Vanderzalm Christmas Trees

On Sunday I had to go to Bellport to drop off a painting for a show. I figured I would find a tree lot to sketch. This was done sitting outside the Vanderzalm Nursery in Bellport. They looked like they were pretty busy, but this lady spent a lot of time checking out just one tree. lol

I'm glad I had a few extra sketches done that weren't posted yet. I didn't get to sketch outside at all yesterday or today. Yesterday I put up my Christmas tree and assorted decorations inside. That exhausted me!

Today we had some snow. Luckily it didn't really accumulate much but there were some big snowflakes coming down for a while. I didn't venture out until late in the afternoon and spent most of the morning getting paintings matted and framed for my plain air group's holiday show this weekend.
I'm still not completely ready and am supposed to be meeting friends in NYC tomorrow. I will try to sketch before I meet them. It is supposed to be very cold tomorrow so I am hoping to sketch inside Grand Central terminal and on the train into the city. Wish me luck!

Can I Get It Up There?

I have been searching all the Christmas tree lots for people buying trees.

This lady seemed a little stumped when she got back to her car. Luckily help came shortly after.

Buying a Tree

Yesterday I took a ride out east and stopped at a "cut your own" Christmas tree farm.

I had no intention of getting a tree. I just wanted to sketch. I parked my car along the opposite side of the street. These cars were parked in a line side by side amid LOTS of other cars...maybe about 60 of them...almost as far as the eye could see. I focused on just one car at a time and took artistic license to leave out the others. I watched for when they carried over a tree by a car...that would be my model. I figured I had enough time to sketch the activity while they tied the tree to the roof...and I was right.

Sandy's Garden Center

The other day I took a ride over to Sandy's Garden Center in Farmingville.
They had their trees and wreaths ready along with an inflatable snowman.

Decorating the Tree

Last Friday I was driving through Sayville and noticed that they were putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it in anticipation of the parade and lighting of the tree that was taking place on Saturday. It was really cold out so I was lucky to get a parking spot with a view so I could work from my "mobile studio." This is about 5 x 7 and was done in my Stillman & Birn Alpha Sketchbook.

Maria

Last Tuesday night I went to the Wet Paints Studio Group sketch night in Sayville. Twice a month they have a model pose for the artists that show up. Maria was our model. The model poses for 20 minutes and then takes a 10 minute break. That is repeated 3 times. Some people do 3 different sketches, but since she is in the same pose I continued working on the same painting. This is 5 x 7.

Autumn Corner

Somehow I missed posting this when I did it. Right now there are just bare tree branches in this spot in Bellport...I'm pretty sure every leaf is off these trees now.

This is 5 x 7.