Commuters on the Train

Heading into NYC last Saturday on the Long Island Railroad I had a few models for the ride.

This lady slept almost the entire way into the city.

This group of people was diagonally across from where I was sitting mostly in the seats facing me. From their conversation I knew they were related and two of the ladies were visiting from out of state. One was from Atlanta. One of the ladies was blocked by the man in the red striped shirt. I knew they were headed to Penn Station and the World Trade Center so I had plenty of time to sketch them. Three of their kids were sitting across the aisle to my right and the older boy kept looking over to see what I was doing & kept  smiling at what he saw. I'm sure he whispered through the seats that I was sketching them. When I finished I passed the sketch over to him and he passed it to the group to see it. They loved it and asked if they could take photos of it. 

Lunch Anyone?

While I was in Jersey City on Saturday I found this hot dog vendor at the entrance to the park. It wasn't too nice of a day, so business was fairly slow. Luckily before I sketched in the background some customers showed up. I resisted having one of the dogs...I brought along my salad for lunch.

Skyline Views from Jersey City

On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers headed across the river to Jersey City to sketch the views back to Manhattan. It was a mostly overcast day, and the park along the river was fairly empty. I was attracted to this scene first with the pigeon sitting on the railing...of course he was gone in a few seconds but I sketched him quickly. The skyline isn't easy to do. I get lost in the buildings.

New Flower ATCs

Here are a few new flower ATCs that I've done for the exchange my art group is doing. These were done when I was at the Peconic Herb Farm after I did the yupo painting.

Flowers on Yupo

Every once in a while my mind goes crazy and I do something unexpected. I went to the Peconic Herb Farm last week all set to do a regular watercolor. When I pulled out the board I was going to work on I found a piece of yupo paper on the other side. It had been there for months...so I decided to use it. I've never tried it en plein air but I know my friend, Julie Ford Oliver, (http://juliefordoliver.blogspot.com)  in addition to doing beautiful oils does paintings on yupo paper...sometimes while riding as a passenger in a car. My feeling that morning was if she can paint on it in the car, I can paint on it outdoors. lol Of course I should have prepped the paper and cleaned it with alcohol, but I knew I didn't have any so it was now or never. 

Here is the completed painting...or as finished as it is right now. I may touch it up a little more.

I did have the presence of mind to take a few photos while I was painting, so here they are.

This is the view I was painting.

It worked better than I expected so I may give it another try. I've painted on yupo before but it has been a long time. :)

ATCs

I am still working on some ATC sized mini paintings for the art swap my group is doing this month. These two were done down by the bay in Sayville.

Roast Coffee and Tea

The other night when my sketch group met they were forecasting rain, so we picked an indoor location for sketching. I've sketched at Roast Coffee & Tea in Patchogue many times. I'm always looking for a new view so that the sketch looks different.