Tiki Joe's

 While I was out in Hampton Bays I stopped to sketch this view of Tiki Joe's beach house at Meschutt Beach. I loved the way the building was decorated with beach themed items.

Hampton Bays Bridges

 I like wandering all over Long Island and one of my favorite places to visit is the Hamptons. I rented summer houses with friends in Hampton Bays many years ago. I still have a fondness for that town. These bridges can be seen along the Shinnecock Canal in Hampton Bays.

View from Dune Road & Eye Doctor Visit

 One day last week I took a drive out to the Hamptons and sketched along Dune Road. I love the views across the bay there.

Jerry has been having a lot of appointments with eye doctors lately since having his cataract surgery and preparing for his upcoming eye surgery to help repair the damage from the blood vessel that hemorrhaged in his eye. I posted this sketch on Creative Spark and one of the sketchers there identified it as a machine that can tell the strength of the lenses in prescription eye glasses. I'll take his word for it.

Tiana Dunes

 I was out driving along Dune Road in the Hamptons the other day and stopped at Tiana Beach. I spent a lot of time there when I was young and single, and it is part of my nostalgia drive that I take once in a while. There has been a lot of loss of the dunes since the last time I stopped there.

Beach Sketches

Yesterday I took a ride out to Dune Road in the Hamptons. It is a barrier beach that runs from Westhampton through East Quogue, Quogue, and Hampton Bays. This part of Long Island has been a favorite of mine since I was in my 20s and I always tell Jerry that when I die I want my ashes sprinkled there. Along the road are million dollar mansions, some condos, a few resorts as well as a few small cottages. It is a beautiful area but at high tide it is very often flooded in spots. Beach parking in the summer is expensive unless you are a resident, but at this time of year you can park easily. I planned on parking at Ponquogue Beach because the parking lot has great views across the dunes and bay and a pavilion with tables where you can sometimes be sheltered from the wind. Just my luck...the parking lot was closed because they are rebuilding the beach pavilion. I ended up driving along heading back west and checking out every parking lot along the way. Most spots had no view of the water unless you were out of the car, and it was too windy yesterday to do that. Finally in Quogue I found a small lot that is more of a street.  It went up to Dolphin Beach where there was a small opening in the dunes. I could just see the water from my car...perfect! When I finished my watercolor I turned the car around to leave and noticed that the view looking toward the bay was nice too, so I did that view as well.

Beach Sketches

Both of these were painting with watercolors before the painting challenge started. They were done along Dune Road in the Hamptons, one of my favorite places to visit. The bottom one is the concession stand at one of the beaches in Quogue.

Six Corners, Westhampton

In my younger days I spent a lot of time out in the Hamptons in the summer. Each town has its own unique charm. This is a business at Six Corners in Westhampton where believe it or not, six roads actually do converge at a circle. I liked the style of this building...but I think it would make a better house than a business. Who knows, maybe there is an apartment upstairs and you can sit in that little bay window and look out. This is 5 x 7.