An Evening at Roast

Last Wednesday the Patchogue Sketch Club had downtown Patchogue as our sketching location. It started out warm enough to do an outdoor sketch...or most of one. I sat across the street from Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Company and sketched these two men having a conversation in front of the coffee shop. 

By the time the sun started setting, it was getting too cold to be comfortable outside. So we headed inside for something warm to drink. We continued sketching indoors. I sketched a couple at a nearby table and then Maureen, one of the other sketchers.

Time Away From Home - Part I

Over on the "Paper, Paint, Pencils, & Pens" blog our new theme is "Time Away From Home."

We are sketching places and things that remind us of vacations, trips, or any time we spent away from home. I am doing sketches from photos taken on my many trips.

I started with a sketch of a musician my husband and I saw playing on the street in downtown Galway, Ireland last April. There was so much music in the pubs and on the streets there. I really enjoyed it. Yes, this young man did have red hair and a red beard.

In 1970 I took my first vacation with a friend. I wasn't even 21 years old yet when Suzanne and I flew out to California. We stayed a few days with her cousin and his family. Then we drove up the coast from San Diego to San Francisco making a few stops along the route. This was done from a very faded photo I took in Malibu.

I was young and in fairly good shape then. Here is a sketch of me in my bikini on the beach in Malibu. The blanket was a purchase we made when we took a trip down to Tiajuana, Mexico from San Diego. This was also done from one of my photos.

Backtracking to an earlier time, here is a sketch of a family vacation from when I was a kid. We rented this very rustic cabin on Little Sebago Lake in Maine. The cabin had a fireplace for heat on the cool Maine summer nights and only cold water and no tub or shower. Each cottage (I think there were 5.) had a rowboat and we spent a lot of time rowing around the lake. We thought it was paradise and went back for a week for a few summers. We always cried when it was time to go home. 

There will be more to come.

Carl Schurz Park

Today the NYC Urban Sketchers met at Gracie Mansion and Carl Schurz Park at 88th Street and East End Avenue. I took the subway into the city which ended up being quite a long trip (over 2 hrs) due to construction delays on the lines. I did get to do one sketch on the train ride in.

Our group of sketchers headed to see the views along the East River first. I sketched a view looking down the path with a few joggers and the river view. The park is really nicely landscaped and it was great to see that here in NYC the leaves are finally starting to appear on the trees.

We took a break for lunch, but that didn't stop our sketching. These men at the counter were interesting subjects.

Back at the park I sketched this view of a rocky area that kids were climbing on.

The only disappointment of the day was that we couldn't sketch Gracie Mansion, which is the official home of the mayor of NYC. The entire house is behind a big security fence that blocks the entire view. They do tours of the house, but not on Saturday. One of our members tried to convince the security guard to let us in, but there was no way we would be allowed in. 

So we moved on to the dog run. Of course because it was a dog run that's exactly what they did in the fenced in area. They were very hard to sketch. The owners stayed still and once in a while the dogs would come over to their owners...but mostly they just ran.

I also sketched the small lighthouse that was in the East River and the view of Queens across the water.

At the end of the day we did a "throw-down" of our sketchbooks. It is always fun to share our work, talk about our supplies and methods of sketching, and talk to the other sketchers. Here are a few of the sketches that were done today.

And a few close-ups.

That's a sketch of me on the left.

It was a great day!

Portraits - Ann & Carmine

Last Tuesday I got to paint portraits twice. In the morning I painted with the South Bay Art Association portrait group. Ann was our model.

Then in the evening the Wet Paints Studio Group has their sketch night. Carmine who is one of the members of the group graciously sat for us since we hadn't found a model.

Local Farm

The Suffolk County Farm is a spot that calls to me when I am driving along on the Long Island Expressway. As soon as I get off the exit I pull all the way over on the exit ramp and park to get this view. Some day I am sure a highway patrol car is going to come over and see why I am there. LOL But the only way to get a view of most of the buildings is to look at it from there.

This is tiny....maybe 2 x 6.

Gardens & Parks Continued

Here are a few more watercolor sketches I did for the Paper, Paint, Pencils, & Pens blog. If you click the palette link at the top right you can be magically transported over there and see what we are doing for the new theme. You can even join the blog if you would like to sketch with us.

This water pump was done from a reference photo I took in Adare, Ireland 

in front of a thatched cottage. This is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.

This was a planter in front of a building somewhere in Ireland.

This is ATC sized...2 1/2 x 3 1/2.

My last sketch for that theme is the "garden" area right in front of the patio of my apartment unit.

This was done on Monday when we had our surprise snowstorm that left us about 6 inches of show in just a few hours. Most of Long Island got a mere dusting of snow but we got clobbered. By the time I sketched this it had stopped snowing and our maintenance crew had shoveled the walkway.

Hopefully before long it will warm up and my patio railing will be filled with containers of colorful flowers. This is about 4 x 6.

Gardens and Parks Sketches

On the group blog I am doing called "Paper, Paint, Pencils, & Pens" our theme for the end of March was "Gardens and Parks." I already posted a few of the sketches I did and here are a few more.

This was done from a photo I took in the sculpture garden at Johnstown Castle in Ireland.

My sister, Fran, had a wonderful garden in Ramona, CA and I did this sketch from a photo I took of one of her bird of paradise plants.

Last spring I visited the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. This was done from one of the photos I took of a magnolia tree in bloom.

Stay posted for a few more "Gardens & Parks" sketches.