Town Hall at the Patchogue Theater

Two weeks ago I attended a town hall with a few friends ad the Patchogue Theatre. Congressman Jaime Raskin held it since our two congressional representatives have not held one for their constituents. It was excellent and he is a great speaker. I wish he represented our district. I was with two other sketchers so of course we sketched a bit. I did most of this before the event started but I left a space where I could quickly sketch him in either behind the podium or next to it. Then I colored Congressman Raskin in when I got home. This is reportage sketching.  

PGSB Part 5

Yesterday was the last day of painting for Paint the Great South Bay. In the morning we had a "quick draw" event. Between 8 and 9 am artists had their canvas/paper stamped with my pink logo and then went to paint in a location of their choice. Linda and I went to Weeks Boat Yard which is located nearby. I can always find something there to paint. I sketched one of the boats on the other side of the marina. I was hiding in the shade from another one of the boats.

Linda was also tucked in the shade of one of the boats. She does really colorful, bright paintings...a style I love but could never do.

The artists had to be back at the front of the Patchogue Theatre promptly by 12 noon for their painting to be checked. The framed pieces were then on display from 12-1 and any people passing by the theater were asked to vote for their favorite. The winner got 2 tickets to one of the theater events. 

Here are some people casting their votes.

The winning people's choice was the painting by Jeanne Salucci which is all the way over on the easel on the left.

Left to right: Beth Giacoummo (Executive Director of the Patchogue Arts Council, Jeanne Salucci, Linda Davison Matheus, Debbie Taylor Meekins, Gina Lento, and Michael Chait

 Not all the artists took part in the quick draw. Some were still out painting in other locations to get their last pieces done for the event. Dropoff of the artwork was Saturday night and then the paintings were hung and the exhibit was open to the public today.

Reese's 1900 Pub

On Saturday morning Paint the Great South Bay had a Quick Draw Event. I'm not sure why it is called a quick draw since it wasn't quick. The idea was that we would have our canvas or paper stamped in the morning. Then we could start painting at 9am and had to be back in front of the Patchogue Theater at noon. We could paint anywhere in the designated area but if you were going any distance it would cut into your painting time. 

I had checked out the town the other morning to see which buildings might have light and shadows on them. I liked the way Reese's 1900 Pub looked, but apparently so did several other artists. Four of us were painting pretty much the same scene but we were all using different mediums or standing in different locations. This was my view. Except for about 3 minutes there was no sunshine or shadows...so much for all that planning. lol

And this is the painting I did.

You can see three of us were lined up along the same side of the street. One artist, Larry, was up the block tucked into a store entrance.

(Left to right: me, Linda Davison Mathues, Cindy Fox) Photo by Laurie Devlin

 Here are two of the other artists working on their paintings.

Cindy Fox (photo by Laurie Devlin)

Linda Davison Mathues (photo by Laurie Devlin)

Pauline Hazard (Photo by Laurie Devlin)

At noon we went back to the front of the Patchogue Theater and if necessary matted and framed our work. Then they were placed on our easels for the public to view them and vote on them.

We hung around for about an hour while passersby were given tickets to vote on their choice for the quick draw winner. Larry Johnston was declared the winner. I came in second.

Left to right: Gina Lento, Krystle DiNicola, Frank Zambrano, Cindy Fox

I don't have a photo of Larry's finished painting but here is a photo of him painting it that morning.

Larry Johnston (Photo by Laurie Devlin)

Paint the Great South Bay - Nocturne Painting

I am participating in a week-long plein air event called "Paint the Great South Bay." Artists who sign up have their canvases or papers stamped and then can paint anywhere in the designated areas until next Saturday when they submit 2 pieces of their art done this week for a "wet paints show and sale" in a gallery in Patchogue. 

The event started yesterday and to kick it off we had a nocturne painting session along Main Street in Patchogue. We started at 6pm and some artists were there until 11pm or later. I focused on a clock, some planters and the view across the street toward the Patchogue Theatre.

Here is my painting at the beginning of the night. I had a book light to help me see what I was doing on my paper. It would have helped to have one for my palette too.

I was working at my easel. I think the display window from the store near me added a bit of light for my view too.

Here is the finished painting. I did about 90% of it on site and the rest of the final details at home.

Here are photos of some of my friends that were painting nearby.

Gina Lento was working on the church steeple.

Regina worked on the Patchogue Theatre.

Cindy Fox also worked on the church steeple.

Segundo did a sketch of Main Street.

The event continued today, but I had other plans and didn't participate. Hopefully I will paint somewhere tomorrow.

Pera Bell

Recently the Patchogue Sketch Club sketched along Main Street in Patchogue. I saw where I could see the restaurant Pera Bell (which I'm told has the best burgers) and a bit of the Patchogue Theater.

Of course someone was outside talking on his cell phone, which I guess is better than having a smoke. This was done across a double page spread in a sketchbook that my friend, Gina made. The paper isn't watercolor paper so it doesn't do well with big wet washes, but it does fine for most other things in a painting.

This sketch above is in my sketchbook that will be part of a sketchbook display in one of the galleries in Patchogue. It will be with other sketchbooks done by other artists in the Patchogue Sketch Club.