Van Cortland Park & "It Takes A Village" Exhibit

After 30 days of direct watercolor I took a break today and didn't even take out my watercolors. I did work on some alcohol ink tiles this morning and then went to the pool for a few hours.

I still have a few sketches that I never posted from before my trip to Australia. Back in April the NYC Urban Sketchers met in the Bronx at Van Cortland Park. I started with a sketch of part of the Van Cortland House Museum.

My next sketch was done down by the wetlands by the lake. A lady and her little boy posed with some ducks for us.

At lunch we shared our sketches and of course did some sketching of each other.

This afternoon was the Patchogue Sketch Club's reception for our exhibit called "It Takes A Village." All the sketches are of the village of Patchogue and are hanging in Roast Coffee & Tea Company in the heart of the village. We have sketched there many times so it was nice to be invited to exhibit our work. Here are a few photos from the reception.

Rosanne O'Reilly

Rosi Berry

Me

LuAnn Thompson

Jenn, Rosanne, Gina, Me, Rosi, LuAnn

Jennifer Mesticky

Gina Lento who organizes our group outings.

Roast Coffee & Tea Trading

My sketch group met at Roast in Patchogue the other night. The weather outside was too iffy to chance getting wet. I sketched my friends who were sketching with the coffee shop as a background.

Roast Revisited

Our Wednesday night sketch group hadn't been to Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company in Patchogue for quite a while because we were sketching outside. Now that it gets dark early we are back indoors. Here we can sip on a hot coffee or tea while we sketch the other patrons.

Roast Coffee and Tea

The other night when my sketch group met they were forecasting rain, so we picked an indoor location for sketching. I've sketched at Roast Coffee & Tea in Patchogue many times. I'm always looking for a new view so that the sketch looks different.

Outside Roast

Patchogue has Roast, a coffee show we often frequent. I've sketched it many times from the inside, but I think this may be the first time I sketched the view looking into the coffee shop. If Patchogue just had easier parking I'm sure we would sketch there more often.

Roasting Again

On Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club made a return visit to Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company in Patchogue for our sketch outing. It was just too cold to sketch outdoors even though it was almost Spring. I looked hard to find a view that I hadn't already sketched. Luckily it was still light enough outside for a view out the window and down the street...and this guy sat and posed so nicely.

Sketching at Roast

On Wednesday night the Patchogue Sketch Club headed over to Roast Coffee and Tea Trading Company in Patchogue. We have so few choices of places to sketch at night that we return to the same places quite often in the winter. I always try to find a slightly different view so I am not doing the same thing over again. This time I focused on a small part of the counter.

Roast Coffee and Tea Trading Company

This was done on Wednesday at the coffee shop my sketching group often meets at. It is really hard to find different locations to meet that are near enough that nobody has to travel after they work all day. Of course I am retired so I don't have that problem. lol The machine on the left is a coffee roasting machine. They roast their own beans.

Sketching at Roast

My Wednesday evening sketch group met last night at Roast Coffe & Tea Trading Company in Patchogue. We have sketched there so many times and I was tired of sketching the counter, so I concentrated on the people instead. I used my Tombow marker and sketched directly with ink. I can sketch really quickly that way. I am really trying hard to do that more often so I am comfortable without my pencil and eraser all the time. 

I started with a hefty young man sitting on one of the couches and working on his computer.

Next I sketched a couple at one of the tables. I should have waited for her to put her arm in a more normal position. It looks rather strange.

Then I sketched a few of my fellow sketchers.

This is Liz.

Meet Sophia who was looking down at what she was sketching.

And finally here is Roseanne.

An Evening at Roast

Last Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club had downtown Patchogue as our sketching location. It started out warm enough to do an outdoor sketch...or most of one. I sat across the street from Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company and sketched these two men having a conversation in front of the coffee shop. 

By the time the sun started setting, it was getting too cold to be comfortable outside. So we headed inside for something warm to drink. We continued sketching indoors. I sketched a couple at a nearby table and then Maureen, one of the other sketchers.

Coffee Bar Sketches

Last Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club met at Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company in Patchogue. We have sketched there many times but I think this is the first time our sketch night coincided with a musical performance. Brian did a great job of singing while we sketched him and some of the patrons on hand. 

Sneaky Portrait

Luckily I usually have a backup of a few sketches. Believe it or not, I haven't sketched anything since Thursday night and it is now Saturday night! I spent yesterday and today visiting at a friend's house (non artist) and we were too busy going places, talking, and eating for me to do any artwork. I will be getting off the computer shortly to so something artistic. lol Meanwhile here is something I did the other day.

On Wednesday night the Pathchogue Sketch Club met at Roast Coffee and Tea Trading Company in Patchogue. We hadn't met up in several weeks due to Christmas and New Year's Eve falling on Wednesdays. So this week there was a bit of talking and showing what we did over the few weeks (if anything), talking about new art materials we received as Christmas gifts, and a bit of sketching. We were sitting at a table for 6 and this man was sitting against the wall behind the sketchers facing me, with a couch somewhat in the way blocking parts of him. He was a good subject though, because he was on his computer and not moving, oblivious to the fact that he was my subject.

Roast Coffee & Tea

The Patchogue Sketch Club met at Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company on Main St. in Patchogue last night for a bit of sketching indoors. This was a view of a few of the patrons at one of the nearby tables. Of course they left before I had the entire sketch done, but I had most of it completed and painted the watercolors from memory.

My thanks to Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company for always being so cordial to us when we come in and monopolize a few tables for a while.

Roast Coffee & Tea Company

The Patchogue Sketch Club met at the Roast Coffee & Tea Company on Main Street in Patchogue last night. It was much more crowded than it has been when we were there in the past. We lucked out getting seats on the couch but the view wasn't the best. I didn't like sketching the bookcase with all the boxes while I was doing it, but I sort of like the look of it now that it is done.



Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company

My sketch group scheduled a sketching session at Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company on Main Street in Patchogue last night. We've sketched there before. This time I did a sketch looking out the windows toward the street. This is about 4 x 7 done in my Stillman & Birn journal.

 

We had unseasonably warm temperatures yesterday so in the afternoon I headed over to the Suffolk County Farm to sketch a few of the animals en plein air. Unfortunately each time I started to sketch someone came along to move the animals somewhere else. I did get a few sketches done.