There were people all over daffodil hill, and I walked to another spot to do another painting. This one was smaller, but had all the same ingredients plus some of the huge rocks on the left that people love to climb.
Watercolors by Joan 2
Saturday, April 27, 2024
New York Botanical Gardens - Part 2
Friday, April 26, 2024
New York Botanical Gardens - Part 1
Last weekend my friend, Susan and I decided to go to the New York Botanical Gardens. We are sharing a "senior dual membership" and as long as you visit twice, you come out ahead. The NYC Urban Sketchers were going to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens but from experience we know that gets much too crowded on weekends when the cherry trees are in bloom. The gardens in the Bronx are much larger so the crowds are spread out much more.
Another friend of ours who we haven't seen in a long time (probably before Covid) was going to be there in the morning because her son takes a nature class there on Saturdays. Elaine dropped him off for the class, and we all sketched by the Conservatory until she had to pick him up. It was great to catch up with her after such a long time.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Printmaking
It seems like my art groups are getting me involved in printmaking. Last week the South Bay Art Association did gelli prints at our monthly meeting. I haven't done any in a long time so it was fun to play around with them. Luckily I brought my own brayer and some supplies, because the brayers they supplied were soft foam and didn't work well. Some of the members had done gelli prints before but the members who hadn't tried it before were a little lost. There was really no instruction, so I tried to help the members near me who looked lost. It wasn't a really conducive atmosphere to do prints because of the crowd, but we had fun talking and seeing some of the results people got.
Here are the three prints I made.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Sayville Beach Commission
Back in March I was contacted by a young couple who bought a few of my watercolors at The Catbird Seat in Sayville. They loved my work and asked me to do a commission of Sayville Beach. I asked them what view they wanted and suggested that if they were going to be in the area that they send me a photo of the view they wanted. So they did, and explained that this view was where he had proposed to her. They also sent me a photo of the proposal. They wanted the painting to look like summer, and gave me the freedom to move things around or add things to make the painting look better. But they did want the remnants of the docks that were in the water. Of course it couldn't be done on location, but I did my best and met with them last week to give them the painting. They were thrilled! I think this is the 6th painting of mine that they have now, because they bought another one of mine that they had seen online.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Planting Fields Arboretum - Day 2
When I woke up on Tuesday and saw that we had another beautiful day, I called Suzala and told her I would meet her at the Arboretum. I knew I couldn't go on Wednesday, so it was best to get there while I could. This time I painted the view into the walled garden. Again the cherry trees were just amazing!
Monday, April 22, 2024
Planting Fields Arboretum - Day 1
My friend, Suzala wanted to go painting last Monday because it was supposed to be such a wonderful day weather-wise. She suggested going back to Camusett Park, but I thought that was too far. I get caught in too much traffic heading east after 3:00 so I prefer to be closer. I suggested going to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I told her there should be cherry trees in bloom and buildings too. It was spectacular! I painted this cherry tree with the greenhouse behind it. In addition to my regular watercolors I used watercolor crayons to give this a little more texture.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
City Trip
Last Sunday I made a solo trip into the city. The American Watercolor Society Show was going on at the Salmagundi Club, and it is one of my favorite exhibits. Since I was going in by train I did a sketch on the LIRR going in. This lady had such bright red hair (dyed).