Happy New Year's Eve

 Happy New Year's Eve! 

I am closing out 2024 with a painting I did of the lobster trap-buoy Christmas tree I sketched in Northport Harbor recently. Wishing you a happy, healthy, prosperous, and inspired 2025!

Out With the Old - In With the New

 Yesterday was New Year's Eve and although it was a dreary, wet day I had to go out to pick up a painting from an exhibit in Patchogue. While I was out I decided to do a sketch. I found this view of the back of some buildings and sat in my "mobile studio" to sketch. At times I did have to put the wipers on to see the view. So here is my last painting of 2022.

2023 arrived today and luckily the weather was much more cooperative. It was sunny and mild (somewhere around 55 degrees) and I headed to one of my favorite places...Robert Moses State Park where the Fire Island Lighthouse is located. It is amazing to me to see the number of people who come here on January 1 each year. The boardwalk to the lighthouse was crowded with people and many of them had their dogs with them. I walked to the lighthouse which I believe is just under a mile. There were a lot of people outside, a long line to climb to the top (no way for me) and they were giving out free hot cocoa and cookies to the visitors. I parked myself against the railing in front of the lighthouse and sketched some of the people. I was able to sit down for a while when someone vacated a bench, so I was able to comfortably add watercolors. This is my first sketch of 2023. When I walked up to the window to get some cocoa the ladies there wanted to see what I had sketched and asked me to post it to their FB page.

On the walk back to the parking area I found a bench facing the lighthouse and did a small painting. This is the last page in this particular sketchbook which I started back in 2014. The paper is definitely not meant for wet media, but it is small and fit in my bag. A family came along and the kids were really interested in watching me paint. The parents asked if I minded and I said no. It was really nice talking to all of them. One little girl loves art and asked if she could see the other sketches in the book. The mom had majored in art in college but hasn't sketched or painted anything in a long time since she's so busy raising her family. I told her to find time, even if it is only a few minutes, and do something art related for herself. It was a nice way to spend the day and share my art on the 1st day of the year.

Out With the Old, In With the New

I decided to finish the year off right. First I headed down to the water to do the final sunset of 2012. The colors weren't anywhere as exciting as they were the other day. This was done by the water in Sayville.

 

On New Year's Eve after a big prime rib dinner cooked at home and a few martinis I was definitely relaxed and worried that I wouldn't last until the ball dropped. So I decided to sketch until it did. Sketching Times Square from the tv was a challenge in itself. Most of the time they focused on the crowd or the performers with a quick look at the buildings. I did a few of the signs from what I saw, a few people from what I saw (yes, that person on the left in the front is a giant...perspecive isn't easy after martinis. lol), the ball, and a few buildings mostly from memory. Anyway I think it captured the magic of the night.

 

Yesterday, New Year's Day, I spent most of the day taking down my Christmas tree. Usually I don't do that until the middle of January, but we bought a new HDTV and I got a laptop for Christmas, so the cable tech is coming this week to connect everything. Yes, I will finally have the internet at home. Yeah!!!

The result of all that exhausting work is that I didn't get out to sketch anything, so again I sketched inside. I painted this bottle of wine instead of drinking it. lol Come over and I'll share it.