Painting in a boatyard

It was a cool, grey day.  Some friends and I popped over to a local boatyard to paint.  It was an interesting place and full of local history.  I walked around a bit.  Looks different from this side, usually I am sketching this location from the other side of Patchogue River.  I decided on this old building…..I wanted to do the whole building but it worked better this way.  As I was painting it, my friend Joan informed me that this was the restroom section of the building….niiiccee….so here is my painting of the potties…..

I will sketch for ice cream!

One of the Paint the Great South Bay’s mini challenges was a sketch hour at Kilwin’s of Patchogue.  The owner, John, offered the PGSB artists a free ice cream in trade for a sketch in his shop.  Hell yeah!  I was there, John and I have been on a strict eating and exercise plan but I was taking the night off for a Kilwin’s ice cream. We had an hour to complete the sketch.

This is my sketch that I turned in for an ice cream…these chocolate covered cookies looked yummy!

Paint the Great South Bay Nocturnal painting

Today was the first day of Paint the Great South Bay.    The artists participating in this event have all this week to paint and then choose their best two paintings to hang in the wet paint show and sale on Sunday, September 3rd.   The first organized painting event for this week was a nocturnal event this evening.  It was a great night for painting…. here is my painting from this evening….I liked the lights in the window of the church steeple so I chose it as my subject.

Eclipse day sketch

Sketched this in Princeton today.  I didn’t expect a crowd today but people seemed to be congregating from all over to watch the eclipse.  I thought the kids were back to school until I found out that Princeton doesn’t start until September.  Some very nice people let me view the eclipse through their glasses.  It was pretty cool.


This is a sketch I did using my left hand….

Sketches from the past two days

I attended the Festival del Amor last evening in Patchogue.  It was a very nice event with various activities but the highlight for me was the flamenco dancers….I don’t normally have a chance to sketch them so last evening was a treat….it’s not easy to sketch moving targets so J am only posting two of the more complete sketches of the dancers.


I also did a collage sketch which included a mock Yellow Submarine that can actually drive.  It’s a battery powered ELF car; it’s a cross between a bike and a golf cart. 


Also included are my sketches of today’s outing in Oyster Bay (yes, the place will Billy Joel lives) with the NYC Urban Sketchers.  It was a great location!


My sketch of the Oyster Bay Brewing Company has a permanent home with OB Brewing Co….

Alive After Five #4 2017

This evening was the last Alive After Five for the season….there was no model this evening so I was finally able to sketch this purple truck…..I meant to add more people to the sketch but it got dark pretty quickly….it isn’t a food truck, it’s clothes on wheels….

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….