30x30 Direct Watercolor #30 & 31 - Lavender By the Bay

I'm not stopping the direct watercolors yet since the month isn't over. Here are #30 & #31 done at Lavender by the Bay in East Marion on the North Fork of Long Island. The company has 2 lavender fields, but I like this one best...it is more scenic. I painted there with a few other urban sketchers and we made a day of painting, going out to lunch, shopping at farmstands, and finally enjoying ice cream at Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe in Riverhead.

 

Left to right...Sara, Me, Susan, and Elaine

30x30 Direct Watercolor #28 - Bayport Marina

This direct watercolor was done at local marina in Bayport. I was there on a Sunday and it is fun to see the families going out for a trip together.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #23 - Yaphank Lake and the Hawkins House

My plein air group, PALS planned to meet recently at what I thought was a historical building on Yaphank Lake. Apparently I didn't read the email close enough, and I was wrong. I got to the location and nobody was there. I started a direct watercolor (#23) and painted until another member, Liz, came along. Since it was just two of us we thought we might be in the wrong location. I reread the email and the group was going to another location nearby that was a historical house near the water. 

The Hawkins House was our actual location for painting that day. Since we got there late I didn't want to start a large painting so this is 5 x7. The house was great, and I really liked the seating area on the porch.

 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #22 Meadow Croft & Flowers

The lawn at Meadow Croft Estate in Sayville had some lovely yellow flowers...perfect for a 30x30 Direct Watercolor.

The Patchogue Sketch Club went to the Swan River Preserve in Patchougue the other night. The foliage there is so tall it is hard to find a view to sketch. I ended up focusing on some small flowers against the slats of the fence.

 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #19 Scenes from Port Jeff

Recently my friend, Suzala and I went to Port Jeff. Rather than ending up at an event that we were planning to go to, we walked around the town to find something to paint. I wanted to do a direct watercolor for the challenge. We found a spot in the shade outside a restaurant that looked really great. As I was finishing up, a lady with a little boy came over to see what I was doing. Looking at it she realized she was the lady with the cap sitting at the table. lol 

Next we moved to the main street in town. There was a spot with a view of Yogo Delish, a yogurt place. Luckily there was no parking allowed in front of the spot where we were painting, or directly across the street where Yogo Delish was, so we had a good view.

30x30DirectWatercolor #17 Geese + Sunbather

Down by the bay in Bayport the other day I saw a group of geese hanging around. Of course there were about 8 to start with but only 2 managed to stay around long enough to be models for my Direct Watercolor #17.

When I was at the Robert Moses Beach recently I tried sketching with Procreate on my iPad. It is difficult to sketch on it in bright sunlight because it is very difficult to see what you're doing. Considering this was a half-blind sketch I don't think it came out too bad.

 

30x30DirectWatercolor #16 & Holbein Workshop

I am always attracted to umbrellas and if they are red that's the icing on the cake. My 16th 30x30 Direct Watercolor was done at the Greek Bites Gill in Moriches. This time I can say I've been inside and have sampled their food, which is really good. 

Recently the Patchogue Arts Council hosted a Holbein Workshop where the Long Island representative, Jim Minet had us try out assorted Holbein art materials, watercolor mediums,  and Legion papers like Stonehenge and Yupo.

We started with Hobein watercolors on Stonehenge paper using a reference photo. We moved on to Holbein gouache and their acrylic gouache.

We tried painting on Yupo paper, a synthetic, plastic-like surface. I forgot how much fun that was to use...and also how frustrating too.

Jim also had us work on their black paper. The gouache especially worked well on that. In addition we tried the Holbein irridescent medium that can be used with watercolor or gouache.

Below you can see the irridescent medium in the shell I painted. I think all the participants enjoyed the workshop and the freebies that we went home with at the end of the night.

30x30DirectWatercolor #14 Flowers & Trees + Pool Time

This direct watercolor for the 30x30 Challenge was done in Sayville. I liked the bright spring greens contrasted with the purple and pink flowers.

I had my iPad with me at the pool over the weekend. There were a few people sitting at the edge of the pool so I pulled out the iPad and used Procreate to do a sketch.

 

30x30 Direct Watercolor #4 + More

 For my 5th 30x30 Direct Watercolor I painted the view across the Great South Bay from Smith Point.

When I was at the Teddy Roosevelt Reenactment there were other sketching opportunities. One was this1903 Brewster carriage.

I also captured a few people sitting around watching the activities going on.

30x30 Direct Watercolors #1 & #2

Every year in June Uma Kelkar & Marc Taro Holmes present the 30x30 Direct Watercolor Challenge. During the month the participants strive to create 30 direct watercolor paintings. No pencil or ink lines are allowed. I've been participating for a number of years. I definitely think this challenge makes me more observant and also makes me stop and think about the composition of my piece and what goes in front of or behind something else. It is fun to take part in this.

Both of these small ATC sized paintings were done in the garden area at the beach.