Lighthouse View

 A beach day at Robert Moses State Park usually includes a sketch or painting of the Fire Island Lighthouse.

Maine Visit - Day 1

Last week I picked up my sister, Michelle in NJ and we drove up to Maine to visit our sister, Chris & her family. Michelle hasn't been up to Maine for quite a few years, so we decided to visit a few places near Tina that are special. The first day we drove down to Pemaquid Point where the Pemaquid Lighthouse is located. The landscape changed a lot after the strong storms that hit the Maine coast back in January. Huge boulders were knocked off the rocky ledge, smaller boulders moved up near the lighthouse, and the bell house was damaged. Luckily the lighthouse itself wasn't affected.

Both Michelle and Chris sketch, but not to the same extent as I do. They both sat and did one sketch, and left me alone while they explored and chatted a bit while I did two.

This sketch is of some of the trees and rocks between the lighthouse and the rocky ledge.

I also did a small painting of the Pemaquid Lighthouse.

Here is a photo of the three of us...left to right are Chris, myself and Michelle.

Lighthouse Across the Bay

 I couldn't be near a beach with a lighthouse view and not sketch it. I was at Captree State Park where I painted the previous scene. It is across the Great South Bay and you can see the Fire Island Lighthouse located on the western end of Fire Island in Robert Moses State Park. I like the view across the water.

Fire Island Lighthouse

I can't even take a guess abut how many times I've painted the Fire Island Lighthouse. I hadn't been down to the beach in quite a while because we were away. I needed to get there for a visit. The day was windy and cold but I was going to sit in my car to paint anyway. Can you tell that this is one of my favorite places? 

 I did get out of the car to take a few photos.

Long Island Maritime Museum Fundraiser

A few years ago I participated in a fundraiser for the Long Island Maritime Museum. They had local artists paint on pieces of shingles that had blown off their boathouse during one of our big storms. Right before I left for Venice I was contacted and found out that they were doing another fundraiser. I took some shingles to work on but ran out of time to get them done. I thought I missed the deadline but last week I found out that the fundraiser was going to be held starting this coming weekend. I decided to participate and I did three paintings this time. The largest is 17 1/2 x 4 1/2 (the second one down). The other two are about 11 x 4 each.

Here is some information about the fundraiser. I dropped my pieces off today and some of the wonderful work by the other artist was already on display.

 

Lighthouse and Gull

 This was sketched down at the Sandspit Marina in Patchogue. Wasn't it nice of the gull to pose with the lighthouse nearby? This is another sketch in the Arteza sketchbook for the SBAA project.

Direct Watercolor #22

#22 for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge was painted at the Sandspit Marina in Patchogue.

One of the items for the current Scavenger Hunt on creativespark.art is a sailboat...fairely easy to find around here.

 

Fire Island Lighthouse

I went over to Robert Moses State Park last Thursday, figuring that by Friday it would be too cold to venture over there. That's when we had the cold snap. It was too windy to take a walk or to sit outside so I parked so I had a view over the foliage and went to town. 

Lighthouse

Last week when it was warm I made several trips to Robert Moses State Park. 3 out of the 4 days I sketched or painted the Fire Island Lighthouse. I can't resist!!

 

Fire Island Lighthouse

During the nice, warm weather we had earlier in the week I made several trips down to the ocean. It is hard to resist painting the Fire Island Lighthouse when I go to Robert Moses State Park. I can't even imagine how many times I've painted it...and I can always paint it again.

 

Old Field Point Lighthouse

I was up on the north shore for an appointment the other day so I figured I would look for someplace up there to paint. I've been to so many locations many times, so I was looking for a place I hadn't been. Old Field Point Lighthouse kept popping up in my searches. It overlooks Long Island Sound in Old Field Village. I couldn't believe there was a lighthouse in this area that you could drive to but that I hadn't visited. It took quite a while to take the meandering road out there, but I thought it was worth the trip.

 

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.

Sandspit Lighthouse

On Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club met at the Sandspit Marina for an evening of sketching by the lighthouse. It was a very windy night and several people tried using easels because they were painting for a plein air event, but the easels kept blowing over. I tried resting my palette on a wall since I had to really hold onto my sketchbook, but it also kept blowing off. Instead I pulled out a folding chair that I had in my car and put it against the wall. I put the palette on the seat of the chair. It worked!

Lighthouse Views

 I went over to Robert Moses State Park the other day. I hadn't sketched the Fire Island Lighthouse in a while. Parking so that I was facing the dunes, I dug through my beach bag only to realize I couldn't find any paper that was really suitable for watercolor. I finally gave up and used a sketchbook that is barely suitable for ink so needless to say the paper buckled. At least it didn't pill.

I moved the car a little...those clouds were calling me. I used the other sketchbook I had with me. The paper was a bit thicker so it didn't buckle quite as much. Of course later when I was sitting on the beach I found that I had a few small pieces of watercolor paper in a baggie in one of the front pockets of the beach bag. lol 

Lighthouse

 Even though I haven't been able to get to the lighthouse for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge, I just had to paint one. This was done using one of my sketches for a reference.

Inktober 2020 Day 26 - Halloween Display

It was drizzling the other day so I really wasn't inspired to go far to find a subject for my Day 26 Inktober sketch. I backed my car out of the garage and remembered that I had wanted to sketch the Halloween display on my neighbor's patio. So I sat in my mobile studio in the parking space right in front of their patio and sketched from there.

Just an update...remember the paintings I did on the shingles for the fundraiser that the Long Island Maritime Museum was having? Well, so far 43 pieces have sold including this one of mine. They art will continue to be on display at the Maritime Museum until the middle of November, so I am sure that more pieces will sell. Of course these were donated, so the artist isn't getting anything from the sale, but it is nice to know that my piece has a new home.

Patchogue Lighthouse

In Patchogue out at the end of one of the jetties near the ferry to Fire Island is a small lighthouse. I followed the construction of this project for a while sketching some the equipment that was being used. You can see one of those sketches here.

Paint Out at the Lighthouse

For the past few years the Wet Paints Studio Group in Sayville(of which I am a member) has organized a paint out at the Fire Island Lighthouse on Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. This morning I headed over to Robert Moses State Park where the lighthouse stands. Although it was beautiful and sunny, it was very windy which made painting outdoors a bit difficult. You need to come prepared to mat, frame, and hang your paintings, so I had lots of materials with me.

I started out in the parking lot near the dunes. I parked so that my car was blocking most of the wind with a view of the dune foliage and the lighthouse. I had a frame that would fit a 5 x 12 inch painting without a mat, so I painted that exact size making sure I painted to the very ends of the paper.

Next I decided to brave the elements and head over near the lighthouse where I was sure some of the other artists would be working. I have a shopping cart and I put all my framing materials in it, my lunch, and hung my chair on the outside. I decided it was too windy to bother dragging my easel. There is a nice boardwalk that leads from the parking lot over to the lighthouse with a walk that is about 0.8 miles one way. There were quite a few other artists painting from the deck by the lens house since the building was blocking some of the wind. I set up looking toward the ocean and painted with the painting board held tightly in my lap. This painting is 5 x 7. 

The paintings are hung in the lens house building next to the lighthouse and will be on display and for sale until June 10th. I took the completed paintings inside to frame them. The panoramic one went well, but I dropped the glass for the second frame. I spent a while picking up all the glass shards...especially the tiny ones since there are so many people who walk around there in flip flops or barefoot. Luckily I had a spare frame that was the correct size. I had hoped to do a third painting but the only other frame was for an 8 x 10 painting and I didn't really have the time to work on a bigger one.

Here is a photo of the paintings that were completed and hung before I left. Mine are the top left and third one down on the left. Tomorrow is supposed to be another nice day so I am sure there will be more artists participating then. I am heading into NYC so I won't be joining them.

Fire Island Lighthouse

A group of the artists participating in Paint the Great South Bay met at Fire Island on Thursday evening around 5. We all picked a location to paint the lighthouse...most from different positions and there were many compositions. I did a sketch once before from this spot, so I wanted to do a full painting from this spot.

Here is the completed painting.

I was able to get photos of the artists who were painting nearby, but there were several that were too far for me to walk to and still work on my painting. lol

Rosi Berry was painting right nearby.

Cindy Fox was doing a lovely pastel.

Larry Johnston pas painting in oils. 

Gina Lento (the organizer of the event) was working in pastels.

Liz Macchio was painting in acrylics.

The artist below came to the event all the way from Marietta, Georgia. She did have family who lived locally so she got to visit too.

Debra Meekins was painting in oils.

As the sun started to set there were some beautiful colors in the sky.

We stayed until the sun went down and the bugs started to come out. Then we all headed home.

More Maine Scenes

Last Monday morning in Maine it wasn't raining....yet. So I drove down to Round Pond, this sleepy little village that has a general store, a few houses and churches, and a lobster wharf. I sat in the car to sketch this since the sky looked like it might rain any minute...besides it was cold out. lol

In the afternoon I drove down the peninsula to Pemaquid Point, one of my favorite locations to visit when I go to my sister's house. I love the lighthouse there. I didn't want to be up close to the lighthouse so I didn't actually go to the lighthouse park. I went along the beach road and found a spot to sit where I could see a tiny bit of the lighthouse and the wonderful flat rocks that are always an adventure to climb down on. I stayed in the car to paint and it kept drizzling on and off.