 13 was "water soluble ink." I used Noodler's Brown Ink which is water soluble. I don't think it looks brown. It definitely has a brownish purple look to it. This was sketched in Patchogue by the Leeward Cove Marina. I don't know how they get the boats up top for storage, and I've seen some really large ones up there. I'm sure it would be interesting to watch.

#inktober #inktober2026 

Inktober Day 12

 Rain was in the forecast, but the prompt was "try many textures" and it seemed that an outdoor sketch would work best. It was raining lightly but I sat near the Islip Grange in Sayville.. I used a combination of a twig, a wooden pencil, a feather (didn't work well at all), a Q-tip, a dip pen, and the edge of a credit card to get the different textures. I also had a small pine cone but I couldn't find a way to dip it into the ink. I should have brushed some ink on it by hand.

Inktober Day 11

 The prompt for these Inktober sketches was to "use a big fat brush." I used a flat brush that was bigger than I usually use. These were done on a trip to Young's Farm in Brookville with my friend, Suzala. She wanted to sketch the sunflowers that were still in bloom there. I worked with Lexington Gray Ink.

#inktober #inktober2026

Since we were sitting by sunflowers I had to do a few small sketches in color too.

Before we left we moved down by the sales barn and sketched the field of flowers there.

Inktober Day 10

 I've been able to keep up with the prompt from Koosje Koene so far. The prompt for day 10 was "draw with sticks and twigs." I have a small collection of twigs to use, a stirrer from my coffee this morning and a small bottle of Noodler's Lexington Grey Ink and I was set. I stopped at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River and sketched one of the paths down near the water. It is definitely a loose way of sketching. It is hard to control the amount of ink the twig releases.

Sketching at Toyota

My car needed an oil change and I had received a notice for a recall on something that I didn't need to understand. I knew I would be there for close to 2 hours, so I went prepared with sketching materials.

I needed a sketch for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt. This fit for "a machine" and also "stacked." I had my brush pen with me so that is what I used.

There was a gentleman sitting almost in front of me...just a back view and a mostly bald head...a perfect model. I'm glad I painted him when I did because he was gone before me. This is tiny...about 3 x 4 maybe.

 

I hadn't done any sketches in Procreate in a while so this seemed like a good time to sketch on my iPad. This gent was also sitting across from me. He had on some decorative pants for sure.

There was also a couple nearby. I sketched them with Procreate on what I thought was the closest ink line to a brush pen.

I think I made the best use of the time I had there.

Flowers

This week the Patchogue Sketch Club was indoors at the Pat-Med Library. The sun was setting around 6:30 and we meet around that time so sketching outdoors won't happen with them again this year. Our theme for the night was artificial flowers. People brought an assortment of interesting fake flowers including Hawaiian leis and orchids. These are supposedly pansies, although until I read the label I wouldn't have guessed that. I thought they made a nice grouping.

Fire Island Lighthouse

I will catch up on Inktober shortly, but I didn't want other work that I've done to end up lost in the shuffle. This past week I did a small (7 x 7in) painting of the Fire Island Lighthouse. It was a windy day so I sat where a building blocked the wind. I think otherwise this would have blown all the way to the lighthouse. I am lucky that this lighthouse is so accessible at Robert Moses State Park. I can see it from the parking lot and there is a nice boardwalk that leads to it...and provided about a 1 1/2 mile walk round trip.

Inktober Day 9

 This sketch fits the prompt "dip pen + brush pen." I sketched it outside the Sayville Bean Coffee House. I used a dip pen with Noodler's Lexington Gray ink and a gray Tombow dual brush pen.

#inktober #inktober2026

Inktober Day 8

 Koosjie Koene's Inktober prompt for day 8 was "use a dip pen." As you can see I have a fancy glass one from Venice, but I really rarely use a dip pen. I find dealing with the ink bottle and pen to be rather messy unless I'm working at a table. This was done at Frank Melville Park in Setauket. The building is a water mill that is no longer working. I sketched it from the front. For a while it was the park office, but I don't think it is used at all now.

#inktober #inktober2026

Inktober Day 7 + Urban Sketching in Forest Hills

 The prompt for this Inktober sketch was negative space. I guess how you look at your subject determines if you see the negative or the positive spaces. For this sketch I headed over to Robert Moses State Park where you can actually see the Fire Island Lighthouse from the parking lot or the beach. There is also a nice boardwalk that provides a nice way to walk to the lighthouse.

#inktober #inktober 2026

The NYC Urban Sketchers met in Forest Hills over the weekend. I took the LIRR from Ronkonkoma and switched at Jamaica to reach our destination. I hadn't been to Forest Hills in a long time, but can remember being there for a Barry Manilow concert at the tennis stadium probably in 1974. 

My first sketch was of the Forest Hills Station which was where I had arrived. As you can see there were already some sketchers at work.

Next I headed around the corner to the residential area. Most buildings in Forest Hills are Tudor style. I felt like I was in another country. On Dartmouth Street I found this interesting entryway to sketch.

When I was finished I headed back over to Station Square. Susan and Kim were sitting at a table outside Forest Hills Pizza and sketching the view in front of them. I grabbed a slice of pizza and then joined them outside to sketch. Kim was giving advice to Susan to make her shadows darker. I took her advice too and I think it helped my sketch. I did this one quickly since we were meeting in about 40 minutes for show-and-tell.

It was great to spend the day with the other sketchers and see the wonderful work they created as well as some of the interesting spots they found to sketch in the area.

Inktober Day 6

The Inktober prompt for this sketch was "varied line weight." I went down to Cedar Beach in Babylon which is along Ocean Parkway.  The weather was lightly spritzing off and on. Something for kids must have been going on inside the concession area. Families kept going inside and some of them were coming out with pumpkins. I liked the view outside so I didn't bother going in.

While I was there I also did a small painting (I needed to use some color.) of the dunes. If you look thru the break in the dunes you can see there is what looks to be a sandbar or a small area of land that since the nor'easter last week is now sitting out in front of the beach. Apparently several of the beaches have had their landscapes changed quite a bit.