View at the Bay

 I painted this at the Islip Beach. The view looks out toward Fire Island in the distance.

Line Sketch

 I did a line sketch near the Long Island Railroad station to include a few items for the Creative Spark Scavenger Hunt. I was able to include a structure, a sign, a vehicle, and trees and plants.

Lenape Day Celebration - Part 2

 The celebration continued upstairs in the rotunda with music, songs, and dances. The Red Blanket Singers and Dancers performed as a narrator explained about the music and the dances. The costumes were beautiful and the dancer ranged in age from 9 years to adult. They were really good! I was able to capture a few of the performers as well as the narrator on the left side of the page.

After seeing two performances we headed over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the NYC Urban Sketchers were spending the day. Rather than sketch there Suzala, her husband and I stopped to see a few special exhibits. One was an exhibit of the work of Emily Sargent, the sister of John Singer Sargent. The other exhibit was of Man Ray's work. We were finished just in time to join the other sketchers for show and tell.

Lenape Celebration Day - Part 1

 On Saturday I joined two friends, Suzala and Patricia at the Museum of the City of New York where they were having a Lenape Celebration Day, honoring the culture and history of the Lenape Indians who were the first residents of the New York area. 

The day began with a welcome by a Lenape member who opened with music from his flute. He told a little about the Lenape history and what the day would be like. 

Denise Dunkley led a group in a craft activity. Materials were supplied for children and adults to create corn husk dolls. She demonstrated the steps to be followed. We were in a crowded room. Suzala and Patricia decided to create corn husk dolls, but I decided to sketch the two of them being creative. Denise did her demo a few times as people finished and new people entered. She explained that these dolls were actually first made by the Native Americans, the Lenape, who lived here. Most people assume they were first created by the slaves but that isn't true.

Christmas Cactus

 I bought a Christmas cactus at the Bayport Flower House when I was there recently. It has started blooming with these beautiful fuschia blossoms. I sketched it with my colored ink pens. I may have to do an updated version becuse there are so many more blossoms on it already.

St Ann's Church

 St Ann's Episcopal Church in Sayville is lovely. I sat across the street to sketch it head-on. They will be having their Christmas tree sale soon which is a very popular event. The trees usually sell out in a day or two. I did sketch the event in the past. Maybe I'll get a chance to sketch it again this year.

Idle Hour in Oakdale.

 Idle Hour is a former Vanderbilt estate that is located in Oakdale. Part of it is in use by Dowling College. and part of it (stables, barns, etc) were developed into small houses. Apparently for a while it was used as an artist's colony. Today the houses are rather exclusive and parking in the area is restricted to residents only, but I've found one small street where it is possible to park for a while and sketch.