Strathmore 400 series toned grey sketchbook

Recent sketches out and about

| Gina Lento

This past Wednesday I went out with my sketch club to sketch at the local bowling alley.


Yesterday, I went into the city to sketch with the NYC Urban Sketchers.  We were sketching several alleged haunted houses.  The first one is a Colonial style home that was once a speakeasy. It is the home of the Gay Street Phantom.


Haunted house #2 was a fail because itnwas behind scaffolding so some of us sketched the historical home of Emma Lazarus.  You know, she wrote the poem on the plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, 

With conquering limbs astride from land to land; 

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand 

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame 

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name 

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand 

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command 

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. 

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she 

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, 

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

So there is your history lesson for the day….


It was getting pretty chilly and by midday, most of us were getting cold.  We went to Washington Square for lunch.  I sketched the church on the left  because I was too cold to eat.


The page on the right was our final stop on the tour de Haunted houses.  This Haunted Fire House in NYC is where a fireman hung himself because he caught his wife cheating on him.  Firemen used to see him his ghost, oh wait, excuse me, he was an “apparition American.” Anderson Cooper lives here now. Which probably explains the white hair.  John says that Anderson Cooper is probably the ghost.

Inktober sketches Days 2-5

| Gina Lento

 I really didn’t want to do Inktober again because I already have a daily sketching habit.  I had to come up with something new to make it fun for me.  So, my personal Inktober challenge is to add a 5 minute timed sketch to my morning routine. This way, no matter HOW the day went, I still did one sketch. 

 This also helps to break any artist’s blocks for me and it starts the day in the right direction.  I would recommend the 5 minute exercise to anyone looking to establish a daily creative habit. 5 minutes is a baby step in the right direction and anyone can spare 5 minutes a day.  Some people get hung up on the sketch being perfect.  It’s only a sketch!  Perfectionism is a form of procrastination and avoidance or basically, just another excuse people use to not follow through.  Sketching for 5 minutes can make all the difference in your skill level. If you get too hung up on being perfect, you’ll never finish anything. So set a timer and get stuff done!

Here are days 2-5…there also suggested prompts.  Sometimes I follow the prompt, sometimes I don’t….



Eclipse day sketch

| Gina Lento

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

| Gina Lento

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

| Gina Lento

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

| Gina Lento

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

| Gina Lento

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

| Gina Lento

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

| Gina Lento

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!