Port Jefferson has a small ice skating rink called Rinx. I hadn't been up there for a while, but it is a great spot to watch the skaters. It is right outside the Port Jefferson Village Center. The skaters and their families are downstairs in the center, but upstairs has a great area with comfy couches overlooking the rink. For most of the time I was the only one up there. Here is the sketch I did there previously.
On Saturday it was pretty cold so my plan was to find an indoor location and hopefully have a view of the outdoors. I remembered that the Village Center in Port Jefferson has an upstairs with huge windows and plush leather couches and it overlooks the harbor. I headed upstairs only to realize that there is a perfect view looking over the Rinx Skating Rink there. The sign upstairs said "No food or drink!" but it didn't say anything about water and watercolors. Sketching moving people isn't easy but they tend to go back into the same positions over and over. The girl in the pink with the long hair would twirl every once in a while, but it was hard to catch her in action so I had to settle for this position. The little kid with the black helmet was a speed demon and was racing around the ice really fast. Of course when I was already finished with him he slowed down and was taking a skating lesson.
When I was finished and putting my belongings back into my backpack a woman approached me from behind. She asked if she could take a photo of my sketch. When I turned around I saw that she was the mother of the little girl in the green jacket who was with her. I think the dad was seated at a table near me, had seen what I was sketching and called his wife on the phone to come up and see it. Of course I let her take the photo and chatted with them for a minute. Sketching creates interesting connections with other people.
