Lavender Field

 My plein air group was scheduled to paint at Lavender By the Bay in Manorville again, but the weather wasn't good. I gave it another attempt, again from my mobile studio, but I was the only member who showed up. There was a small patch of yellow and red flowers in the field which was a different contrast.

Lavender By the Bay

 Somehow this didn't get photographed and posted earlier. My plein air group, PALS was scheduled to sketch at Lavender By the Bay in Manorville. When I got there it had started to drizzle. On ly myself and only 2 other members actually came to paint due to the weather.It is a huge lavender field and I didn't want to get stuck out there if it really started to rain hard, which it ended up doing. There is a covered pavilion but you still would have to get there and back. Instead I pulled up near the fence, sat in my mobile studio, and painted the view.

This week the English lavender will be in bloom so the group is scheduled to return there on Tuesday.

Lavender By The Bay

 Every summer my plein air group waits to hear that the lavender at Lavender By the Bay is in bloom. They have two locations...one in Calverton and one in East Marion. I like the one in East Marion better, but the one in Calverton is a lot closer so we've been going there. I did one 8 x 10 painting directly in watercolor.

Below is my setup with the finished painting.

I decided to do another smaller (4 x 6) directly in watercolor and it was done in about 15 minutes. I like the looseness to this one and the white spots that I was able to save.

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

Direct Watercolors #25

 Last week I went painting with my plein air group to Lavender by the Bay in Calverton. The lavender was really blooming. I did 2 paintings, but the second one isn't quite finished. This is #25 for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge.

Direct Watercolor #20

 My plein air group painted at Lavender by the Bay in Calverton the other day. This is the painting I did there for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge. It is a beautiful place and smells great.

 

 

 

Lavender for Sale

 I liked the way Lavender by the Bay had their setup for sales displays...so I sketched it.

Lavender Field

Lavender is in bloom here! My plein air group went to Lavender by the Bay in Calverton for a morning of sketching. I did two paintings there, and posted the first one as part of the direct watercolor challenge. I love seeing the rows and rows of lavender stretching out before me. Lavender by the Bay now has two locations, this one in Calverton and the first property that we've sketched at before in East Marion. That one gets ridiculously crowded, but I think it is a little more scenic. I just love being surrounded by all the fragrance of the lavender.

 

30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 30

 The 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge 2022 is over today! I have enjoyed the challenge and have become more comfortable working directly in watercolor without any pencil lines. 

It is definitely a different way of working because you need to draw out the sketch in your mind, be careful of the foreground, middle ground, and background. You don't have those pencil lines that shout "stop right there and go around me." lol You are working in layers.

I've also been trying to work on using stronger values, especially in shadows to make things stand out more. I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the different paintings I've done. This last one was done back at the lavender field, Lavender by the Bay, in Calverton.  This is 8 x 10.

My thanks to Marc Holmes and Uma Kelkar for organizing the challenge and being so supportive to all the participants all over the world.

30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 24

My plein air group met at Lavender By the Bay in  Calverton on Tuesday. This was a new location for me...I've only been to their fields in East Marion. I'm not sure which I prefer since both are really scenic. I did my Day 24 30 x 30 painting there rather quickly, doing a mass of varied purple for the lavender out in the field.  

Wednesday Lefty Lucy posed. I missed her last session even though it was on my calendar...I just forgot by the evening. It was fun to sketch her again. Here are a few of my sketches.

A Seat in the Lavender Field

My plein air group was scheduled to go to Lavender By the Bay in East Marion this morning. Even though I didn't get back from Maine until last night I wasn't missing this great place for painting. I love going out in the huge lavender field and being surrounded by the fragrance. It is a very popular spot...in fact there was another art group painting there today in addition to all the regular customers.

This is my painting from today. I needs a little tweaking before I call it finished. I do like how I was able to capture the softness of the lavender color in the back near the fence. Of course I had to visit their shop and buy some lavender sachets and dried lavender too.

Lavender Field

My plein air group went to Lavender By the Bay in East Marion recently. I just love that place!!! The fragrance is wonderful and it is so pretty. It started off as a cloudy day and of course as soon as I got out in the field it started to sprinkle. lol I put up my plein air umbrella and continued painting. It was so humid the paper never seemed to dry. I used some kosher salt to make the patterns in the lavender.

Here is the view and the painting.

Lavender By the Bay

This is the second painting I did at Lavender By the Bay yesterday.

In the background is the store that sells all things lavender.

It is so relaxing and great smelling inside.

It makes you feel like you're in France.

Lavender Field

Today the PALS Plein Air painters met at Lavender By the Bay in East Marion on the north fork of Long Island. The English lavender is in bloom right now and really looks super.

Here is the first painting I did there today.

Painting at Lavender by the Bay

Yesterday my plein air group met at Lavender By the Bay in East Marion on the north fork of Long Island. Several of the artists had painted there before and I got mixed stories about how they liked it. I arrived at 9:30 am and fell in love with the views.

I usually paint sitting down, but a friend told me that it is hard to sit down and paint the lavender because you miss all the contours of the bushes and the shading of the rows because all you will see is the one big plant in front of you. So I took my easel which has been sitting unused lately. I set it up so it was flat and about waist high. I put a large piece of gaterboard on the easel and used that as my work surface. I was able to put my paper on the left, and my palette and brushes on the side. Here is the first view I painted across the field. This is 8 x 10.

Directly next to the view I was painting was a fenced area containing bee hives. I think they added a bit of interest for this painting. This is 5 x 7.

I forget that standing in one place is exhausing. lol So for the next painting I joined some of the other artists who were stitting under some trees to the right of the field. I sat on top of the picnic table and painted this view looking to the store. This is 5 x 7.

It was still early enough to get one more done. This was done standing by the fence see in the painting above. This is 5 x 7.

By this time it was 3:00 and I had been painting for 5 1/2 hours. lol So I quit painting and did some shopping. The store was wonderful with dried lavender sachets, soaps, fresh lavender, etc. And when the young man at the register wrapped my sachet purchases they were done so pretty that now I don't want to unwrap them. He used bright yellow tissue paper that he stapled at the bottom and then tied at the top with a yellow bow and a tiny sprig of lavender.

Can you tell that I just loved this place?

I forget that standing