Autumn 1

I know these autumn leaves can't last for much longer, so I'm trying to capture them as much as possible. I painted this one from the parking lot by a local school.

Chimineas and Flowers

Last week my friend and I went to paint at Olish Farms Country Market in Eastport, NY. Outside was a wonderful assortment of flowers and some chimineas (Mexican outdoor ovens). While we were sitting there painting someone came along and bought one of the three chimineas that I have in my painting...just my luck. lol I had already sketched and painted it so it wasn't a problem. Sitting there for nearly two hours we were assaulted by aromas of baking coming from inside, so I did buy a delicious lemon blueberry pie before I left.

Bush Farm

Our plein air group was invited to Bush Farm this week to paint. The owners of this farm have collected all kinds of antique farm equipment and the barn and the grounds are full of it. The autumn colors were perfect and the barn was calling out to be painted. This is 8 x 10.

Longwood Schoolhouse

Last week my plain air group went back to Longwood Estate. There was such a great tree in front of the schoolhouse that I just had to paint them together. This is 8 x 10.

More Fall Colors

I'm capturing as much of the fall colors as I can around here. This was done at a farm stand out on the north fork this past weekend. This is 8 x 10.

Autumn Explosion

The colors here on Long Island are beautiful, or would be beautiful if the sun came out to shine on them. We had mild temps today but the sun barely made an appearance. I did paint this on location (not in my car) and the fishermen all stopped to say something to me. One wanted to make sure he didn't get in my way...it was nice that he asked. This is a pond that is formed by the Connectquot River in Oakdale. This is 5 x 7.

Panoramic View

In one day life changed a lot...no more Inktober...and the sun set and it got dark by 4:47pm!!!! I hate when we change the clocks!

Inktober was a fun challenge. Although I do some ink sketching it is usually done in conjunction with watercolor. I rarely do a sketch and leave it just in ink. I also challenged myself to do all the Inktober sketches directly in pen. I did the online workshop with Marc Taro Holmes and I credit that for making me take that leap and continue with it. He doesn't require that you sketch directly in ink, but suggests it. It is a scary thing to not have my pencil and eraser, but for sketches I've really gotten used to it. The lines may be a little wonky at times but I thinks the sketches that way have a certain freshness to them. Of course for the drawing for one of my watercolor paintings I will still use pencil. That needs a little more precision. This month has given me a lot of ink sketching practice, and I hope to get back to it from time to time.

Today I went out east near Wading River and did a painting from my car sitting at the end of the parking lot at Lewin Farms. I'm assuming the field I was overlooking belonged to them. As much as the temps were in the low 60s it was too windy to sit out and paint, especially along a busy road where traffic kicks up a lot of dirt. This is small...just 3 x 10. I should go back and do a larger version of this. I liked the idea of doing a panorama but I didn't have any larger paper. lol