Cedar Beach View #3

 With the sky changing so quickly at Cedar Beach I decided to do one more quick sunset painting from the same spot on the beach. Sunsets are difficult in watercolor because you don't really have time for the layers of color to dry long enough before you are adding more color. This painting is a little looser. I was somewhat successful. Of course the sailboats came out for the sunset and it was a bit difficult to sneak one into the wet paint.

Cedar Beach View #1

A friend suggested heading up to Cedar Beach in Mt Sinai to do sunset paintings recently. We got up there about 4:30 and were joined by a third artist. For my first painting I sat on the boardwalk and was overlooking the dunes. The sky kept changing.

Sunset

 This was done for the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge. I used a photo I had taken when I was in Australia for my niece's wedding a few years ago. Pump Hill Farms in Pemberton had some really great sunrises and sunsets!

Sunset in Sayville

 Friday night I went to a fundraiser in Sayville for a little while. Since I was already out and it was so close to sunset I decided to ride down by the water and watch and sketch. There is a parking lot by a restaurant called Lands End, that extends out into the bay. It faces the water at an angle and looks a bit back toward the mainland. It was filled with cars, so I had to sit back a bit and didn't have a front row seat. I sketched the building in but when I was leaving I noticed it didn't really look that long. The right side was actually another building, but it was getting dark in the car and I couldn't really see well. I was happy with the way the sky and the reflection came out. Of course I used artistic license and left out the row of cars parked in front of me.

Sunset Watch

This was done from a reference photo I took by the bay behind the Fire Island Lighthouse. Again, this is for the art postcard project going to the troops.

Just a quick update. We are looking for rehab facilities for Jerry. Lots of strengthening and learning to do.

Sundown

Today I had a holiday installation luncheon for one of my art groups. It ended about 4 but by the time I got back in my car it was nearly 4:30. I figured I had time to drive somewhere near the bay and catch a bit of the sunset while I sketched. I ended up in the parking area across from where most of the ferries dock in Sayville. I was able to capture a bit of color but it wasn't a great sunset...quite a bit subdued. It was a quick, small sketch but in the short time I was doing it I managed to spill my small jar of water into my lap (and under my butt) TWICE! I came home quite soggy.

Beach Sketches

On Wednesday I went down to the beach in Sayville. It was a Jewish holiday so the local kids were off from school and there were a number of them around the beach and play area. These three were fun to sketch.

Then that evening the Patchogue Sketch Club went to Shirley Beach for what will probably be our last beach sketch night for the year since it is getting dark so early and we have other events planned for the next few weeks. This was my first visit to Shirley Beach. In fact I didn't know it was there. First I sketched the view looking down the beach along the bay. 

Then I noticed that the sun was setting, so I turned around to capture that. It was hard to do because the colors changed so fast and the air was very humid so the paper wasn't drying. It is hard to do layers of watercolor that way. lol

Porto Day 9

On Tuesday after the symposium I went up by the Pont Luis I Bridge to sketch. That was the bridge we walked over when we went to the monastery to watch the sunset. The views looking down and across from the bridge were great! Here are a few photos from there.

I sketched the view looking down from the edge of the bridge...not the easiest perspective to figure out. I like crumbling architecture so this with the pieces of roofing and walls missing was something I enjoyed doing. This was done standing up in direct sun with no shade anywhere nearby.

I was really hot so I left the bridge to seek some shelter. I was adding a little more color to the sketch above when I heard someone say, "You can't stop sketching either." It turned out to be Anne Rose Oosterbann who oddly enough is a friend of my friend Kitty from the Netherlands. Anne Rose is a wonderful artist and has been & will be a big part of the 2019 Symposium in Amsterdam. She designed the logo for the Amsterdam Symposium. We talked for a while and she left to go across the bridge. I took a break and had some lunch at the restaurant where we had dinner the other night. Sadly they were out of octopus, so I had to settle for their wonderful shrimp instead. I did a sketch of the shrimp which completed my Porto food page in my sketchbook.

I headed back to the area where I sketched yesterday. I wanted to capture this shrine that was build into the wall of the street.

In the late afternoon I headed down by the Douro River. Even without all the sketchers it was pretty crowded. I sat with my back to the river and sketched the buildings, umbrellas, etc along the walkway.

 

My final sketch of the night was looking toward the end of the promenade along the river with the sky changing color.

One of my blog readers had a few questions after my post yesterday so I am posting my answer to Nelvia's questions here too. 

"I think most of the people were happy to see us there. It was great for their tourist industry for sure and since so many people traveled to other places like Lisbon & Madrid it helped there too. I checked out the main tourist locations before I left, but as you met people you found out other places people had sketched and locations that the workshop instructors picked. Every night there was a "drink & draw" along the river by the bridge. While the symposium was going on there were 2 sketchcrawls each day with set destinations so you knew those would be good. I found a lot of spots just on my own. Long before the symposium started we were given suggestions for places to stay, but most of the people I knew found apartments or hotels on their own once we found what part of the city we should look at. I never felt unsafe at all even when I was on my own."

Sunset

We have been having some really great skies lately. I was in Bellport the other day right around sunset so I headed down to the public dock. It is hard to get good colors as the sunset is happening because it changes so fast...and the paint dries so slowly. At one point I turned the heater in the car up full blast to dry the sky. lol

Blue Point Sunsets

The Patchogue Sketch Club met at the end of Blue Point Avenue at the dock to sketch on Wednesday evening. We moved up the sketching time from 6:30 to 6 because it is getting darker earlier. Sigh!

I sketched a view of the beach there from the dock.

Then I did a few more ATC sunrises. I have about 13 of them done this summer...maybe I can do a series of them. For these I tape them to a board with some double sided tape and paint with a regular brush, not my waterbrush. The waterbrush makes the paper much too wet. As it is it doesn't dry fast enough. As soon as I get one nearly done I move to the next one, until I have 3 going at once. Then I can move back and forth between them. The foreground is never dry enough when I want to paint it so I usually darken it when I get home and the paper is dry.

Sunset ATCs

After painting the boats in Bellport last night, I did two ATCs of the sunset.

Sunset #2

As I was finishing the sunset below I noticed that part of the sky had so much color, so I had to do a second painting. This one I had to do much faster because the color was changing fast and it was starting to get dark. It isn't easy getting the rich colors of the sunset when the sky is already wet, but I persisted. I just couldn't pass this up. This one is about 5 x 5.

 



Sunset

Yesterday my schedule was thrown off a bit due to shopping for a new TV and all that entails. It is like a snowball once it starts. lol Anyway I ended up coming to the library later in the day to use the computers. By the time I was leaving it was about 3:45 and the thought entered my head to head to the water and paint the sunset. I drove down near Corey Beach in Bayport and parked on the dock facing west. This is about 4 x 6. I'm glad my schedule was off and I was outside in time for the sunset.