Swezey Avey House

This is the front porch of the Swezey Avey House in Yaphank. My plein air group will be holding our annual exhibit and sale there in November. The patriotic bunting makes this historic house look so welcoming. 

The Hawkins House

The Hawkins House was the destination for PALS this week. To celebrate our 250th birthday it was decked out in bunting. I did a side view of the house this time. You can see my previous paintings of it   here.

I'm Back - Happy New Year

Somehow I got off track and haven't posted in a few days. That is definitely not like me.

Happy New Year!!! I hope 2026 is a good year for all of us. Wishing you the love of family and friends and the time to nourish your creativity and your soul.

We had a bit of snow here that lasted for a while due to the cold temperatures. I sat in my mobile studio outside the Swezy-Avey House in Yaphank to paint this. I was glad to see that the snow had remained on the trees and the shrubs.

 

Roosters

 I must say that birds are NOT cooperative models. They are in constant motion. This was sketched at the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank.

Seating on the Porch

 This was painted in Yaphank at the Hawkins House. I painted there once before but on the other side of the porch. The two sides are very similar. I used watercolor pencils for the texture of the wicker.

Suffolk County Farm

I hadn't been to the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank for a while. There were some flowers in bloom. I painted them in direct watercolor for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge 2025.

The sheep were out and some were near the shelter...

(These were also done for the 30 x 30 challenge.)

and some were just grazing in the nearby field.

(More for the 30 x 30 challenge.)

30x30 Direct Watercolor #23 - Yaphank Lake and the Hawkins House

My plein air group, PALS planned to meet recently at what I thought was a historical building on Yaphank Lake. Apparently I didn't read the email close enough, and I was wrong. I got to the location and nobody was there. I started a direct watercolor (#23) and painted until another member, Liz, came along. Since it was just two of us we thought we might be in the wrong location. I reread the email and the group was going to another location nearby that was a historical house near the water. 

The Hawkins House was our actual location for painting that day. Since we got there late I didn't want to start a large painting so this is 5 x7. The house was great, and I really liked the seating area on the porch.

 

Twin Cherry Trees

 Two more cherry trees in Yaphank.

Yaphank House

 This was actually painted for the Scavenger Hunt at Creative Spark. The item was stairs/steps. When I passed this house in Yaphank and saw there was a perfect parking spot in the lot for the church next store I went for it.

Hallockville Farm's Felt and Fiber Festival

 Recently Hallockville Farm in Riverhead advertised that they were having a Felt & Fiber Festival with sheep shearing and other assorted events. I thought it might be fun to sketch. Finding a spot to stand by the pen with a good view of what was happening wasn't easy. The woman doing the shearing was from the Long Island Yarn and Farm in Yaphank. I showed her the sketch when it was finished and she took a photo of it. She also invited me to come to her farm any time to sketch or paint, but to just call ahead to make sure there was someone there to let me in.

Later in the day she was going to shear one of her llamas. It would have been fun to watch but it was too long of a wait until she was doing it again. 

Suffolk County Barns

Last Tuesday my plein air group, PALS, went to the Suffolk County Farm to paint. It was windy and cold so my goal was to find someplace to sit where the wind was blocked. I ended up sitting next to one of the small barns and I had this view in front of me. I wasn't crazy about it until the sun came out and it lit up the area and created great shadows. I was really happy with the way it came out.

 

30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 28

The challenge days are almost over. Here is my Day 28 painting. This was also done at the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank, but from the fringes of the farm near the parking lot for the sheriff's office. I'm not sure what this building was/is used for. It doesn't look like most of it is big enough to stand upright inside it. I liked the way the sunlight was making shadows on the building and the rickety shingles on the roof. 

30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 27

For my Day 27 direct watercolor painting I painted on location at the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank. I am assuming that the silos contain grain for the animals. I was really happy with the way this came out. 

30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 10

 My Day 10 Direct Watercolor painting was done at the historic Swezey-Avey House in Yaphank which was built around 1873. I decided to challenge myself even more with this painting. I almost never use a flat brush when I am painting and some artists swear by them. I gave it a try and used it for the entire painting. I'll admit it worked well for the windows and the siding on the building, but for trees and bushes I found it lacking. With architecture painting directly in watercolor is a challenge. I tend to get a bit wonky with it.

On Wednesday night the Patchogue Sketch Club was originally scheduled to sketch outdoors, but the weather report early in the day was forcasting rain in the evening, so Mark opted for an indoor location. He reserved us a table at the back of The Bean, a coffee house in Patchogue. A few people brought something to sketch but I wanted to do the inside of The Bean and some people. The sketch grew a little as I was doing it. I hadn't planned on including my friend, Rosanne (on the left) but that side looked a little empty so I added her and her belongings. If we were there much longer I probably would have added another sketcher on the left. lol

A few of the sketchers had already left when Linda took a photo of her sketch on the big table with two of us still sketching.

The Farm

The Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank has a great view across the field. I even found a few animals in the fenced area. 

Fishing at the Lake

 This is one of my paintings done one Tuesday morning recently with my plein air group. We were by a lake in Yaphank. From what I can tell from the map this is Upper Lake and it doesn't have a more distinctive name than that. There were two men fishing, but I left one out. This is still a bit of a work in progress. I think I need to make the water reflections a bit different in color from the colors of the actual trees. Any suggestions? The painting is 8 x 10.

Inktober Day 20

 I don't think I've been to the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank since the start of the pandemic. I missed seeing and sketching the animals. So I headed there for my Inktober Day 20 sketch of the chickens and roosters.

Suffolk County Farm

 I hadn't been to the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank to visit the animals in a long time. It seemed warm enough the other day to actually sit outside so I walked through the farm and found some of the cows inside the pen, near enough to see them and sketch.

Inktober Day 15 and Pat's Shed

 I had a busy day of sketching yesterday because I wanted to do my Inktober sketch but I knew my sketch group was sketching at someone's garden later in the day...and I wanted to use color there.

First I did my Inktober Day 15 sketch near the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank. This is one of the buildings on the property. I'm not sure what it is used for but I liked how it was nestled among the trees.

The Patchogue Sketch Club met at one of the member's homes to sketch in her garden in Patchogue. Pat has wonderful plants, cosy corners set up with all kinds of baskets and gourds, and a few sheds. This is her potting shed and is surrounded by wonderful plants and trinkets. Now you see why I had to use color. lol

Inktober Day 9 - Chickens

 Sketching at the Suffolk County Farm is always fun. The chickens are always an active group but they were fun for my Inktober Day 9 sketch. They never stay still enough to get them in one shot, but they usually return to the same position so I moved back and forth from one chicken to another. I used a combination of different pens and inks for this.