Brookhaven Farm

 Down along Main Street in Brookhaven there are a few areas of farmland. This one is behind a farm stand, but I focused on the farm this time.

30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 20

My Day 20 painting for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge is of farmland out on the east end of Long Island in Wading River.

 

Stormy Weather & Tornado Warning

 My posts are a little behind. This was painted out east near Calverton on Sunday. The forecast in the morning was for sunshine followed by cloudy skies and the possibility of storms later in the day. Like usual I hopped in the car and headed out looking for autumn colors. I found a spot out in an area that is mostly farmland. I was painting from my car and this view was to my left. I'm not quite sure what the bushes were. They look sort of like grapevines but I've been in this location before and I know there aren't grapes growing. This still needs a bit of tweaking. I never finished the roof and didn't paint the windows at all yet.

You know how you get into that zone and don't really notice what is happening around you? I did notice that it started getting darker and it was only about 2:30/2:45. I looked out the front windshield and then to my right and saw the sky was getting darker by the minute. This was how it looked over the peach trees.

I decided to pack up and head home before the storm hit. I was driving for about 5 minutes when my cell phone started blaring out a warning. Those are loud enough when you are home but in an enclosed car it is downright scary. It was a tornado warning telling everyone in the area to seek shelter until 4:15. There was really no place to go for shelter so I kept driving in the direction of home watching the sky carefully. I didn't feel any strong winds so I was hoping for the best. I got down to the highway and kept driving for another 5 minutes or so when the tornado warning went off again. Then a deluge came from the sky with such heavy rain that everyone turned on their emergency blinkers and drove at a snail's pace through the rain. It only lasted a few minutes and then the sky looked a little brighter...or at least not as dark. 

When I finally got home I found out that 3 tornados touched down on Long Island. One was just due south of where I got on the highway and it caused damage to a shopping center. It was probably about 15 miles away. It was a scary thing! I was talking to my sister about it and she said that when they drove cross country once they were in an area where they passed nothing but fields for several hours and the radio kept giving off tornado warnings (pre-cell phone times). I know what to do when I'm indoors and a tornado warning is issued but this was different! I guess with the weather changes that have been happening we all need to be prepared at all times. Stay safe and be aware!!

Inktober Day 28

Inktober Day 28 took me riding around in Wading River. There is quite a bit of farmland like this with rows from the produce that was growing. I don't know what was growing in this particular field but it looked perfect for Noodler's Brown Ink. 

Farm

I like riding out east on Long Island and coming across farms. So many of them have been sold and turned into housing developments, so I am happy to see the ones that are still producing, like this one.

Tucked Away

The east end of Long Island still has quite a bit of farmland but usually the barns are too far away or too modern so I don't want to sketch them. Sometimes you can find little hidden gems like this one.

This is 5 x 7.

North Fork Sketches

On Saturday I took a trip out to the north fork of Long Island. The farmland was in its glory.

Pumpkins are starting to appear.

I wandered some of the back roads and found this section and New Suffolk Beach.

It was still warm enough to sit out on the beach and paint.

Jamesport Field

This was done on Saturday out on the north fork of Long Island in Jamesport. I parked along the busy road with all the traffic and sat with my car blocking me from the traffic. Just as I was finishing two women came over to see what I was painting. They had seen me from the house they were staying in which was immediately to the right of this field. They were visiting for the weekend from Ohio.

 

We got to talking for a while and one of them wanted to know what drew me to paint this scene. I laughed and said that I had recently sold a painting of an east end farm and needed to replace it. That was one reason. But the other reason is I like scenes like this where the composition leads you into the painting and scenes that have a depth to them. I look for farm scenes whenever I am out that way, but often from one season to the next the same fields are often not planted. It is so disappointing to drive all the way to a spot you remember, only to find it has already been plowed under or it is just brown dirt. This spot worked out well...the even left me a tractor to include. This is 5 x 7.



Harvest Ready I & II

Last week when I went to the north fork of Long Isand I found this spot to paint with a view of the local farmland. Of course it was on the main road and not really a safe place to sit in traffic the way people drive sometimes. So I sat on the shoulder of the road and painted from my car. I did a small 5 x 7 and was really happy with the way it came out.

I liked the spot so much I decided to go back on Friday and do a larger painting of the same spot. This one is 8 x 10. They are very similar, but there are differences. Which one do you prefer?