New Hope Train Station

We arrived in Bucks County where we met up with another sketching friend of Suzala's who came up from Maryland to meet us. New Hope, PA has changed a lot since I was there last. It used to be a small town with shops that sold hand-made leather items, pottery, jewelry, etc as well as some small, quaint restaurants. The number of businesses has increased tremendously. It is nearly impossible to park. It is no longer the fun town I remember. We headed over near the New Hope Train Station. I started with a sketch of the train station itself. The colorful train pulled in and out of the station about every 20 minutes to go on a scenic trip. I ended up sketching it little by little since it didn't stay for long. I finished the station on location but painted the train when I got home.

 

Rick at the Wheel

Rick is the husband of my friend, Suzala, and he is a prince. He often drives us to our sketching locations in the city and very conveniently drops us off as close to where we are meeting as possible. This time he and Suzala invited me to join them on a trip to New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ. The towns are across the river from each other. I haven't been down there in at least 25/30 years. The trip down took about 2 1/2 hrs, so I entertained myself by sketching my view of Rick from the back seat of their car. For some reason the sketching in the car seems bumpier than sketching on the train. I think the car is an up-down motion and the train is side to side. That's my theory anyway!

Open for Business

This sketch covered two promps for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt...striped and open. 

Elegant

 One of the prompts for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt recently was elegant. What can be more elegant than a wedding dress? I've sketched Sayville Bridal before and it still called to me. This is the back of the store. Some day I'll have to go around to the front and see what the display is like.

Music in Sayville

 At the Common Ground on Wednesdays there is usually music. This particular week "Drive" was playing. They are a tribute group for "The Cars." They provided musical entertainment and a good sketch opportunity.

The Hawkins House

The Hawkins House was the destination for PALS this week. To celebrate our 250th birthday it was decked out in bunting. I did a side view of the house this time. You can see my previous paintings of it   here.

Summer Treats

Summer brings all kinds of treats...strawberries, peaches, watermelon, and corn on the cob. The only thing I didn't have to sketch was a tomato. 

Car Show in the Heat

 Long Island and parts of the east coast have been suffering through some very hot, humid weather recently. Usually I join the NYC Urban Sketchers in the city on Saturday, but due to the weather I knew it would be hard to tolerate the city. On Sunday the forecast was again for hot, humid weather with temperatures in the 90s. 

Sayville was having a festival which included a car show on Sunday. Two friends and I decided to meet and sketch at the show. We aimed to be there at 10:00 when the car show officially opened and stay until we got too uncomfortable. Each of us had our own car so it wouldn't be a problem if one of us wanted to leave before the others. There was an area with quite a few Cadillacs. The one I selected was from 1937 and was a beauty.

I found a spot in the shade cast by a building and a SUV. That worked for a while but the sun was moving slowly west and I had to keep moving to stay in the shade. Luckily the humidity kept the paint from drying too quickly so I didn't get a lot of hard edges. I worked on this for about  1 1/2 hours. I packed up my materials, said goodby to Susan and Suzala and headed home to have lunch and spend the rest of the day at the pool in my development. It was a successful day.

Sunflower Bouquet

 I'm often guilty of waiting too long to sketch flower arrangements that I have at home. I knew I really needed to get these flowers done. This fit perfectly for the #3materialsdrawingchalleng since I used watercolors, Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons, and watercolor pencils.

Grape Jelly

Here is another sketch for #3materialsdrawingchallenge using Posca markers, Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons, and watercolors. 

Red and Yellow

 This is another small painting done for the #3materialsdrawingchallenge. I used Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons, watercolors and touches of ink to capture this view at The Farm, a farmstand on Lakeland Ave in Sayville.

For Sale

 This boat for sale was located in Sayville at a small marina. It looks pretty good to me.

Open to the Bay

 This was painted down near the bay in West Sayville. I like the open area that shows the Great South Bay and Fire Island.

Peach and Blues for the Challenge

I saw another art challenge that has tempted me, the #3materialsdrawingchallenge. The gist is sketching from life and trying to use 3 different materials in the one sketch. For this sketch I used watercolors, pastel pencils (don't know where or how I got them), and Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons. 

The Mill at Cedarmere

 I finished my sketch of the lilly pond at Cedarmere before my friends so I walked down the slope toward the water and did a quick sketch of the mill. This was done in the sketchbook I had bought in Venice that had the paper without the sizing. I wasn't too happy with the result...but it is what it is. 

Lilly Pond at Cedarmere

 I visited Cedarmere Park in Roslyn with two friends recently. The park is on the property of the 19th-Century poet, William Cullen Bryant. There is a restored house, a pond, a mill, a garden, and a small bridge overlooking Hempstead Harbor. The only drawback is that it is on a slope and I found it difficult to walk around parts of it if I wasn't on the paths and keep my balance. lol I focused on the lilly pond for my watercolor sketch.

Drawing Challenge

I saw something the other day about #3materialsdrawingchallenge which hopes to encourage artists to use and explore and combine some of the materials they don't normally use. I did these items for the CreativeSpark.art Scavenger Hunt. 

I used Posca markers, Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons, and watercolors for the lemons.

Then I did a can of coffee for "something related to coffee." Again I used the watercolors, Posca markers, and Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons.

Ambulance Lane Water Tower

The Patchogue Sketch Club met to sketch the water tower on Ambulance Lane. In orderto get the entire structure I sat far back in the parking lot across the street. We were there for about an hour or so when it started to drizzle. Everyone gathered up their work, scurried to their cars, and left. I decided to stay and finish my sketch from inside my "mobile studio." I moved the car so that I was in about the sme spot I had been sitting in earlier and finished the sketch. I was rewarded with a lovely sunset that just kept getting better.

Look at the sunset reflected in the raindrops on my windshield!

Self Portrait

 I haven't done a self portrait in a while, but it was one of the items on the last Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt. This was done fairly quickly in graphite. When I do self portraits I usually use "photo booth" on my Mac which gives me a pretty stable way of viewing myself.

Patriotic on West Ave

 I spotted this house at 35 West Ave in West Sayville. They were proudly displaying the colors with the large American flag and the red, white, and blue bunting.

Bellport Sails

During the summer when my plein air group paints by the Bellport Dock the sailboats are often out on the small beach as well as in the water. Today sailing lessons were being given but I focused on a few sailboats instead of the group getting ready to go out for their lesson. 

The Edge

 There were quite a few people at the pool and a small crowd along the edge of the pool. I had my fingers crossed that they would stay put for a while...and they did for the most part.