Inktober Day 7

 I have a floral arrangement that has been sitting in front of me for days. Usually I have good intentions and plan to sketch it...but often by the time I get around to it the flowers are past their prime. Today I used a Zebra Sensations fountain pen to sketch the arrangement for Inktober, and I resisted adding any color. 

A while ago a representative of Zebra sent me a variety of their pens to try and asked me to let her know my thoughts about how practical they would be in my outdoor sketching. I'm sure I tried one of the fountain pens at the time but I don't remember what I told her about that specific pen. The ones that I have are in a package of 7 assorted colors. The ink seems to be permanent and flows very nicely. I don't usually use colored ink when I'm sketching, especially the 2 red/pinks or the green colors. 

Inktober 2020 Day 31 - Weeks Boat Yard & Faces

 My Day 31 sketch for Inktober was done at one of my favorite local places. It was drizzling so I sat in my mobile studio at Weeks Boat Yard in Patchogue. What I love about that place is there is so much to sketch or paint and it always looks a little different. I don't get bored there. 

Inktober is now officially over for 2020. For some reason it seemed to go quicker than it usually does. Anyway, I will be glad to get back to using my arsenal of colors again. lol

The other night one of my art groups had a Zoom meeting for the members. I am the secretary so I should have been taking notes and I did...for a while. lol Each member was asked to introduce themself and tell what they have been doing or creating this past month. There were 21 people so it took a while and I decided to sketch a bit. I didn't want to get up and miss anything so I just grabbed a piece of copy paper that had writing on one side and drew some of the faces of the members quickly with a brush pen. I should have planned this better and used better paper. I did get a few done...but not anywhere near the 21 that were sitting there. I should have started sooner. 

Inktober 2020 Day 30 - LuLu's

 There seem to be quite a few restaurants around that decorate the outside area so you feel like you are at the beach. LuLu's has a few chairs sitting outside in sand (that has no reason to be there), a surfboard, umbrellas, fake palm trees, and an outside bar. They used to also have a vintage car with a lobster sitting on the roof that was nearly as large as the car. This gave me some inspiration for my Day 30 Inktober sketch.

Inktober 2020 Day 29

 For my Day 29 sketch I headed down by the Great South Bay in East Patchogue. You can see Fire Island in the distance. 

Inktober 2010 Day 28 - Railroad Crossing & Lefty Lucy

 My Day 28 Inktober sketch was done at a railroad crossing locally at Railroad Ave and Coates Ave. It was hard to decide how much of the background to include and not lose the star of the show.

Lefty Lucy posed last night. Not as fancy as last week, but she was fun anyway.

This was a 5 minute pose done in pencil.

These were 10 minute poses.

The final pose was 20 minutes.

Inktober 2020 Day 27 - Olish's Pumpkins

I love farm stands at this time of year for their fun displays so I headed to Olish's Farm in Eastport and found this great trailer with pumpkins on it. This is my day 27 Inktober sketch. I used a combination of my platinum carbon ink, the brown Noodler's ink, and an orange micron pen to make the pumpkins more colorful. The brown ink just didn't do it for the color. 

Inktober 2020 Day 26 - Halloween Display

It was drizzling the other day so I really wasn't inspired to go far to find a subject for my Day 26 Inktober sketch. I backed my car out of the garage and remembered that I had wanted to sketch the Halloween display on my neighbor's patio. So I sat in my mobile studio in the parking space right in front of their patio and sketched from there.

Just an update...remember the paintings I did on the shingles for the fundraiser that the Long Island Maritime Museum was having? Well, so far 43 pieces have sold including this one of mine. They art will continue to be on display at the Maritime Museum until the middle of November, so I am sure that more pieces will sell. Of course these were donated, so the artist isn't getting anything from the sale, but it is nice to know that my piece has a new home.

Inktober 2020 Day 25 - Claws

 For my Day 25 sketch for Inktober I sat in my mobile studio near Claws on Main Street in Sayville. It is a very popular seafood market and eatery. There was a line out front of people patiently waiting to go inside and purchase their seafood. Off to the left is the tented outdoor seating area and pickup window for cooked food. Looks like they are doing a good job of social distancing. 

Inktober 2020 Day 24 - Outdoor Display & Lighthouse

 My Day 24 Inktober sketch was done of a display in front of a restaurant in Bayshore down by the water. It looked so nautical I had to sketch it.

Today the NYC Urban Sketchers had lighthouses as their theme. Of course, due to the pandemic most of the members used virtual images, although a few were able to do lighthouses that were local to their area. I picked the Old Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego. I was there IRL when my sister was still alive when I spent many vacations out in San Diego. I don't think I sketched it at the time.

Inktober 2020 Day 23 - Cycles and Still Life

 For my Day 23 Inktober sketch I found two motorcycles parked together. Both were Hondas and one was black and one was maroon. Looks like there is a couple in Sayville that rides!

Wednesday night the Patchogue Sketch Club met on Zoom for our sketch event. Our meetings are usually organized by Mark Propper. We give him suggestions but the final decision and posting of the events is in his hands. Due to darkness we are now forced to sketch indoors so Mark set up an interesting still-life for us to sketch. Some members did part of the setup, but I did the entire thing on a page in my Strathmore Grey Toned Sketchbook. I used watercolors, ink, white pencil, and a water-soluble pencil for this.

Inktober 2020 Day 20 - Tres Palms

 Recently I met two friends for a socially distant outdoor lunch at Tres Palms in Babylon. Tres Palms is right off the Great South Bay, and they have a mooring for boats to dock that was like a small canal.  I hadn't been there before but decided it would be a good place to come back to and sketch. So I returned!  There is a parking lot just across the little canal so I sat there in my mobile studio to sketch my Inktober Day 20 piece.

Inktober 2020 Day 18 - Patchogue Buildings

 Yesterday I stopped in Patchgue for a few errands. In one of the parking lots I saw this view with the sunlight highlighting the sides of the buildings and decided to sketch it for my Day 18 Inktober sketch. Sometimes a fence blocking the view of something can make it a bit more interesting. This was done with my Lamy pen filled with the Noodler's brown ink and a brush and some water. The water-soluble ink makes for some nice washes.

Inktober 2020 Day 17 - Maritime Sheds and NYC Open House

My Inktober 2020 sketch was done of some sheds on the grounds of the Maritime Museum in Sayville. It was too windy to sit outside so my mobile studio came in very handy. This is the first of the sketches for Inktober this year where I only used hatching for shading. 

The NYC Urban Sketchers used a weekend celebration of architecture with NYC Open House as a way to virtually visit some different buildings and areas of the city. There were a variety of locations that gave virtual tours of their properties. As with all things that the group does, you don't really have to stick to the references that are provided. You can pretty much sketch anything that fits the theme. I used a link to The JAX, a new office space in Long Island City. The buildings are modern and airy and the development has an elevated park-like area with native plants that create a meadow for the tenants and their workers to enjoy. I think it must have wonderful views looking out over to NYC from those huge windows.

Inktober Day 15 and Pat's Shed

 I had a busy day of sketching yesterday because I wanted to do my Inktober sketch but I knew my sketch group was sketching at someone's garden later in the day...and I wanted to use color there.

First I did my Inktober Day 15 sketch near the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank. This is one of the buildings on the property. I'm not sure what it is used for but I liked how it was nestled among the trees.

The Patchogue Sketch Club met at one of the member's homes to sketch in her garden in Patchogue. Pat has wonderful plants, cosy corners set up with all kinds of baskets and gourds, and a few sheds. This is her potting shed and is surrounded by wonderful plants and trinkets. Now you see why I had to use color. lol

Lefty Lucy Veiled & Inktober Day 14

 Last night was Lefty Lucy Costumed in Quarantine night. She posed again on Zoom, this time in a beautiful black dress and a veiled headpiece...and a few times with a revolver. As I've said before I never know what to expect.

These are 5 minute poses.

These are 10 minute poses.

This was the final sketch of the night for 20 minutes.

My Day 14 Inktober sketch was done down by Sayville Marina Park. I did this from my mobile studio while it was drizzling.

Inktober Day 13 - Sunflowers

I needed something to brighten things up a bit after 2 days of rain and drizzle. I found these sunflowers at the market and thought they would be good for my Inktober Day 13 sketch. Too bad I couldn't find a sunny yellow ink to use.

Inktober Day 12 - Bayport Beach

 There is a small beach on the Great South Bay in Bayport which is where I did my Inktober Day 12 sketch. It wasn't a day for sitting outside...too windy. My mobile studio came in handy.

Inktober Day 10 - Boat Repairs

 Down near the Sayville Dock there are a few places that repair and recondition boats...and some of them are large boats like this one which is a charter fishing boat. This was done from my mobile studio for my Inktober 2020 Day 10 sketch.

Inktober Day 8 - Tree by the Lake

My Inktober Day 8 sketch was done by Mill Pond in Yaphank. There are a few really interesting-looking trees by the water. This one had a picnic table under it. I used my Elegant Writer for most of the runny lines and touches of the brown (sepia) ink in my arsenal of ink pens.

Inktober Day 6 - Lakeview Cemetery

 Tonight the Patchogue Sketch Club met at the Lakeview Cemetery in Patchogue...a perfect place to do another Inktober 2020 sketch. We started early because it is getting dark so early and luckily I parked right near the scene I was planning to sketch. I was sketching with a combination of pens that I found in my purse which included an Elegant Writer as well as a black Pitt fine line pen, and a pen that looked brown when I drew with it but turned an interesting shade of deep pink when I wet the ink. (Somehow I had left my usual assortment of pens in their case on my couch.) 

Midway through the sketch it started to drizzle and the ink from the Elegant Writer started to activate. I hurried to gather up everything and went back to my car. I moved it up a few feet so that I could basically see the same view and sat in the passenger seat of my mobile studio to finish the sketch. I usually sit on the driver's side, so sitting on the right side of the car sort of threw me off a little and I kept dropping things since I had no seat on my right side to rest my materials. I was lucky I went back to the car because it really started to rain and I would have been soaked if I hadn't moved.