Rainy Day Sketch

The weather here has been cool for August and today was a tad chilly but it was also rainy and damp.  Not much of a day for sitting outside to sketch so I worked on some things in my studio. 

 This evening, John and I went out to have coffee and I sketched at the coffee shop.  I love coffee shops that have big comfy couches like you are sitting at home.  There was this awesome place that I used to go to in Haddonfield, NJ, that even had a fireplace and game room.  I miss that coffee shop.

On the way home, there was a guy on the side of the road in front of a 7 Eleven, yelling about something….we turned the radio down to see what was up….he was just yelling nonsense.  John quipped, “7 Eleven must be serving up something good tonight!”  Never a dull moment.

This is my sketch for the day….I was looking out the window of the coffee shop.  It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to sketch but I made it work.

Today’s sketch from Main Street

I don’t normally like to go out during midday in the summer to sketch or paint.  It’s too hot, and I burn to a nice shade of cooked lobster in the sun. Yep, I use sun screen but I have to keep reapplying it and if I forget….lobster.  Today was an exception because it was overcast and I sat on  the shady side of Main Street.

 I set up in front of Swell Taco.  Which is funny because the last sketch I posted was of Swell Taco….While I sketched, I listened to the people going in and out of Swell Taco.  One couple came out and the young woman remarked that she was so full she could puke…..Nice.  Thank you for sharing that.

Wow, someone was playing “Staying Alive” from Saturday Night Fever, full blast from their car….looking up, I saw an older man in a convertible.  Dude, seriously?! I graduated from 8th grade when that came out and I still don’t like Disco!  Don’t you have any Imagine Dragons or Muse? Coldplay?  Anything from Chris Cornell?  The 70’s are over! Sheesh.

Anyway, I got the sketch finished even after my ears were subjected to such torture. I added the touches of color with Tombows after I got home. The Strathmore toned paper really seems to like Tombows and it doesn’t bleed on the other side.

I like the collage idea of multiple sketches….It was fun, like a graphic novel.

Hmmm? Maybe I’ll write a horror story about a pyscho torturing people with disco music.

Family night in Patchogue

Hubby and I went into the village the other night and we were surprised to find another street fair, geared toward families and it was also a sidewalk sale for local businesses.  Not one to pass on a sketching opportunity and a coffee at Roast, we settled in at the coffee shop and I sketched the activities outside the window….

This is one of the sketches that I did of the activity in front of Swell Taco….

Sketches fron Alive on 25 #3

John and I don’t get to the Eastern part of Long Island too much, although I occasionally teach classes at the art school in Riverhead.  Riverhead is another town on Long Island that is doing that slow crawl of revival.  It’s a nice place to visit and sketch. 

They do a street fair similar to Patchogue’s Alive After Five and they call theirs Alive on 25, which is the number of the NY state highway that Riverhead calls their Main Street.   

New York is dotted with hamlets and villages along state routes and I highly recommend going out of the way to find them.  They are places to sketch.

Last evening, at Alive on 25, there was a model arranged for us to sketch.  There was also an antique car show that I would have loved to sketch instead, but we were already committed to sketching the model.  Oh well, maybe another time.

Below there are two sketches of the model, I did more but I liked these two the best.  I also did a “rogue” sketch of the sculpture on the grounds of the East End Arts complex….I say “rogue” because I took a lot of liberties with this sketch and just had fun with it.

Enjoy!


Today’s sketch

When I leave the studio to sketch or paint “in the wild,” I never know what adventures I will find, with whom I will have a conversation, what events I will stumble on, or what wildlife I will encounter.

Today I left the studio to go to a neighboring village to sketch.  I found an alley that was shared by two businesses, one a cafe, the other a gift boutique.  This gave me the ability to sit in one place while sketching the other.  As I was sketching, people chatted around me.  At the end of the alley was a man who worked at the business on the left, conversing with someone I couldn’t see.  He was the perfect subject so I sketched him quickly, noting the placement of objects surrounding him so that when he moved, I could continue without him.  That plan worked!

As I was sketching, two cars collided right in my field of vision.  It looked like one car pulled out of their parking spot into the path of another car. It was a little unnerving.  There was a loud crash and I walked to the end of the alley and there was a young man who was a little upset apparently that the other lady pulled out in front of him.  There were two ladies in the other car so one can only surmise that they were chattering away and missed seeing the young man and his car.  I am glad everyone seemed ok. 

 I went back to finish my sketch and then I popped into my friend’s shop afterward to show her and my other friend my freebies from the Urban Sketching Symposium in Chicago.  Now to rustle up some lunch…..

Sketches from the past few days

Here are a few days of sketches that I haven’t posted yet….

John and I went to the Hambletonian on Saturday at the Meadowlands.  I did a few sketches but I liked this one the best because it shows the old Meadowlands Grandstand.  Not sure why they had to build a new one but the Jets/Giants new Met Life stadium is right behind it.

BTW, for those uninformed, the Hambletonian is the harness racing equivalent to the Kentucky Derby.


Sketches done this evening while watching a Beatles cover band at the Common Ground in Sayville.


The next couple of “sketches” were done from one sketch that I used and cut a template to create a jellyfish garland….JELLY!!!!


I also created another garland and hung it in my family room….



This next sketch was a “liquid” object exercise…the paper was torn and I drew the bike to conform to the ripped paper….

Alive After Five Week #3

Our model yesterday, Stephanie, at Alive After Five, was very good.  She came equipped with a goth outfit and black lacy umbrella.  Her poses were so amazing that she stopped people who were passing by, and they paused to watch us sketch.  Normally they stroll by and don’t even glance our way.  Stephanie didn’t have a snake, her personality and outfit caught people’s eye.

We requested 2, 5 and some 10 minute poses.  She was very good and came up with some great poses, even down to exaggerating her fingers.   I just read an article about contrapposto, which means “counter-posture” in Italian, and Stephanie pulled some contrappostro poses off naturally, with ease. I was delighted that I was able to sketch these poses just after reading about them in.

Here are the sketches from last evening, you can tell the amount of time that I had per sketch by the amount of detail….

This one below, is a classic example of contrapposto….the torso is going in the opposite direction as the hips….the body counter balances itself to adjust the weight of the pose.

Some more sketches from the USk Symposium in Chicago

These sketches were loose or in different sketchbooks from my last posts…

This first sketch was done in my morning pages as I was waiting for my flight for Chicago.  I got up so early that I had to do my morning routine at the airport.  There was another flight boarding at my gate.  These folks were going to Punta Cana.   I was sitiing at a table sipping my Starbucks latte and I could see the Punta Cana folks sitting on the runway so I sketched their plane…..and I wondered who was going to the Dominican Republic in the summer?  It’s not hot enough here at home?


The next two sketches:

An ATC that I did on the final day of the symposium, and the sketch on the left is in my moleskine travelers notebook….this one was my plane at Kennedy.  I stamped the page so it would look a little like a passport. 

The ATC is one of two that I did Saturday afternoon….I traded the other one with another sketcher who was from Tel Aviv.  

Here is a sketch I did of a flag in the business area of Chicago…


The two sketches below were done at O’Hare before I boarded my plane….

Urban Sketcher Symposium Final Day’s Sketches

This morning, I sketched the top of the Congress Hotel.  It’s a cool sign and it glows brightly when lit in the evening and I enjoyed the challenge of sketching it this morning.

Then I moved on to sketch Lake Michigan.  I couldn’t leave Chicago without sketching the lake!  I was surprised how green it looked, like the Carribbean.  It was bustling with activity.

The Goodman Center has been our home away from home these past few days.  I took a few minutes to sketch this before I ran off to join the rest of the artists at our final sketching spot.

I have a few more quick sketches that I did that I will post tomorrow. Overall, it was a great experience.’

Urban sketchers Symposium Day 2

The sketch subject below is on Congress Pkwy just East of Michigan Ave.  This sculpture is beautiful.  It is designed as a trellis for vines so that her skirt will fill out with plant life…so far, she just has a few leaves.


I moved on to the Plaza where the native American sculpture was holding court.   My friends were focused on his “six pack” butt.  

The Buckingham Fountain


The London House…..in Chicago……oookay.  I had to rush through the end of this one because I had run out of time….