One Week 100 People - Day 1

 It is that time of year for the "One Week 100 People" challenge. I usually have a hard time finding places with a lot of people so I decided to start a little early. The start date is actually today, March 11th, but this weekend several of the towns near me held their St Patrick's Day parades this weekend so as not to compete with the big one in NYC. They also try to space the parades over a few weekends here on Long Island because a lot of the firemen and police officers march with other local towns too. But I couldn't pass up finding a crowd of people.

I headed over to Westhampton for the parade. Just getting into the area to park was difficult. Most of the streets I know that lead to the center of town were closed off. Luckily a very nice young lady who was part of the Westhampton police force gave me a suggestion for where I could park. Of course Main Street was crowded with people waiting for the parade to reach our end. That gave me time to sketch some of the crowd. I used a Micron pen, a brush pen, a water brush, and a green watercolor pencil on site. Any other color was done later. I knew I had to sketch quickly because it was cold and windy. 

These people were right in front of me, but I was also able to see across to the other side of the street. I was able to use my stool to sketch this one.

This was one of my favorite characters...all decked out in his shamrock suit. lol

As always, you can hear the bagpipe players before they arrive. Even knowing they were coming didn't prepare me for sketching them since they were moving. Luckily I was at the end of the parade route and this bagpiper came back through the crowd and stopped to talk to someone nearby.

There were a lot of families viewing the parade.

It was fun sketching, but after about an hour and a half I was much too cold and had to go someplace to warm up.

Local Parade

Many of the small towns around here have some sort of St. Patrick's Day Parade. Some celebrate before St. Patty's Day and some after. I decided to head over to Patchogue to sketch at their parade which was held on Sun, March 19. It was a cold, very windy day so I dressed in layers wearing warm boots and a hat. I tucked my supplies in my purse and headed over. I didn't bother bringing a chair since I wasn't sure how crowded it would be. I ended up sketching standing up leaning against a tree. I was lucky to have buildings behind me that blocked some of the wind. While I was waiting for the parade to start a bagpiper came out of the The Tap Room, a bar across from me. I sketched him quickly and it was a good thing I was quick because soon a police car came along and this bagpiper and a few others were whisked off to the start of the parade. I did some of the colors in his kilt from memory and had taken a photo so I could look back and see a little more of what the bagpipes looked like. I sketched a few of the other characters that were around me watching the parade.

I wanted to try and get the motion of the parade, but there was just too much movement and too many people coming along and blocking my view. Instead I did a few of the moms around me with their little kids and some of the marchers in the background.

It was a fun event to sketch...and I'm very glad I dressed warmly.