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.
I like finding houses that have character. There are quite a few interesting houses along South Ocean Ave in Patchogue. This one got my attention the other day.
The Patchogue Sketch Club met on Zoom on Wednesday night to sketch two different harlequin paintings. Hopefully we will get back to meeting in person soon. I think a model is posing for us next week but we have company coming from out of town to visit for a few days, so I can't make it.
Sayville has a surf, skate and snow shop that attracts my attention each time I pass heading east through town. The whale mural and the airstream catch my eye each time. Due to the layout of the building there is no good way to get the name of the shop as well as the rest of the view all at the same time. Since the airstream and the mural are what calls to me, I had to make those the dominant subjects. It makes me smile every time I see it. The shop is actually called Bunger Sayville.
White Cap Fish Market is located in Islip and is tucked away along a small canal in Islip. It has an actual fish market as well as a small restaurant with an outside deck. It is a rather rustic place where I've sketched many times. There are usually commercial fishing boats tied up around the dock area.
Back in the fall before Covid hit I had started an accordion sketchbook of scenes along the North Fork of Long Island. My original thought was to start with one view and then drive about 1 mile and sketch the next view I found, continuing until I reached Greenport, the last town along Route 25. Of course that wasn't so practical because often when I drove the next mile there wasn't anything scenic to sketch or there wasn't any place to park safely. So instead I sketched things that caught my attention as I drove along. The sketching in the book was halted due to Jerry's health and then the pandemic. I was staying home or at least staying much closer to home and it wasn't the right time to work on this.
Recently when I thought about resuming the sketches I couldn't find the sketchbook! It was a book I had made and it had no cover yet. I had pretty much given up finding it when I discovered it hiding in a clear zip-lock bag right where I had been looking for it. Isn't it strange how that happens? Anyway over the weekend I drove out along Route 25 on the North Fork past the last location I had sketched and found the Bath & Linen Shop of Southold. It shares building space with Carol's Kid's Corner. I have to decide if I want to do additional sketches. There is only one blank page left and I haven't reached Greenport yet. Many people who use accordion sketchbooks also use the backs of the pages. I don't know if I want to do that. I like being able to see all the sketches when I stretch the book out. What do you think?
I'm not sure what this tower and small structure were used for in the past. I was in Bayport and saw just the top of the tank from a distance. The train tracks were between me and the structure, but I wanted to find a view of it. I drove across the tracks and could see bits of it, but not the whole thing. I ended up going in and out of a few driveways for businesses and knew I was getting closer. Finally I ended up going into the parking lot of the Bayport Flower Houses and going around the back of the building. I don't think I was supposed to be back there, but I kept going because I knew it was back there somewhere. It was and it was surrounded by all kinds of discarded materials from the flower house. Nobody else was crazy enough to be back there, and nobody could really see me so I sat in my mobile studio to sketch. Success!!
I went on Google to see if I could find out what it was, but no luck.
