Beach Life

 This was a direct watercolor done for the 30 x 30 challenge at Robert Moses Beach.

Dunes at Robert Moses

We had a sunny day last week and knowing what the forecast was for the weekend, I hurried down to Robert Moses Beach to paint and enjoy the sun. The dunes had nice shadows. 

Beach Dunes

The sun came out and I headed down to Robert Moses Beach one day last week. Although it was sunny it was still very windy, so I sat near a building to block the wind. This dune was in my line of sight. 

Beach Dunes

 It had been too long since I went down to the beach. I didn't pick a warm day, but it was clear and sunny at Robert Moses Beach. I was happy painting in my mobile studio.

Lifeguard Shack

 There is a great lifeguard area at Field 5 at Robert Moses State Park. The building is fun and so is their sculpture garden filled with treasures.

30x30 Direct Watercolor #17 - Beach Apparel

 I don't know about the beaches in other places, but here on Long Island most of our beaches have a shop that sells shirts and sweatshirts from that beach and assorted useful items for the beach. This was the "shopping area" at Robert Moses State Park and was done with direct watercolor.

30x30DirectWatercolor #17 Geese + Sunbather

Down by the bay in Bayport the other day I saw a group of geese hanging around. Of course there were about 8 to start with but only 2 managed to stay around long enough to be models for my Direct Watercolor #17.

When I was at the Robert Moses Beach recently I tried sketching with Procreate on my iPad. It is difficult to sketch on it in bright sunlight because it is very difficult to see what you're doing. Considering this was a half-blind sketch I don't think it came out too bad.

 

Beach Day

 We recently had a day where the temperature reached the mid 70s...definitely a beach day! I headed over to Robert Moses State Park and of course I sketched the Fire Island Lighthouse.

I needed to sketch people relaxing for the scavenger hunt on Creative Spark and this was the perfect location. I took my beach chair and went down on the sand for a while. I had a perfect view of these people who had no idea they were my victims...I mean subjects. lol

First Sketches of 2024

If I am not away for the holidays I like to take a trip to the beach to start off the new year. I headed over to Robert Moses State Park to paint. These are two small (maybe 3 x 5 in) paintings that I did from the parking lot while sitting in my mobile studio. First I painted the Fire Island Lighthouse... 

and then I painted the sky over the dunes.

You can see my New Year's Day beach sketches for 2018 here and for 2019 https://watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com/2019/01/first-painting-for-2019 here.

When I was finished with these I threw my sketchbook in my tote bag, pulled on my hat, gloves, and scarf, zipped up my winter jacket and headed off to walk to the lighthouse. It is about 3/4 of a mile to the lighthouse and then 3/4 of a mile back...so I got in some walking to start the year.

A LOT of people come to Robert Moses Beach and the lighthouse on Jan 1 every year. It is nice to walk along and have people say "Happy New Year" as they pass. They give out free hot chocolate and cookies when you get to the lighthouse.

I went around the back side of the lighthouse down near the bay side and sat down to sketch. I finished the pencil sketch only to find out that I had left my palette on the front seat of the car, so I couldn't complete the painting. I will have to go back another time when it is a nice day and finish it.

How did you start off the new year?

People Sketches

Somehow I forgot to include this sketch of the people at the outdoor bar at Robert Moses Beach. The bar was right near where I was sitting to sketch the people in the showers, so I turned around a bit to see the bar better. 

I also joined the Patchogue Sketch Club on Wednesday. Some of us are involved in a project for Arts on Terry (which is next Saturday) where we were partnered with someone from the group. Each pair is doing a portrait of the other person from a photo. I haven't done portraits in a while and am working on one of my friend, Pat, for the exhibition. When we met on Wednesday some people brought along their pieces to work on them. We set up outdoors between the PAC gallery and the movie theater. I didn't want to drag my canvas with me so I decided to just do portraits of some of the other sketchers. First I sketched Linda who was sketching Mariann and Mike. 

Next I sketched Mirielle who was also sketching the other sketchers. My sketch looks a lot like her.

I was only able to do Rob in pencil. All those weird folds on his hat took a long time to sketch. I think he has some kind of condition where he makes sure to be covered up. I've alway seen him dressed in a similar way. There was no time to add color to his portrait.

I will post the portrait of Pat when it is finished. I still have a little work to do on it.

 

Robert Moses Beach Sketches

 We had a heat wave that continued after Labor Day. The day after Labor Day was hot but the pool in my development had already closed for the season. I decided to go to the Robert Moses Beach hoping that there was a breeze. Rather than going down by the water (since I knew there was no chance that I was going in) I stayed up near the concession stand that now has an outdoor bar. There was beach music playing and I attached my umbrella to my chair. As long as I was in the shade I was comfortable. I had a nice view of this lady and the beach landscape behind her.

The thought crossed my mind that to cool off a bit I could go under the outside showers, but instead since I had such a good view of them, I sketched a number of people showering off.

Direct Watercolor #30 & Happy 4th of July

 My final watercolor for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge was done while sitting on the beach at Robert Moses State Park. I got to include a bit of water, people and umbrellas.

Wishing all of you who are celebrating our Independence Day a Happy 4th of July!

Today was always a special day in our family because it was Mom's birthday. She would have turned 104 this year. She was always happiest when she was surrounded by family, especially the kids. 

She's been gone quite a while but is truly missed!

Beach Talk

 Recently when I was at the beach two ladies came along and sat on a bench nearby. How could I resist them?

Clouds Over the Dunes

I have a hard time passing up scenes of clouds over the dunes like this at Robert Moses Beach. 

Water Tower

 Both Robert Moses Beach and Jones Beach have distinctive water towers. This one is at Robert Moses right in the center of the traffic circle as you come off the Robert Moses Causeway onto Fire Island. The tower is 202 feet tall with a well that is over 1,100 feet deep. Construction on the tower was completed in 1968 and is topped with a beacon that can be seen for many miles out on the ocean.

Inktober 2022 - Day 11 Weeks Boat Yard & Lighthouse Painting

 A good sketching friend, Mel Barranco, often uses ballpoint pen when he sketches (especially people on his commute each morning), and I love what he does. My friend, Tina Koyama has been doing portrait sketching...often with ballpoint pen. After doing an entire sketch with ballpoint pen my hat is off to both of them. It is not easy! Filling in a solid color takes a lot of time. Using my Lamy is much easier. I don't think ballpoint pen will be my medium of choice.

This was done at one of my favorite sketching spots, Weeks Boat Yard. It may look familiar if you have followed my blog for any amount of time. There are great buildings and lots of boats that seem to move around regularly.

I have been able to get over to Robert Moses Beach on a few different nice, nearly summery days. 

I can sit and see the Fire Island Lighthouse from almost anywhere there.

Lighthouse #2

 I got back to sketch the Fire Island Lighthouse at Robert Moses State Park again. The clouds in the sky were so amazing. This was the view from my beach chair.

Lighthouse 1

We had some warm weather so I headed down to Robert Moses Beach the other day. Since I really hadn't been there to sketch the lighthouse all summer I sat and did a direct watercolor of it before I went down on the beach. 

 

Beach Days

 We have been lucky here in NY because the weather has stayed quite mild. I even go to go to the beach this past week. It is always a great place for inspiration, so I'm glad I had some painting supplies with me at Robert Moses Beach.

I just tried to focus on the wave itself for this little painting.

This lady is a real pro. She brought along her wind shield to stay warm.

Bar Area

I went to Robert Moses Beach recently and was talking to a friend on the phone when I arrived. I ended up keeping her on speaker phone and sketching a scene before I went down on the sand. This year several of the state beaches have opened a bar area near their concession stands. This one has palm trees and a yellow canopy over the bar area. A lady came and sat on one of the stone benches and I included her in the sketch.