Inktober 2022 - Day 30 - Along the Tracks & Times Square

 Today one of my art groups was having a closing reception for our show that has been in a gallery in Cutchogue. So since I was out on the North Fork I looked for an Inktober subject. This building was along the Mattituck train tracks. It was unusual. None of the doors or windows lined up. Each ended on a slightly different level.

Here is the updated version of my Times Square sketch. I added more color, more details, and did some shading with a grey Tombow ink marker as Ian Fennelly suggested.

Here is the version before the additional work if you want to compare them.

Inktober 2022 - Day 29 - Sketching Workshop

 Today I attended an excellent sketching workshop called "Shapes, Colours and Stories" given by Ian Fennerly from the UK. It was sponsored by the NYC Urban Sketchers. I love Ian Fennerly's work and when I was at the Porto Symposium I attended one of his demos. Thru Etcher I also did an online class with him during the pandemic. 

The class was in Times Square...right in the heart of it. Luckily he found a location for us to work from that was a bit away from the insanity of all the dressed up figures, tour hustlers and entertainers. 

The general idea of the workshop was to focus on the story of the area with the signs and activity around the water using the street lamp posts to block in the sketch. Slowly we added the details. We worked on our ink sketches with assorted thicknesses of pens in several stages (the first was with a light grey Tombow marker which we used instead of a pencil to place the largest items in our sketch. We redrew the items with a 0.2 permanent marker adjusting them as needed.  Then we transitioned to watercolor. The final steps will be to do tone work with grey Tombow ink markers. Ian did a demo of each step on his sketch and then allowed us to do the same while he came around commenting and giving advice as needed. It was only a 3 hr class so a lot was crammed into a small amount of time. He suggested waiting to finishing the last step with the ink markers until he sent us his finished sketch to see what he added and where. A lot of the tonal shading is done directly over the watercolor and the sketching we already did. 

Here is my unfinished sketch which I am using as my Inktober sketch for today. I will work on this more and promise to post it when I am done.

 

Here is a photo of Ian explaining what he added to his sketch.

Inktober 2022 - Day 27 - Unicorn Scarecrow & Autumn Colors

 One of the fun things about Bellport in October is that they decorate Main Street with all sorts of scarecrows for Halloween. Then the public votes on them. Somehow I haven't been in the town yet this year to see and sketch the scarecrows. Usually I sketch a few of them. So today since I was in the town anyway to go to the frame shop, I stopped to sketch the unicorn scarecrow for Inktober. This one is named Hairy Unicorn. I was going to take this photo of it in black and white and then add color (since she was so cute in pink) but it was so windy I couldn't sit there any longer.

When I finished I sat in my car looking out at autumn's colors and painted this.

Inktober 2022 - Day 26 - Boatyard

 For my Inktober sketch today I headed to one of my stand-by locations, Weeks Yacht Yard. There are so many little and big views that I never get tired of sketching there.

Inktober 2022 - Day 25 - Frank Meliville Park

 Today my plein air group met at Frank Melville Park in East Setauket. We were hoping for a lot of autumn colors but the colors weren't at peak yet. I did a view of the bridge with the foliage behind it. I was concerned that it would start raining, so I did a 5 x 7 sized painting.

There are/were a few wonderful old trees in the park. I was planning on sketching the biggest of them which had such wonderful branches and a lot of names carved into it, but was disappointed to see that it was gone. This one which is about half the size isn't quite so impressive. It looks like a section of it is now missing. I guess these trees were affected by the storms we've had the last few years. I hadn't looked for them the last time I was there. For Inktober I used my Elegant Writer pen, my Lamy with Noodler's brown ink, and a Lamy with permanent black ink.

Inktober 2022 - Day 24 - Panera Sketches

 Today was a rainy day so I decided to sketch from an indoor location. We don't have too many coffee houses around unless you count the endless Starbucks. I headed to the Panera Bread in Bohemia. I haven't sketched there in a long time but I know there are good views of the counter area from some of the booths in the front. Since I was there anyway I grabbed a bagel to go with my cup of coffee that I milked for the duration of my sketch time.  I am usually not prepared to sketch my food, but since I had everything I needed (except water to make the ink bleed). I sketched this with my Lamy pen filled with Noodler's brown ink. I ended up putting a bit of coffee on the plate instead of water. It worked!

My original aim was to sketch the actual restaurant which I did while I was munching on my bagel. I think it helps to have food to eat while I sketch. I'm much more patient that way. lol So today I am giving you a double Inktober.

Inktober 2022 - Day 23 Still Life

 Today was one of those rainy, damp days that I really didn't want to go out. So instead I did my Inktober sketch from a still life I set up on my table. I used an orange micron pen, my Lamy pen with Noodler's brown ink, and acrylic inks.

Yesterday after I sketched the Mineola Diner in my sketchbook I also did a quick watercolor and ink sketch of it. This is postcard sized so it is going out with my other postcards to the troops. I'm mailing out a batch of 17 postcards to Mary Jo tomorrow so that she has them in time to send them. 

Inktober 2022 - Day 22 - Mineola Diner & Extra Paintings

 Today my friend, Suzala and I wracked our brains for someplace different to sketch. We ended up going to Mineola were there was an iconic looking diner, complete with a big neon sign. We ended up sitting diagonally across on the opposite coner from it. It is located at a busy intersection and that gave us at least a view that didn't have stopped vehicles right in front of us. Here is my Day 22 sketch. The only part that isn't ink are the wider red areas. I did those in watercolor.

A few weeks ago one of my art organizations had our monthly meeting and then we created small 4 x 6 paintings that could be mounted on 5 x 7 cards to be used as thank you cards or sympathy cards by the organization. We worked in whatever our chosen media was. I worked from photos on my phone. Here are the two that I created.

Inktober 2022 - Day 20 - Smithtown House & Life Sketches

 Today I was up in Smithtown and found an interesting house for my Inktober sketch.

Last night the Patchogue Sketch Club was invited to a special event at MOCA LI and hosted by the Patchogue Arts Council which involved poetry and sketching. Our poet, Terri Muuss, read us several of her poems and then posed in a way that she thought reflected her feelings about the part of her life that each poem was written about. As she read her poems we got to know a little bit about her and the horrific difficulties like incest, drugs, and loss that she has survived. Her poems are raw, emotional, and inspiring. 

In the sketch below we did 5 two minute sketches overlapping them.

The very bottom sketch with her arms raided was in response to her poem, "Finish Line."

Inktober 2022 - Days 18 & 19

My Day 18 sketch was done by the Bayport dock. I used my Lamy pen that is filled with Noodler's brown ink which is water-soluble.

 Today's Day 19 Inktober sketch was done in Port Jefferson (Port Jeff to the locals) on East Main Street.

While I was in town I sat in my car up along Spring Street, one of the steep streets that look back to the town and toward the First United Methodist Church. This 4 x 6 postcard and the Inktober sketch will be part of my postcard collection going to the troops. I am debating if I should add color to the Inktober sketch from today and yesterday before I send them out. What do you think?

 

Inktober 2022 - Day 17 - Bayard Cutting Arboretum

Today is my plein air group's morning to paint. We headed over to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum's dahlia garden to paint. I am once again joining my friend Mary Jo Ernst who is collecting 4 x 6 pieces of art to send to the troops for the holidays. I've done this before but I didn't find out early enough to do too many cards. So far I have about 10 of them done and have to send them to her by the middle of next week. So instead of doing a 8 x 10 painting I did several 4 x 6 pieces. This is a view of one of the arbors and the dahlias.

Then I moved over to the area where the birdhouses are and did a 4 x 6 of that area.

At 12:30 a group of us headed over to the Hidden Oak Cafe at the manor house for lunch 

(which is always very good). I needed to get my Inktober sketch done so I headed back to the dahlia garden and used my fude pen to sketch the birdhouse area.

 

Lincoln Center and Inktober Day 16

 Yesterday I forgot to post!!! That's because I went to see my sister, Michelle who lives in New Jersey and her daughter and husband that were visiting from Oklahoma. I hadn't seen them in about 5 years. I left here early and got back late. Sorry about that. 

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers were meeting in the area around Lincoln Center. Our first stop was the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on the corner of Central Park West and W 65th Street. I always find churches and buildings like this difficult to sketch. We got there a little late so I had only about 30 minutes to do this sketch. I decided to let it be my Day 16 Inktober sketch and not worry about color.

Then we moved on to Lincoln Center itself. Aside from the fountain I don't find much there to be too exciting in the plaza. But there are a lot of people that sit at the edge of the fountain and they are always fun to sketch or paint. I did this directly in watercolor. I purposely did the fountain with the trees behind it to make the water stand out more. 

After a nice lunch and time chatting with some of the other sketchers I had time for one more sketch. I sat across the street in Dante Park and sketched the people in front of me and the view back toward Lincoln Center. It gave me a fun composition to work with.

When you are sketching outdoors you never know what will happen. When we got to the plaza I set myself up on my painting chair facing the fountain and Mark set himself up on his stool about 1/4 of the way around the plaza. A short while later a security guard came over to each of us and told us that we could sit on the stairs, or the structures that looked sort of like flat rocks, but we "couldn't use our own furniture." Later I found out that he went around to each of the sketchers that had their own "furniture." We've never had someone stop us from using stools or painting chairs before.

Inktober 2022 - Days 14 & 15

 My car needed to be services and had a recall that needed to be taken care of, so I headed over to the Nissan dealer in Patchogue. I knew I would be there for a while so I brought along my sketchbook and my iPad to keep me busy. It seems like I end up sketching the same view each time since there isn't much that you can see from the waiting area. The style of the car is slightly different and this time I used a ballpoint pen to sketch. It gives a softer look...almost like sketching with a pencil. The ballpoint pen isn't good for filling in solid areas so I was lucky in this Inktober Day 14 sketch.

 

Today I went into Sayville to do a few errands and stopped at Lands End down by the water. I did a sketch of the dock over near the catering & florist area of the event venue for my Inktober 15 sketch.

Inktober 2022 - Day 12 - Wildwood State Park

 I am always looking for someplace new and different to sketch. I've never checked out Wildwood State Park in Wading River before. It is an interesting spot on the north shore. Here on the south shore we have sandy beaches, but the north shore has rocks, boulders and pebbles. I found it interesting enough that I also did a small watercolor of the area too.

Inktober 2022 - Day 10 - Paddlewheel

 Today for Inktober 2022 I sketched the Lauren Kristy, a 65 foot turn-of-the-century style riverboat. It sails from the Bay Shore Marina and is available for lunch and dinner cruises on the Great South Bay. I focused on the front of the boat, not the paddle end.

Inktober 2022 - Day 9 - At the Dock

My Day 9 piece was sketched on location near the town commercial docks in Hampton Bays. 

 

Inktober 2022 - Day 8 - Car Ride

 Today I went into NYC with my friends, Suzala and her husband, Rick to meet the NYC Urban Sketchers. Rick often drives us to our location in the city, drops us off, and then comes back to pick us up at the end of the day. The ride into the city takes about an hour from their house, so I knew I had time to do a sketch of the interior of the car with them in it. My lines are rather irregular due to the movement of the car which I couldn't control. Here is Inktober Day 8.

Inktober 2022 - Day 6 - Pinecones

My pinecones for my Inktober sketch are from a collection of items that I have for Scavenger Hunts. These were done with Noodler's brown ink which is water soluble. 

Inktober 2022 - Day 5 - Harbor Crab & Peach Trees

My next Inktober sketch was done in Patchogue at Harbor Crab, a seafood restaurant on one of the canals. The food is pretty good and there is seating inside and outside. 

Recently I was out in Wading River and sat next to a field of what I am assuming are peach trees since right around the corner and up a little ways is a Hayden's Orchard where you can pick your own peaches. I like the shape of these trees.

 

Inktober 2022 - Day 3

 I have wanted to paint this gas station in Sayville for a while. I really wanted to do it from the diagonal corner, so I may go back and do this again. I pass this spot every time I go down by the small Sayville beach by the bay, and ferry passengers to Fire Island have to pass it too. Usually the owner/manager sits outside in that chair...of course that was in the summer when it was warmer. I got to use my Lamy pen and a pen with red ink for this.