Balloon Clown

 Last Sunday was Spring Fest in Sayville. It is a typical festival with booths with merchandise, food trucks, a petting pen, and assorted entertainment like face painting, music, and this balloon clown. She had a continuous line the entire time I was there. I stood fairly close to her and sketched in pencil. Then I moved behind her on the sidewalk and set up my stool so I could sit and add the watercolors and the background. When I was finished I stopped and showed it to her. She was amazed that I could sketch her and she hadn't even noticed. She loved it.

Spring at The Met Cloisters - Part 3

 I headed back upstairs to the first courtyard garden for my third sketch. There were so many sketchers from our group working there that a good part of the time was used for socializing rather than sketching. It is always fun to meet up with friends that I hadn't see in a while, like my friend Julie who hadn't joined the weekend group in over a year. She has been the caretaker for her mom and that weekend her sister was helping out instead of Julie. Another sketcher had moved back to Athens, Greece, but was in NYC to visit her son and daughter who live there. It was great to see her and hear how she had started the first official Urban Sketchers group in Greece. I would love to go there and join in with her group.

I sketched the courtyard again, but this time I didn't have a lot of time. To speed things up I sketched with ink as well as the colored pencils. These two guys were good models and sat there for quite a while.

Our show and tell was held in one of the interior galleries off the courtyard. Here is a photo of the group from the day.

The trip home wasn't as easy as getting there since there was no internet reception to get the GPS started for the return trip. It took a while for the reception to kick in and give me directions. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to make my way home the old fashioned way. lol

Spring at The Met Cloisters - Part 2

 Downstairs at The Met Cloisters there were two more enclosed gardens. One had no covered area and it was quite chilly and windy. The other garden was in the courtyard by the cafe. I found an unoccupied table in the cafe and sat there while I sketched the view out from the shaded portico of the cafe. It was semi open to the air so I kept my jacket on due to the chill from the wind. Several other sketchers were working in the cafe and some were working with wet media. The guards didn't bother anyone there...I guess since you could have food and drinks they didn't mind the wet media there. They did come over to several sketchers at the other courtyard garden upstairs and told they they could only use pencil. I liked the view looking through the arches into the garden. 

Spring at the Met Cloisters - Part 1

The NYC Urban Sketchers met at The Met Cloisters in the Bronx. The good thing about this venue is that I can easily drive there if I am going alone. The trip took about 1 1/2 hrs by car and it was easy to park. I've been there with the Urban Sketchers before, but not when the gardens were open. This was so great! Flowers and trees were in bloom and although there were a lot of people, I was able to find a good view for each sketch. Like most museums The Met Cloisters only allows dry media for sketching, so I brought along my new set of colored pencils. They worked well but didn't give me the richness of my watercolors. Not being use to pencils as a medium, I forgot to pack a pencil sharpener. Luckily there were friendly sketchers who helped me out. 

This was the main courtyard garden surrounded by Medieval arches and porticos. It was beautiful. I tucked myself into a corner in the sunshine and it was warm enough to take off my jacket while I was sketching. By the time I finished this sketch there must have been at least 30 people in the garden and people (mostly sketchers) sitting on the walls.

Bicycles at the Beach

 At the end of the Field 6 parking lot at Robert Moses Beach there is an area that always has bicycles locked up. I'm not sure who they belong to and quite often they are a very rusted collection of bikes. I was surprised to see that the ones locked there on my recent trip were in much better condition. I used artistic license and only sketched two of them, but there were actually about 7 of them. While I was sketching them a man came along and unlocked one and rode away. I don't know if you are allowed to bike ride across the bridge that gets to the beach so I'm not quite sure where he was headed. I know that with a permit you can drive into the Fire Island communities as well as the Fire Island Lighthouse. I wonder where he was going...

Medieval Creature Study

 The Patchogue Sketch Club is getting ready to start our project for Arts on Terry. We will be doing lettering using the Medieval alphabet that often includes Medieval creatures along with the letter. This week we did a little practice from some reference sources.

Ranger Station at Smith Point Beach

 The dunes along Smith Point Beach are always a good subject, especially with the Ranger Station included. It has a great view and often they offer lessons to the public about things related to Fire Island and the seashore.

View from Islip Beach

 We are lucky to have so many nice water views over the Great South Bay. This was sketched from one of the town beaches in Islip that are on the mainland. This is one of the bridges that crosses the bay to Robert Moses Park which is on Fire Island.

Welcoming Porch

There are so many houses in nearby Bellport that call to be sketched. The spring greens are in full swing on the trees and grasses. I could be happy sitting on that chair on the porch. How about you? 

Star Magnolia in Bloom

 I need to check the progress of the trees at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum a little more often. When I stopped there this past week I found that the star magnolia tree was already starting to bloom. I'm sure that by my next visit it will be in full bloom or already past peak. This was done on a piece of Strathmore toned paper. I used white gouache on the blossoms.

Tree Study

I love looking at the shapes of trees from the directions and turns of the trunks to the leaves and smaller branches. These I found locally in Sayville.

Brown's River View

 The marsh area contrasted with the sky along Brown's River is usually a nice view. Often there is a boat docked too. It would be a shame not to document it, right?

DUMBO Sketch #2

 My next sketch was of the classic restaurant, The River Cafe which is perched right near the Brooklyn Ferry and just below the Brooklyn Bridge. I was a bit behind another restaurant and I think that helped keep the crowds away from the spot where I was sitting. I had a great view, a bench to sit on, and a place to rest my art supplies while I worked...and no crowds getting in my way. Success!

DUMBO Sketch #1

The NYC Urban Sketchers met in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn. DUMBO stand for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. The meeting spot was Jane's Carousel but my friend, Suzala and I decided we wanted city sketches. We found a spot with a view of the Manhattan Bridge where there was a cluster of rocks and some stone steps...and many, many people. I used artistic license and left out most of the people leaving in enough to get the idea of people sitting and standing to enjoy the spot. 

Iron Ramen

 I had an errand up near Lake Grove and was hungry. I headed over to Iron Ramen in nearby Stony Brook. The ramen was Ok, but nowhere near as good the great places I've been to in the city and Brooklyn. But the sketching opportunity was good so I can't complain. I did enjoy my time there.

Crocuses

 It was hard to resist the crocuses at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. There was an entire patch of them just smiling up from the earth. I was a happy woman. :)

Spring Is In the Air

 It was a long winter and the other day we had enough sunshine and a mild day so I headed over to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. I wasn't sure if there would be anything in bloom, but I found the daffodil patch near the parking lot. Although much of it was still just leaves, there were a few clusters of blooms. I actually sat on my stool and not in my mobile studio to sketch.

Assorted Sketches

 I've been keeping up with the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunts as much as possible.

Here are a few recent sketches for the hunts.

Drawing is Free_org

I joined in with Chloe's group on Drawing Is Free_org again this week. Here are some of the portraits I did. The models seem to like posing with their hands near their faces. Most were done with a mix of watercolor, watercolor pencils, and Neocolors. All were sketched in the space of one song.

 

 

The Presbyterian Church of the Moriches

I've passed the Presbyterian Church of the Moriches many times and always decided before that it was too big to sketch. But this time I decided I would see how much of it I could get onto my page. I started at the top of the steeple and kept going until I ran out of room. The church has a lovely bottom too, but there was no way it would all fit on the page. Maybe some day I'll go back with a long sketchbook where I can work across a double page.

No Kings Protes

Two friends and I headed to the No Kings Protest in Mineola last weekend. I was good to be among so many people that feel the same way about what has been happening. There were some great signs by individuals in the crowd. I sketched in mostly black and white on location. It was too much to manage watercolors since I was standing up (and not leaning against anything). I added the color at home and you can see what a difference it made.

 

Reaching Out

 This large, bumpy tree in Sayville caught my attention the other day. The trunk had such great texture...a good excuse to add a bit of Neocolors to it. 

Flower Power

Our spring flowers have barely started appearing from the ground, so I headed over to the Bayport Flower House and did a direct watercolor of one of the flower pots that were outside. It had a little bit of a few different flowers. I will go back and make sure to get some Easter flowers to bring home.