At the Marina

 I've sketched at this marina in Bayport a few times. I like that they are always ready in case a boat needs to be lifted into or out of the water. Kayaks are also ready nearby and boats along the dock too.

Family Picnic

 Sometimes when I am down by Sayville beach there are families picnicing on the grass rather than sitting on the beach. This particular family looked very content in the shade of the big trees.

Sailboat at Weeks Boatyard

 I hadn't been to the Frank M Weeks Boat Yard in a while, so I stopped by to sketch. There is always a boat or two that catches my eye like this sailboat. I should have checked out her name.

Downtown Sayville

I love doing sketches of downtowns like this one of Sayville from the comfort of my mobile studio. Right now most of the towns have an abundance of American flags flying in readiness for the 4th of July.

 

Green-Wood Cemetery Sketching

The destination for the NYC Urban Sketchers recently was Green-Wood Cemetery in Brookly. We've sketched there before, but for me it has been a few years. Just outside of the main entrance is the Weir Green-House. Originally it was just a place to purchase flowers for the cemetery, but it has been renovated recently and is now the visitor's center for Green-Wood Cemetery as well as a place to buy flowers. It is a beautiful building from the outside, but I didn't have a chance to go inside.

My next sketch was of the main gate to Green-Wood Cemetery. At the top of the tall spire is a huge nest that is the home to the Broolyn parrots. There is a large (and quite vocal) colony of parrots that make their home in the entrance. The story goes that back in the 1960s the original parrots escaped from a shipment which arrived at Kennedy Airport from South America. The escaped parrots found their way to Brooklyn and have been there ever since. It is entertaining to watch them fly in and out of the spire.

Across from the entrance is a high hill (said to be the highest spot in Brooklyn) that offers a great view of the entrance itself and the NYC skyline in the distance. I climbed up to the top of the hill and sat with quite a few other sketchers who had the same idea. It was a perfect location until I had to figure out a way to get down from there. I always find going down a hill or down stairs to be more difficult than going up. The two ladies who I sketched in front of me were mother and daughter. The mom was from Florida and her daughter lives nearby in Brooklyn. Neither had ever sketched with our group before.

Our show and tell was scheduled for 3:00 so I had a full hour to find another location to sketch. I wandered and found this view on the side of that same hill. The trees here are massive since many of them are original trees that were here in the 1860s when the cemetery opened.

At our show-and-tell there were about 35/40 sketchers. It is always fun to see how everyone interprets the scenes at a location.

The only downside to the day was the incredible amount of traffic that we sat in going home. The distance from the cemetery to our first stop to drop someone off was 58 miles. It took us nearly 2 1/2 hours. My thanks to my friend, Susan who drove through the traffic. Then she and I had another 1/2 hour to drive...luckily without traffic.

Continuous Line Sketch

 One of the items for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt was "condiment." I had fun sketching the bottle of ketchup and trying to keep the line going. Of course I added color when I finished the line sketch.

Live Model

 The Patchogue Arts Council arranged for a live model for the Patchogue Sketch Club. Donna was our model and she came in a sort of 60s style outfit...very colorful and wearing white boots. She also had a guitar for a prop. She was good and we all enjoyed sketching her. Poses ranged from 5 - 20 minutes. Here the longer poses are shown first and the 5 minute poses are at the bottom. I'm glad I had my watercolors with a bright orange and yellow, as well as a bright orange watercolor pencil.

Sayville Water View

I sketch down by the water in Sayville quite often, but I try to find a slightly different view if I can. This time I sketched from the parking lot at the town marina. The view of Sayville Beach is a little different. 

Islip Beach

A friend and I were looking for a scenic spot where we could enjoy the outdoors, have some shade, and sketch. Here on Long Island we have many small beaches that are specific to certain towns. I've sketched at Islip Beach before and it has a cute restaurant called Key West. I suggested that Suzala meet me and I would drive us down to the beach since I get free admittance as an Islip resident. It turned out to be a great idea. There is a large covered area with picnic tables where we sat and each had a view. She sketched the restaurant and I concentrated on the people sitting on the beach in front of the restaurant. It turned out to be a great location.

Shadows in Bellport

 This particular view in Bellport is a favorite spot of mine to sketch or paint. There are always strong shadows along Bellport Lane looking down to the Bellport Dock.

Patio Flowers

 The other day it was too hot to go searching for a location to sketch. So instead I sat out in the morning shade on my patio and sketched on of my hanging baskets of begonias.

Sketchwaiting

My iPhone hasn't been holding a charge for very long and I decided to have the battery replaced. I headed over to Best Buy because they are an Apple authorized location for repairs. When I handed the phone to the repairman and he entered my info into the computer, he told me that Apple considers my iPhone X to be "vintage" and they will no longer replace the batteries. (Giving the consumer a push to buy a new phone?) He did tell me that I could probably still get the battery replaced...just not by Apple. He recommended a nearby shop called Tech Boys. They told me it would take about an hour, so I left and did some shopping before I returned. The phone wasn't quite ready so I pulled out a piece of paper from my purse and sketched a bit. Unfortunately the one battery they had wouldn't hold a charge and they had to order a new battery that would be delivered the next day. They put the old battery in the phone but now that wouldn't hold a charge any more. I was without a phone until the next afternoon. It is funny when you don't have your phone how much you rely on it all day. Luckily the following afternoon they replaced the battery and all is back to normal. The tech person did suggest that I replace the phone some time in the next 6-9 months. Because it is "vintage" it may not support updates or new apps for much longer. I know that is true...so maybe I'll be getting a new iPhone for Christmas. lol

Pottery Shelves

 This was sketched at the Bayport Flower Houses on a really hot day. I sat in my car in the shade of several trees with the windows open. I never left the car. I liked the piles of pottery and the touches of foliage.

Byron Lake Park

 The Patchogue Sketch Club's destination last week was Bron Lake Park in Oakdale. It ended up that only two of us actually sketched at the park. A storm was forecast for later that evening so our plans were changed to meet at a local Starbucks. Janet and I never got the notice until late and we had already started sketching. I focused on the water lily pads and flowers. They seemed to have a lot of them. It never rained while we were there.

Kingstons Clam Bar

Although I've never eaten at Kingstons Clam Bar in West Sayville, I have sketched it a few times. I like the distictive sign and their outdoor seating area. It makes a fun composition. 

Patchogue Farmers Market

Patchogue Farmers Market has started for the season. It takes place on Sundays at the Patchogue Train Station. I stopped to visit a friend, Linda Lee, who was selling her artwork (some paintings and a lot of cards). It was nice to see that the market had improved tremendously since I had been there last...much bigger and better. Entertainment was provided by Dan Corozza, a local singer-songwriter. In the center of the market they provided some covered tables which gave me a spot out of the sun to sit and sketch. 

My second setch was done of the booth from the Golden Acres organic Farm. Their produce looked nice and fres and they had some customers. I sat by the corner of the market in the shade of the trees to sketch. The organizers of the market stopped by and were very welcoming and happy to see me sketching there. They assured me I would be welcome any time.

Northport Charm

I enjoy going up to Northport. There are some great old homes and businesses along Main Street leading to the harbor. This one caught my eye. It was a hot, sunny day but my friend, Suzala and I found some shade in front of the Northport Fire Department.

When we finished the first painting we walked down to the harbor. There was a great view across the harbor to what must have been a sailing club of some sort on the other side. I love the flying flags.

Smith Point Beach

 There is a memorial at Smith Point Park to TWA Flight 800 that exploded and crashed into the ocean near Smith Point Beach in 1996. It is a beautiful memorial with wonderful plants and flowers. I've sketched there many times and did so recently. These beautiful irises were clustered together near one of the walls. The dunes and the ocean are beyond this area.

While I was there I sat up near the concession stand area and sketchcd a few people down on the sand.

The Sayville Grange

The small buildings at The Sayville Grange need some repairs, but apparently the town doesn't have money in their budget for repairs...although the gazebo on the property was just replaced with a new one that is nearly double the size of the original one. I've sketched this building many times in the past. It was done in the Venice sketchbook. As you can see the pages work a lot better with the watercolor ground on them. I'll have to cover another group of pages soon. 

Digital Beach Sketch

I did this digital sketch down by the beach in Sayville. These three ladies had a front row spot to watch the water. I had a hard time using Procreate in the sun on my iPad. There is such a glare and the colors and work don't look correct in the sun. It is sort of like seeing what is on your phone in the sunshine. 

Weathered

Most of the houses in Sayville have been updated, especially after the storms that have battered the area in the past. This house still looks a little worn and weathered and is right near the beach. I think it needs a little TLC. 

Garden View

My plein air group visited the Peconic River Herb Farm in Calverton recently. I can always find an interesting view with the small buildings and structures they have on the property. 

Pine Tree

There are some interesting pine trees near the beach in Sayville. I love the tiny pinecones that grow in clusters. 

Fort Greene Brooklyn

 The NYC Urban Sketchers headed to the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn, home to the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Barclay Center recently. The area has really changed since I was there last (about 12 years ago.) We met at a small plaza on Lafayette Street. Directly across was Fancy Free, a Brooklyn Pub which has an incredible crowd of people on line outside. At 10 AM the line went all the way down the block. Why? To begin with they were displaying the trophy for the Premier Soccer League and visitors could go inside and take photos with it. Then a crowd stayed and watched the Arsenal team (the local team) win the Premier League championship. Also inside at the time was the current NYC Mayor Mamdami as well as Spike Lee, the filmmaker and director who is from the neighborhood. 

Although I had no interest in the game I was up for the challenge of sketching Fancy Free and the huge crowd watching the game.

After lunch there was time for another sketch. I walked around the corner just past the pub and found this sign and apartment. I couldn't resist the sign and the details on the basement apartment. It is a fun neighborhood and I hope we go back another time.

Clouds Over the Trees

I used my sketchbook from Venice for this painting. You can see some of the markings that the watercolor ground didn't cover well.  It is strange paper, but I'm making the best of it. The clouds were near the Great South Bay in Islip. 

Poppies and Foxgloves from the Garden

 Every Spring I wait to hear my friend, Susan tell me that her poppies are in bloom. This time they had bloomed and it rained for several days. She told me they would only last a few more days at the most, so I scurried over to her garden and painted them.

Susan also had foxgloves that were in bloom, so I did a loose painting of them too.

Cloud Studies

I was down by the Great South Bay at Captree State Park and the sky was just wonderful...and constantly changing. I did a few small cloud studies. 

Lobster

 On summer holidays I try to arrange to have lobster on one of the days of the weekend...and sketch the creature if I have time. Luckily Shop Rite tends to have them on sale then, although this year they were the most expensive they've been yet. I guess it is partly due to the cost of gasoline lately. They were good!

 The irises are in bloom here right now. I stopped at Sayville Rotary Park to paint one of the irises. This was done in my sketchbook from Venice on the paper that was treated with the watercolor ground. Although it wasn't like painting on regular watercolor paper there was less bleeding this time.

Baked Fresh Pretzels

We had another drizzly day over the holiday weekend but the Sayville Farmers Market takes place every Saturday at the Grange in Sayville. There is an area where I can park behind a few of the tents and sketch from the car. This time I had a good view of Knot of this World, a vendor who sold fresh baked pretzels. There wasn't a big crowd out shopping in the rain, but he had quite a few shoppers while I sat there sketching. 

Like I said, it was a drizzly day. This was the view from my mobile studio. I had to use the wipers a few times.

Little Vincent's Pizza

 This was painted in the sketchbook I bought in Venice which lets the paint and the ink bleed through the page. I tried seeing what would happen if I treated the paper with watercolor ground, which is supposed to make any surface suitable for watercolor. I only did 1 coat of the watercolor ground. Although it didn't bleed as badly as before the edges of the paint don't hold a crisp edge. I may try putting a second layer on the next few pages to see if that helps.

Anyway I stopped at Little Vincent's Pizza Restaurant in Lake Ronkonkoma. It was raining so I sat in my mobile studio to capture the view before I went in for a slice.

Quick Sketches for Creative Spark

Here are a few quick sketches done for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt recently. 

Something full, something empty, and a vegetable.

Shelving

Matt the Model

A few times a year the Patchogue Arts Council pays for a model for the Patchogue Sketch Club. The last few times we've had Hector model for us. This time we had a new (to us) model named Matt. He was a definite surprise and modeled as stripped down as you can get and still be PG. He has a really interesting face with a long curling mustache, a wild head of hair, and a solid body. I usually sketch small but found I had to sketch Matt the entire length of my paper. He posed in a variety of positions for different intervals. I hope he is invited back again.