Paint the great South Bay

Paint the Great South Bay

| Gina Lento

It’s that time of year again where I am the chairperson for an annual plein air event. I get to participate but I am obviously not eligible for prizes but that’s ok. When my paintings sell, that’s prize enough for me.

As typical with plein air, there are adventures to tell. Several storms this week, one really was a humdinger.

The first painting was not making me happy so I totally reworked it to the one you see below.

The next painting was completed from the rooftop of the Village Walk Assisted Living facility. They are great people and they really participate in community activities.

We had a model on Wednesday, but we had about an hour and 20 min to work and then another storm rolled in and we had to pack it in. I went back yesterday to do the background and I used the photo reference that I took to finish. This isn’t eligible to hang in the gallery but I am glad I finished this one.

I also took pictures of the artists painting the model.

Last but not least, today’s Quick Draw painting where we get three hours to work on a painting. This actually took me less than 2.

I am exhausted.

Roof top Kitty

| Gina Lento

This evening, for Paint the Great South Bay, we were given access to a rooftop so we could paint. It was awesome and we had a whole new view to paint.

Here is my painting from this evening, with the clips on….

Here is the postcard print for my mom with kitty added…..kitty is a little hard to find.

Last Alive After Five of the summer

| Gina Lento

Tonight brings the summer to a sad close….yes, we still have a little over a week to Labor Day, but tonight was the final AA5 of the summer☹️.

This is also the week of Paint the Great South Bay. So far it has rained, I was swarmed by flies and bit by a yellow jacket. (Little bastard died for that one.)

I was out painting this evening and did this painting

And took a photo and turned it into a postcard for my mom (see if you can find kitty)

I had a rough week which led to a lot of this

Here is my set up and you can see how the painting came together….

More to come!

Paint the Great South Bay Quick Draw 

| Gina Lento

Today was quick draw day.   I checked the artists in and stamped their canvases/paper in front of the Patchogue Theater.  It was a good morning for painting!  The artists were given a timed painting session from 9 am and had to be back by 12 pm to be judged.

 Because I was doing administrative work, I decided to paint in front of the theater with a cleaner medium, casein.   So my view across the street was Kilwin’s, a much welcome addition to Patchogue.  And easy on the eyes, if you like ice cream and chocolate…

Once everyone checked in, I set to work sketching out my underpainting, then proceeded to lay in the paint.  Cars kept switching spots so I waited for a car that would be there a while.  

Finally, one lady parked in front and put money in meter.  Ha! Jackpot!  I asked her if she was going to be there long, and, seeing me with an easel, her cranky pants response was “At least 2 hours!” 

“Perfect!” I said, “I’ll paint your car!”  So I added her car to the painting.

I finished the painting at 11:58, lol.

I used a plastic palette today for the casein,  freaking awesome idea, wish Inhad thought of it sooner….here are photos of the painting and the tubes of casein..thank you Richeson company!  Love casein!

Catch

| Gina Lento

This took me two sessions to paint because when you paint outside, the light is always changing.  Plus painting with oils is not like painting with pastels, pastels are more forgiving.  So I went back two days later when the light was the same and finished it.  I don’t normally work in oils but I like to challenge myself.  Here is the painting I did of “Catch,” a restaurant in our Village.

Fire Island Lighthouse

| Gina Lento

A bunch of us went out this evening to paint on Fire Island.  We dragged our gear down toward the lighthouse.   It was a beautiful evening.  It was supposed to rain but the clouds blew away and left us with a juicy golden lit lighthouse.  A lot of us painted the lighthouse and it was amazing how everyone all had a different approach which resulted in many different ways to paint a lighthouse, lol.

So here is my painting of the Fire Island Lighthouse….

 

Painting in a boatyard

| Gina Lento

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!

| Gina Lento

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

| Gina Lento

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.