Lewin Farms Greenhouse

The north fork of Long Island is home to quite a few big nurseries. It is the perfect place to do some plant shopping.  The plants by the greenhouses at Lewin Farms in Calverton always look good.

Bayview Farm & Market

Recently I was out on the North Fork of Long Island and stopped at the Bayview Farm & Market in Aquebogue. I had my toned sketchbook and my Posca markers with me. I stood by several displays to sketch the produce, the sign and the tractor there. The Posca markers give it a real pop of color.

Here is a closer view of the pages.

East End Farmland

 Right now it is usually a good time to head out east to the North Fork of Long Island. This was near Wading River. A lot of the farms have cabbages, brussel sprouts, and other vegetables still growing in the fields. They add a lot of nice texture to the landscapes. There are great skies at this time of year too.

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

Flowers at the Market

 When I was out on the North Fork recently I was attracted to all the flower displays like this one at Bayview Farm & Market in Aquebogue.

East Creek View

I was out on the north fork of Long Island on Sunday and took a ride down to Jamesport beach. I liked the view across the water. It called out for a double page spread. This was done in my sketchbook for the library project. 

Cutchogue Library

Of course when I was out on the North Fork to do the farmhouse that I posted yesterday, I did more than one small painting in my concertina sketchbook. This is the Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library. The original part of the library was actually a church at one time, but it was donated to the town for a library when the congregation returned to their original church. This section houses the children's section of the library. Attached is a beautiful more modern section. I'm attaching a photo of what it looks like together. It is beautiful inside and out. 

Farmhouse

 I did some work in my North Fork of Long Island concertina sketchbook last weekend. This was done out somewhere near Cutchogue. I liked the fenced area (to keep out the deer) near the house. I still have a few more pages to complete.

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 21 Long Season Farm

 Today I was out on the north fork of Long Island and stopped to do my Inktober sketch at Long Season Farm in Aquebogue. After I took this photo I decided to add color. This will be part of the collection of paintings/sketches of mine going to the troops.

Here is the colorized version.

I did a direct watercolor of a farm field in Jamesport while I was out there. It will also be in the collection going to the troops.

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.

Southold Charm & Collage

 I headed out on the north fork this weekend and added some sketches to my concertina sketchbook. This sketch filled the last segment on the front. There are some really nice houses with beautiful colors like this one in Southold.

I decided I'd never get to all the projects in Sketchbook Revival. My plan is to watch the videos and pick the ones that interest me. This lesson was by Tiffany Sharpe called "Watercolor Collage Fodder." I used a bit of stamped paper, a gelli print, tissue paper and watercolors.

Linen Shop

Back in the fall before Covid hit I had started an accordion sketchbook of scenes along the North Fork of Long Island. My original thought was to start with one view and then drive about 1 mile and sketch the next view I found, continuing until I reached Greenport, the last town along Route 25. Of course that wasn't so practical because often when I drove the next mile there wasn't anything scenic to sketch or there wasn't any place to park safely. So instead I sketched things that caught my attention as I drove along. The sketching in the book was halted due to Jerry's health and then the pandemic. I was staying home or at least staying much closer to home and it wasn't the right time to work on this. 

Recently when I thought about resuming the sketches I couldn't find the sketchbook! It was a book I had made and it had no cover yet. I had pretty much given up finding it when I discovered it hiding in a clear zip-lock bag right where I had been looking for it. Isn't it strange how that happens? Anyway over the weekend I drove out along Route 25 on the North Fork past the last location I had sketched and found the Bath & Linen Shop of Southold. It shares building space with Carol's Kid's Corner. I have to decide if I want to do additional sketches. There is only one blank page left and I haven't reached Greenport yet. Many people who use accordion sketchbooks also use the backs of the pages. I don't know if I want to do that. I like being able to see all the sketches when I stretch the book out. What do you think?

Main Road, Laurel

This is the next page in my concertina sketchbook that is focusing on the main road that runs through the North Fork of Long Island (Route 25). I had planned to go a little farther east today, but there must have been an accident because I reached a certain point and the traffic was at a standstill. After sitting in the same place for about 10 minutes I just turned around. This little barn was tucked in off Main Street in Laurel.

Concertina Sketchbook Part 2 & Exhibit

Yesterday I went back out to the North Fork along Route 25 with my concertina sketchbook. I saw this yellow barn along the roadway and of course I pulled over to sketch it. I did think yellow was an odd color for a barn and was tempted to change the color...but didn't.

Riding through Mattituck I noticed this taco restaurant but had already passed it. I did a u-turn and went back and parked outside. I was originally attracted to the building but then I saw that airstream on the side and couldn't resist. It looks like the airstream is used in warmer weather as part of the restaurant. I also loved the name of the restaurant..."Mattitaco" for a taco place in Mattituck. lol The sign wasn't in front of the planter. It was higher up on the building, but I wanted to include it.

There are two more pages in the double strip in this sketchbook. I may add an additional strip to give me four more pages so I can keep driving and sketching.

I have an exhibit of 12 of my framed sketches that I did on my trip to Venice back in April. The sketches are in a shop in Patchogue called The Cheese Patch and they will be hanging there for the entire month. Yesterday there was a reception for the show. Here are a few photos.

The painting on the bottom right, of St Mark's Cathedral sold at the reception.

Inktober - Day 10 in Greenport

Greenport is at the eastern end of the north fork of Long Island and is a great place for sketching and painting, with all the great shops and houses there. My sketch for Day 10 of Inktober is of a vespa parked on the street. I always think of vespas and picture them red, but this one was a very sedate white color which was very pretty. I used permanent ink to sketch it, but made sure it touch the ink with water before it dried in each section.

#inktober #inktober2016

I was out there with my friend, Susan and our plan was to either sketch at the boat yard or sketch the homes there. It was windy and cold in the morning, especially by the boat yard, so we found a street with some lovely houses like this one. When I saw the shadows on the porch I knew I had to do this one.

Happy 4th of July

What is more Americana than a farmstand selling home grown vegetables and flowers?

I did this the other day on the North Fork of Long Island after I did the ATC of the farmland.

Wishing everyone a HAPPY 4th of JULY!

Farmland

This is a small ATC (2.5 x 3.5) that I did of some farmland on the North Fork of Long Island.

I love the rows of green stretching so far back...I wonder what they're growing.

Jamesport Field

This was done on Saturday out on the north fork of Long Island in Jamesport. I parked along the busy road with all the traffic and sat with my car blocking me from the traffic. Just as I was finishing two women came over to see what I was painting. They had seen me from the house they were staying in which was immediately to the right of this field. They were visiting for the weekend from Ohio.

 

We got to talking for a while and one of them wanted to know what drew me to paint this scene. I laughed and said that I had recently sold a painting of an east end farm and needed to replace it. That was one reason. But the other reason is I like scenes like this where the composition leads you into the painting and scenes that have a depth to them. I look for farm scenes whenever I am out that way, but often from one season to the next the same fields are often not planted. It is so disappointing to drive all the way to a spot you remember, only to find it has already been plowed under or it is just brown dirt. This spot worked out well...the even left me a tractor to include. This is 5 x 7.