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.

Christmas Cactus

 I bought a Christmas cactus at the Bayport Flower House when I was there recently. It has started blooming with these beautiful fuschia blossoms. I sketched it with my colored ink pens. I may have to do an updated version becuse there are so many more blossoms on it already.

Those Aren't Watermelons!

Looking at the sketch I painted outside the Bayport Flower House I noticed that the cartons that are holding the pumpkins say watermelons on them. Did it actually say that on the cartons, or did it say pumpkins? I will have to look when I am there again. Was my mind thinking watermelons??? LOL

I didn't get back to check the boxes. I've been too busy organizing and packing for our trip. We are leaving tonight and will be gone a few weeks. I have scheduled some posts to finish with the paintings/sketches that were already done. After that I will post from Venice as long as the blog cooperates when we are there. Ciao!

Garden Center

 I like returning to familiar places to sketch, like the Bayport Flower House. There is usually something to sketch there.

Tulips

I picked out a potted tulip plant at the Bayport Flower House for Easter...of course I sketched it.

 

Poinsettia

My plein air group met for our final session this week at the Bayport Flower House. It is our location for our last paintout every year. I went into the greenhouse which is filled with a rainbow of colors of poinsettias. I picked a pink one to paint.

 

Direct Watercolor #9

 I went over to the Bayport Flower House and they had some stone statues outside among the plants and pottery. This is #9 for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge.

I was in Patchogue today near where the Mini MoCA is located so I stopped and took a few photos of the display. Unfortunately my two mushroom paintings are behind the figure inside the display and are a bit hard to see. BUT you do get to see a reflection of me!

While I was taking the photos a man came over to ask me about the Mini MoCA. I explained what I knew about it and told him how we did mini mushrooms for it. He told me he had been in the park last weekend and that there were mushroom art pieces all around the park and that people were taking them. I explained that the purpose of the other pieces was for people to take them and enjoy them. 

Christmas in the Air

Tuesday was the last day for the year that my plein air group, PALS, met to paint. Our last location is always the Bayport Flower House. By this time of year it is usually too cold to be outside painting (unless you are in a mobile studio) so we happily paint the decorations inside. There is an entire large greenhouse filled with nothing but poinsettias in all different colors. There are so many choices for paintings. This year I selected this Christmas milk can filled with ferns, pinecones and big bells. Several of my paintings done here have been used for my annual Christmas card. Our last day there always fills us with the holiday spirit and spurs us on to get ready for our annual exhibit and sale.

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas! I hope your day was a good one surrounded by the people you love and filled with the joy of the season. 

I hope my painting "Gnomes for the Holidays" brings a smile to your face today. This was my Christmas card image for this year. Enjoy!!

Here's when it was just a work in progress at the Bayport Flower House. Good news too...I sold this painting before it was even finished.

Inktober 2020 Day 16 - Bayport Flower House Plant

On rainy, damp days it is hard to find something to sketch that you can see through a wet windshield. But I needed a subject for my Inktober Day 16 sketch. When I was at the Bayport Flower House recently I noticed they had a few huge, tropical potted plants near their fence. This one was tall (maybe 10 feet) so I parked my car a bit away from the fence so I could see the entire plant. But then I had trouble seeing where all the leaves were going. lol So for part of the time I sketched from a distance and then moved closer so I could see through the raindrops. This was done with my Sailor fude pen which can make thick or thin lines just by turning the pen a little.

Trees at the Bayport Flower House

I went searching for what I figured would be the last of the Christmas tree lots I would sketch. I ended up back at the Bayport Flower House sitting in the lot to sketch the view.

Christmas Trees with Bows

Today I sketched in the parking lot of the Bayport Flower House. I've sketched there many times but I found a different spot with potted Christmas trees decorated with red bows.

Greenhouse Doorway

I had hoped to have this finished, but it still needs some additional work. Last week my plein air group went to the Bayport Flower House to paint. We usually head there for our last outing before the holidays. This year we planned to go there two weeks in a row. We walked into a greenhouse that was filled with every color poinsettia you can imagine...but I saw this doorway at the end of the aisle and knew I had to paint it. It was a rainy day and the windows were all steamed up with a few clear spots where you could see the outside. How could I not paint it? I was lucky I did it that week because when we went back the windows weren't steamed up and it looked different.

Happy Easter & Happy Passover

This is a sketch of a plant that I bought for friends who are having us over for Passover dinner tonight. I know that tulips are traditionally for Easter but they also are celebrating that holiday tomorrow. I got these at the Bayport Flower House which is a local business. They are always gracious to my plein air group and always allow us to come and paint in their shop before Christmas. I've also gone there solo and sketched their flowers outdoors and have sketched their Christmas trees from my car. Their flowers are always beautiful so it is nice to support a local place.

Picking Out a Tree

It seems that every year I sit in my car in the parking lot of the Bayport Flower House and do a Christmas sketch. This year was no exception. I'm glad some people came along to pick out a tree.

Shopping

I had a little time the other day for a sketch from my "mobile studio." This was done in the parking lot of the Bayport Flower House...I keep ending up back there.

Bayport Flower House

The other day, after several days of not having time to sketch due to my group's show, I had to go somewhere to sketch. I sat in my car at the Bayport Flower House to sketch this view. You can't see much from most of the spots, but I thought this had enough interest to make it worth sketching.

Inktober - Day 2

For this sketch I used an Elegant Writer pen. For anyone who has never used one they are water-soluble and bleed to lovely blue shades (and pink if you blot it). If the ink is wet and then allowed to dry it becomes permanent. It has a lot of fun uses.

This was sketched from my new mobile studio (yes, my new car) in the parking lot of the Bayport Flower House while it was drizzling. I'm glad the new car is as comfortable to paint from as the old one.

#inktober #inktober2016

Christmas Display

Two weeks ago my plein air group had our last outing for the season at the Bayport Flower House. We sketched there last year too and I did a big room of poinsettias. This time I wanted to do something different even though the poinsettias were gorgeous again.

The Bayport Flower House on Montauk Highway in Bayport definitely puts you in the Christmas mood. There are Christmas decorations everywhere and Christmas carols are playing! What a fun place to sketch. This year I focused on one display which was a decorated free standing window.

I finished everything on site except for the decorations on the ribbons...and it took me almost 2 weeks to get around to doing that. This is 8 x 10.

Bayport Flower House

The local nurseries and garden centers are slowly getting ready for Spring.

I sketched this from my car in the parking lot at the Bayport Flower House. I was hoping for some actual flowering plants outside, but I guess it is still a bit too cold for that.