Beach Dunes at Cupsogue Beach

I took a ride down to Cupsogue Beach in Southampton. It is at the very western end of Dune road. It was a cold, windy day so I happily sketched from the comfort of my mobile studio.

I heard noises up on the roof of my car, and then I saw feet standing on the sunroof. Before I knew it I had a visitor sitting on the front of my car. If I knew he was going to stay as long as he did, I would have sketched him too.

I moved the car a bit and got back to sketching another view from my mobile studio. Both of these are 4 x 6 paintings for the postcard project.

North Sea Road Market and More

I recently went to Sag Harbor to meet friends for lunch. It was a beautiful day, so I wanted to stop and sketch something before heading home. The Deli Fresh Market & Seafood caught my eye. How could I pass this up?

My car needed its annual inspection in September so I made a visit to my local Nissan dealership. I brought along my iPad and did a sketch of the plant that was in the waiting room.

I'm sure many of you have been following the stories of the damages from the recent hurricane that passed through quite a few of our states on the east/central part of our country. Sadly it affected a friend who was part of the NYC Urban Sketchers for years. Denise moved to Asheville NC when she retired from teaching to live out her dream of opening an art studio for printing. I've seen photos of the studio and have enjoyed seeing the classes and exhibits she has held. The flooding from the hurriccompletely destroyed everything in her studio. It was under 15 feet of water for 72 hours. Her life's work, artwork of other artists, printing presses, and studio furnishings are ruined, covered in mud, or just gone. She put her heart and soul into her studio in the River Arts District. I know insurance will cover some of her losses, but I know it will take a lot of energy and willpower to pull herself up and start again. Luckily Denise still has a safe place to live. The entire arts district in Asheville is facing the same future. 

My heart aches for all of them! 

Cooper's Beach Views

 Recently I took a ride out to Southampton. In season the beaches there are nearly impossible to go to unless you are a resident. Mere mortals, like myself, are charged $35 or more to park. Needless to say, I do not go there unless it is off-season even though Cooper's Beach is often on the list of the Top 10 Beaches.

It was windy and cold with a somewhat stormy-looking sky so I sat in my mobile studio up by the few parking spots overlooking the beach itself. From my car I couldn't see down to the beach and the water's edge. It looks like there was a lot of erosion from our winter storms.

Here the dunes had a small opening where I could see a bit of one of the beachfront million-dollar houses.

Noyac View

 This was sketched from a marina parking lot along Noyac Road in Southampton.

Southampton Views

On Saturday I took a ride to Southampton which is about 40 minutes east of me.

The town is lovely with stores that are overpriced for all the "Hamtonites" and tourists that flock there in the summer. This fountain was in a small courtyard off Job's Lane. Most people I am sure don't know it is there. Every time I go out there for some reason the fountain isn't running. On Saturday it was on and lit by the sun and backed by the beautiful autumn colors.

This is 5 x 7.

I sat in my car to do a quick sketch of the traffic on Job's lane.

In the summer and fall it is wall to wall traffic, but now that Halloween is over there is much less traffic going out east. Yeah!!!

(I think the car parked on the right is a bit too large.)

Every street I rode on had lovely autumn color. 

I pulled over on the side of one of the streets to paint this and some cooperative couple

came along for added interest.

Southampton Waterview

I decided I had to start the year off right, so on New Year's Day I took a ride out to Southampton. I did a little sketch of a store in town, but wanted to do something larger too. I drove down by the beach, where in season you can't park unless you are a resident or want to spend $30 to park for the day. On Sunday there were lots of free spots. This was the view I picked and painted from my car. The painting is 8 x 10. In reality it is not quiet as yellow as it is showing on the screen.

This is the sketch I did in my journal in town.

Holiday Ready

I don't know how long I can keep this theme going, but here is another local scene. I sat in my car in Southampton to paint this one. It was hard getting a spot with a good view. This is 5 x 5.