Glass Greenhouse

 Out on the north fork of Long Island there are many nurseries. The Glass Greenhouse is one that stands out. Sketching the structure was not easy. I need to go out and get some plants for my patio. This was done in my home-made concertina sketchbook.

Yellows in Nature

 Somehow this sketch got forgotten with the more recent work. I was out east and did this sketch in my concertina sketchbook reserved for sketches on the north fork of Long Island. There was forsythia and other yellow flowers in the grass.

Blowing in the Wind - Part 3

 Like I said, I had a hard time deciding which windmills to sketch.

This one is in East Hampton and I've passed it many times..

This is a German windmill, located somewhere near the North Sea.

I did the six windmills on one sheet of paper. A friend on FB said they look like windmill trading cards. lol

Forsythia 1

 Right now the forsythia is in full bloom here on Long Island. I love seeing all the yellow bushes. Of course it seems the most scenic areas are usually along highways or where you can't stop to sketch. lol I did find a view right around the corner from me with forsythia in front of a house.

Oakdale Water View

Here on Long Island we are lucky to have great views almost anywhere by the water like this one in Oakdale.

 

One Week 100 People - Day 4

 The forecast was for temperatures around 70 degrees, but here on Long Island it was cooler due to the southwest wind from the ocean. I headed over to Robert Moses State Park and sat in my car while I sketched the people walking on the boardwalk or heading down to the sand. I did sit out for a little bit but I didn't take a scarf with me and after about an hour my neck was cold and I headed back into the car. 

Here are sketches #83-96. I will have to finish the last few tomorrow.

Grey Sky

The other day we had an overcast, grey sky...very moody. 

Over the Grasses

 

Around Long Island, especially near the water we have a lot of phragmites growing by the marshes and he fields. I always like seeing these reed grasses.

The Big Duck

 Out east of me in Flanders is a building in the shape of a duck. It was built in 1931 by a duck farmer and he used it as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. I love how they decorate it for the holidays! While I sat there in my mobile studio sketching at least 10 carloads of people stopped to take selfies with the big duck. I should have include a person in the sketch so you had some concept of the size of this. You can stand upright easily in the body of the duck.  You can see the other sketch I did of it back in 2011 here.

East End Barn

The other day I took a ride out to Riverhead to a Polish deli to buy some kielbasa for Christmas Eve dinner. Since I was out there and there was still some snow around, I looked for a scenic spot to sketch. I found this barn next to the Long Ireland Beer Company. I think barns shaped like this were/are used as potato barns, and Long Island was famous for growing potatoes. I'm not sure what it is being used for now but I sketched it anyway. 

Fresh Snow

Luckily the snowstorm wasn't as bad as predicted right here. Our temperatures were a little warmer down on the south shore of Long Island, and the snow changed to rain and sleet for a while through the night before changing back to snow. We got a few inches but it was wet and messy. I didn't need to go out at all so I stayed home and sketched the view out the living room window. This was done with watercolors and white gouache in my toned tan Strathmore sketchbook. 

Sagamore Hill

 On Sunday one of my plein air friends contacted a few of the NYC Urban Sketchers on Long Island to organize an outdoor sketching event. Sunday was supposed to be a beautiful day with temperatures about 60 degrees. Considering that they were forecasting snow for later in the week, Suzala figured this might be our last opportunity to be out in comfortable weather.

Out of the invited group only three of us, Suzala, Ron, and I met at Sagamore Hill National Park. Sagamore Hill was the home of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, from 1885 until his death in 1919. It is located on the north shore of Long Island near the town of Oyster Bay. There are several buildings and a steep climb down to a small beach on the Long Island Sound. We sat at the top of the hill to sketch the house itself where it was very windy...and colder than we expected.

I focused on only part of the house. In the spring and summer there are wonderful striped canopies over all the windows. They are gone at this time of year.

Below are our sketches from our mini throwdown before we left to go home. 

The top left was done by Suzala, and the bottom sketch was done by Ron.

Beach & Dinner

 Beach sketch are among my favorite things to do. I sat in my mobile studio to capture some of the people who also came to the beach on one of the warmer days recently. People were sitting and watching the water as well as taking a walk at Smith Point Beach.

This week I celebrated my birthday and since we really couldn't go out to dinner, I called a local fish store and had dinner prepared there to bring back home...you can see what we had. I sketched the lobster as soon as I got home and painted it after we ate. I saved the shells for a little inspiration.

Dead End

 Living on Long Island provides some nice streets that look down to the water and dead end there, like this one in Sayville.  We have a lot of spots that are small rivers that provide routes in from the bay and lots of marinas and docking for boats.

Twins in Autumn

 Finally we have a bit of color around here on the south shore of Long Island.  I had a busy day on Sunday, but I rushed out around 3:30 knowing that there was only about an hour of light left. If I was lucky the "golden hour" could be great. I knew I needed to sit facing east so the sun would be shining on the side of the trees that were facing me. I ended up down at The Grange, a park nearby that has a lot of open area. I didn't want to be anywhere that would be shading the trees.

Brookhaven Colors

 While doing all the Inktober sketches I couldn't wait to be able to use bright colors again. However our colors here on Long Island are pretty dull. I don't know if they have already peaked or if they just haven't turned yet. Most of them are a faded brown with a bit of bright yellow or orange in a few spots. Part of the problem is that we don't have too many maple trees and those are usually the ones that have a lot of color. We have a lot of oaks which really aren't too colorful. I drove around a bit looking and this spot in Brookhaven had more color than most places. This was done directly in watercolors.

Inktober Day 4 - Lake Ronkonkoma View

 I am enjoying using the brown ink, which in my opinion looks like sepia. When I bought it and first tried it I was disappointed that it wasn't a true brown, but I like the look. 

My Day 4 Inktober was sketched from the parking lot at Lake Ronkonkoma County Park. I believe this is the same park my parents would take us to once or twice a summer. It was a good hour drive from our home and it seemed like we were going on a big trip when we went there.  It had this huge slide in the water. I was always afraid to climb to the top so I never got to experience that thrill. I think it is funny that now I live so close to it. The slide is no longer there so I don't have to worry about it.

Then there is the story about the bees. My mother would always pack lunch when we went out for the day. There were my two parents and 5 of us kids, so buying food at a snack bar was out of the question. So Mom brought a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a jar of jelly. As soon as the jelly jar was opened a swarm of bees headed into the jar and never left. lol We had dry peanut butter sandwiches for lunch that day!

At the Dock

I am so lucky to have so many places her on Long Island where I can get to the water. Although I don't sail I enjoy looking at sailboats. In my opinion they are much more elegant than motor boats...and a lot quieter. This was done en plein air along one of the canals in Patchogue. I was facing a housing complex so they must have their own dock.

 

Storm Damage

We had "tropical storm" Isaias head up the east coast this week. It never reached hurricane status but did an awful lot of destruction on its way through. It reached the tri-state area on Tuesday. From what I was seeing outside my windows there was a lot...I mean a LOT of strong wind, but not much rain like they had predicted. However, when I watched the news there were tornado warnings, power outages, and downed trees and power lines all over. Five minutes from where I live several towns lost power for nearly a day and there are some places on Long Island that still don't have their power restored. A friend of mine in NJ was told his area would be without power probably until Sunday. We were very lucky!!! Today I went out to the bank and to do some food shopping. I passed this house in Sayville with a handicapped ramp in front and I had to stop. Luckily I keep a small sketchbook, pens, and a paint palette in the car so I was able to do a quick sketch of this from my car parked across the street. It looks like the downed tree got the car too. I hope nobody was hurt!

Map Making

The NYC Urban Sketchers met on Zoom on Sunday. Our sketching was not urban sketching. In the morning we did a map of something or some place that was familiar to us. I got started but didn't come close to finishing by lunchtime. I was working on a map of some memories of places and things on Long Island from childhood to now. I finished the rest of it today.

For the afternoon we did maps that were more personal (although I sort of did that in the morning too). This one was my pandemic survival map showing more of a timeline of my days.