Oyster Bay

I recently went to Oyster Bay with Suzala and her husband. There was a book festival going on, so Rick was very happy to be there. We sat across from the Oyster Bay Brewing Company to sketch.

For our second sketch we headed into the park aiming to sketch the beach. It was really windy, but I sat on a concrete wall with my back to the water to sketch the view looking toward the sand. Some dark clouds started moving in just as we were finishing, so I think we timed it right.

Southdown Coffee

 After sketching at the camilla house (see yesterday's post) we decided to stop for coffee. Suzala checked with her daughter to see which coffee shop in Oyster Bay would be best for us as a sketching location. She suggested Southdown Coffee. We found a small table tucked near the window with a nice view of the counter...and sketched away.

A Day in Oyster Bay

The NYC Urban Sketchers recently met in Oyster Bay to spend the day sketching. It is a fairly easy commute for me since I can drive there in about 45 minutes. Many of the sketchers came from the city out to Long Island and were met at the Long Island Railroad train station which is about a block from the gazebo in the center of town. The location has homes, churches, businesses and if you walk about 2 blocks it has a beach and a harbor area. I've been there before and this time I concentrated on a business called 20th Century Cycles, which happens to be Billy Joel's motorcycle shop. It does a good business and there is usually a bike or two parked in front by customers.

After a short lunch with the other sketchers I concentrated on a shop called Chalikian. While I was sketching a tour group came by and the guide said that this was one of the oldest continuous businesses in Oyster Bay selling jewelry and small antiques. 

It was a fun day for all of us, and I capped it off with a home-made chocolate Italian ice from 

the Bonanza Hot Dog Stand. Yum!

Planting Fields Arboretum #1

 One day last week I called my friend and asked her if she wanted to meet me at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. We started near the walled garden. I painted the tea house from outside the garden. Suzala painted the view inside the garden. This was done on khadi paper.

Rose Trellises 2

Somehow I missed posting yesterday...sorry about that. 

I went back to the Planting Fields Arboretum recently to capture the blooming rose trellises before they were done for the season. It is a special spot and my friend, Suzala joined me to paint them.

The above painting is very similar to one I had done in June, even though I did them from opposite ends of the trellises. The coloring is a little different. Which is your favorite?

30x30 Direct Watercolor #21 At the Arboretum

Recently I took a trip over to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I wanted to paint the roses on the trellises and wasn't sure if they were blooming yet. According to one of the horticultural specialists the aren't at their peak yet, but as you can see they are blooming. Hopefully I will get back there and do another painting. I love this spot because it reminds me of Monet's Garden when I painted there. 

When I finished the roses on the trellises I went into the walled garden. These flowers are Canterbury Bells. I used a bit of oil pastel on this in addition to the watercolors.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #3

My friend, Suzala and I headed up to Oyster Bay where they were having a reenactment event of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. We sat near the entertainment where horse riders were taking part in shooting and lancing events. Drawing horses is difficult enough, but they were moving a lot while I was trying to paint in direct watercolors. I was fairly successful.

Even after I did one painting for the 30x30 challenge that day I did a few more directly in watercolor.

This one below was done in water-soluble graphite and watercolors.

Planting Fields Arboretum #2

There were so many views with the cherry trees at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. These were flanking the trellises that will be covered with roses soon.

 

Planting Fields Arboretum #1

A few weeks back we had great weather and I visited the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay a few times. The azaleas were starting to bloom. 

Planting Fields Arboretum - Day 2

When I woke up on Tuesday and saw that we had another beautiful day, I called Suzala and told her I would meet her at the Arboretum. I knew I couldn't go on Wednesday, so it was best to get there while I could. This time I painted the view into the walled garden. Again the cherry trees were just amazing!

For my second painting I did a smaller one (5x7) up near the manor house. There is a small pond down some big stone steps, and the falling blossoms from the tree collected in there.

I left the gardens about 3:30 but Suzala kept on painting. She also went back on Wednesday, but the cold and the dampness cut the day short for her.

Planting Fields Arboretum - Day 1

My friend, Suzala wanted to go painting last Monday because it was supposed to be such a wonderful day weather-wise. She suggested going back to Camusett Park, but I thought that was too far. I get caught in too much traffic heading east after 3:00 so I prefer to be closer. I suggested going to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I told her there should be cherry trees in bloom and buildings too. It was spectacular! I painted this cherry tree with the greenhouse behind it. In addition to my regular watercolors I used watercolor crayons to give this a little more texture.

I moved on to another part of the park after finishing the first painting. This section is a huge open field with several cherry trees at the top. There were so many people who came just to take photos with the cherry trees. There was a bride and groom, several ladies in gowns, and other people dressed nicely and wearing big hats like the woman in this painting.

I finished painting around 3:15 and by the time I left the park I got stuck in traffic heading east. That is a problem I encounter a lot. I didn't get home until nearly 5:30. That's rush hour on Long Island.

Suzala said she was free the next day until about 5 when her first art student arrives and was planning on going back to paint again. I told her I didn't think I was planning to go back to the Arboretum but if I changed my mind I would let her know.

 

Oyster Bay Views

On Sunday the NYC Urban Sketchers ventured out of "the city" and came to the burbs. My friend, Suzala organized a day in Oyster Bay on the north shore of Nassau County. Unfortunately the trains to and from Oyster Bay only run each way every two hours so the sketchers had to time their visit with the train schedule...or be stuck for another 2 hours. Most of them wanted to head over to the beach since they don't get that in the city. It was a hot day so I had no desire to walk to the beach in the heat nor to sit on the beach without any shade. I opted to stay right in town where I could find shade.

Luckily there was a lot of shade across from the restaurant, "2 Spring." Not only did I have shade but there was a bit of a breeze. While I was sketching the staff was setting up for lunch outside. They noticed I was painting and kept coming over to see my progress. Suzala was on the other side of the restaurant painting the view down the street and they kept chatting with her as they passed. They also offered us water and told us we could come in and use the rest room if we needed too. It was very nice inside and the food smelled great! 

Next I headed down the main street to the next corner, found some shade, and sketched this view. The building was once the summer office of Teddy Roosevelt when he was in office. Now there are some kind of offices upstairs and a restaurant, Wild Honey, downstairs.

We took a break around 2:00 to chat and have show and tell. The first train back to the city was leaving in about 40 minutes and most of the sketchers had planned to be on it. We did our show and tell and then most of us headed over to the Bonanza hot dog and Italian ice stand that the town is known for...the chocolate ice is delicious.

A few sketchers stayed longer but it was hot so we sat in the shade by the gazebo and mostly talked and only Suzala was sketching. It was a nice relaxing way to end the day. Even though we get together each week, everyone is busy sketching and we really don't get a lot of time to talk. It was nice to find out a little more about some of the people.

Oyster Bay Houses

Why sketch one house if I can do two and 2 halves? This was sketched in Oyster Bay. I liked the row of houses and couldn't decide which one to sketch. I started sketching the yellow one and I slowly added a second and they looked like they needed a bit more company on the sides.

Oyster Bay Harbor

When I was in Oyster Bay painting the row of houses I had time to ride over to the harbor where I found this scene to paint. 

For the last Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt there were several types of vehicles on the list. I sketched a truck that was parked in the lot.

Right in town there is a motorcycle shop, 20th Century Cycles, where apparently Billy Joel has several of his motorcycles. I haven't been inside but there were two motorcycles parked across the street from it. Figuring that the people were probably in the motorcycle shop I thought I would have enough time to sketch the entire thing...WRONG! I still had the back wheel to sketch when the two men came out. Luckily they had to don their helmets and gloves which gave me just enough time to sketch the back of the cycle. Whew! I'm glad I only started the one motorcycle.

Sweet Tomato and Happy Mother's Day

 I've finally almost caught up on my posts. Sweet Tomato was painted last Sunday when I went to Oyster Bay with my friend, Suzala to paint. I've painted the building before but the people sitting on the bench in front called to me. They looked so content! This is 8 x 10 and it felt good to do something larger than the sketches I've been doing lately.

Right behind us there was a market going on. I wouldn't call it a "farmer's market" because it didn't have any produce that I saw. It was more crafts and things like that. Right next to where I was sitting was a couple selling crocheted items...bears, purses, wreaths, pillows, etc. I sketched their booth. They weren't selling something that would make me pull out my wallet, but they did have some customers and made some sales.

Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are celebrating. Here is one of my favorite photos of my mom and me. It is very hard to find photos of myself solo with my mom. Dad took a lot of photos but they usually had a few of us in one photo...there was very little solo time with 5 of us kids. lol

Oyster Bay - Part 2

 The NYC Urban Sketchers have met up in Oyster Bay several times in the past. Down the block from where we meet is a building that was the "Summer White House" when Teddy Roosevelt was President. There is also a famous snack bar there called the Bonanza that serves hot dogs, fries, chili and assorted other "foods" and in addition has a menu of outrageous Italian ices. According to their website they have been serving the community from that location for over 100 years. I just love the quirky look to the building itself, so I found a spot across the street where I could sit and see the line of people waiting that kept changing as I sketched. Of course IRL there is a tree that is pretty much smack in the middle along the curb in front of the stand. I used artistic license and left out the tree since it blocks so much. Then of course there is the obligatory car that always pulls into the space on the corner blocking the view (even though it is a no parking zone). Again I used artistic license and left out the cars. I just hope the car(s) don't stay too long and sketch the people when the cars are gone.

Suzala, our host each time we go, has told me many times that they have the BEST chocolate Italian ices made with Ghiradelli chocolate. I'm not much of an Italian ice person (I prefer something creamy like ice cream) but I do love chocolate. After listening to her rave about them I did finally try one and it was delicious! I was raving about it as we started gathering for show and tell and a few of the other sketchers also went over to indulge. 

Anyway, here is this year's version of the Bonanza stand.

Oyster Bay - Part 1

The NYC Urban Sketchers met on Sunday this weekend because it was supposed to be very hot on Saturday and storms were forecast. I'm glad we changed the day because Sunday the weather was perfect for outdoor sketching in Oyster Bay. We have sketched in Oyster Bay several times before and it is a town on Long Island Sound with some old homes, a few lovely churches, a motorcycle shop that houses Billy Joel's motorcycle collection, several restaurants, and views of boats and water. It was another location that I could go to easily and know that I could handle the walking. 

My friend, Susan drove and we did a little tour of the town looking for sketching spots. For my first sketch I spotted this small yellow house right nearby our meeting spot. The house was in itself a very basic, sort of simple structure but had a wonderful, wild garden in front of it behind a fence. It was also on a side street and there were no cars parked in front. In fact I had a spot to sit directly across the street that was marked "no parking here to the corner." 

I sat down and a little while later my friend, Andrew came along and asked if I minded if he sat next to me. It was fine with me. The homeowner, who was a fairly elderly woman, came out a few times to work with the plants and flowers and must have noticed that Andrew and I were staring at her house...so she came over to see what we were doing. She was thrilled to see us painting it. Andrew is deaf so he wasn't able to hear what she said about how she works on the garden every year and how much it means to her. He showed her a card that said he had a hearing problem so she wouldn't think he was being rude and ignoring her. Andrew can read lips but I don't think he could understand much of what she was saying so I filled him in later. It was a nice location to sketch!

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.

Oyster Bay Scenes

On Sunday my friend, Suzala organized a NYC Urban Sketchers' trip to Oyster Bay which is on the north shore of Long Island in Nassau County, about 35 minutes north-west of me. It was nice to have a location where I didn't have to spend nearly 1 1/2 hrs on the train. I was able to drive. Some of the sketchers came by car but most of the sketchers who live in the city itself took the Long Island Railroad out to Oyster Bay.

I've been to Oyster Bay a few times before so I was looking for a view I hadn't sketched yet. We met at the gazebo in the center of the town but spread out as each person headed to the location of their choice. Since I am near the water a lot I wanted to do town sketches. First I went and sat across from the North Shore Assembly of God. I always like when there is a welcoming open door to a church. There was a choir inside that was singing for a little while too.

We got together for lunch and then I was hoping to sketch the motorcycle museum/shop that houses many, many of Billy Joel's bikes, but there was too much of a glare on the windows of the shop. In the sketch below the shop is the building on the left. None of the bikes are for sale but people are welcome to come inside and look...but there isn't enough room to sit and sketch. So instead I did the view of the town looking down the street. I got to practice my car sketching too.

We were meeting for show and tell at 3:00 but I finished the above sketch with about 25 minutes to spare so I did a quick direct in watercolor sketch of the gazebo before we gathered. One of our sketchers was sitting on the bench sketching from there.

Here I am sharing one of my sketches as well as photos of a few of the other sketchers sharing their work. There were probably about 25 of us there. Quite a few of the sketchers went up to the waterfront to sketch.

Me sharing my sketch.

Anna

Kathy Gutterman

Karen sketched as well as doing some journaling.

Planting Fields Arboretum Sketching

Today I met a few friends in the greenhouse at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. We each set up in a spot to paint and were well under way when someone from the arboretum came over and started giving us a hard time. We were told tripods weren't allowed and we pointed out that we had no tripods. Then the woman told us we couldn't use chairs, we should sit on the benches. I told her if we did that it wouldn't leave any place for the public to sit. She left only to have a guy come over next and give us the same story. He said that on weekends when it gets crowded they don't want people taking up extra space. At no point were there more than 4/5 people walking around. So I calmly explained how we sketch and paint in gardens all over, usually by invitation, and that we are very good at tucking ourselves in to a corner or off to the side so that we don't bother people. My friend told him that we draw people into the greenhouse. People always come over and comment and see what we are doing...and the visitors around us told him that they loved seeing artists working there. We asked if he wanted us to leave and he said no. After a bit of back and forth he finally let us be and we continued painting. It isn't as if we've never been there before. We go there fairly often. It was very odd. I guess he was just following rules.

Here are the paintings and sketches that I did today.

Here is a group photo from yesterday's Portrait Party.