Paper and Threads

                                                     Couldn't just draw one!

My husband and I cook a big Thanksgiving Dinner for our family and friends.  It is a marathon of cooking all day Wednesday and Thursday.  Over the last 15 years, the champagne and hors d'oeuvres portion has grown to 3 hours, followed by soup, turkey plus stuffing, veggies, rice, and dessert, for a total of 5-6 hours.  We love to do it, but increasingly need several days to rest up afterwards.

This year we only had this morning to rest because two of our children and their families were moving.  I went to my daughter's apartment and helped unpack the 3 children's bedrooms so they had someplace to sleep.  My husband went to our son's apartment to help them hook up their TVs. 

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Suddenly we heard a large crash, then the sound of glass breaking - right in front of our apartment window.  When we went to look, there was already a huge crowd gathering and several observers taking cell phone photos of the large lamp post which had fallen across the Avenue.  Traffic was completely stopped and the fire engines had difficulty threading their way through the cars to reach the site.  This fire truck was parked in front of our window for 5-10 minutes and it took me at least one minute to decide that I needed my sketchbook. 

This is part of a homework assignment for Danny's Illustrated Journaling class.  I already sketched my medicine cabinet for an EDM challenge, so I decided to sketch my art shelf in the library.  This is where I keep my pencilcase (containing pencils, pens, and 4 waterbrushes), paints, and random art books of drawings by the masters that I use for inspiration and practice.  When I learned that Danny was teaching his first class, I thought it would be fun for me to take it to "shake things up a little."  I do a daily sketch already and just need a little boost and time for reflection about my Art Goals for 2009. 

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I have my annual grandchildren's cold that went into sinus congestion.  This is my journal page documenting the event.

I routinely did the EDM challenges this year until I had to rely on photos for a baked potato or rope.  Those are on hold.  But I had no problem finding a remote - this is just one of 3 cable remotes from Time-Warner in our apartment.  And if I wanted one less complex, I could even have sketched the one for our window air conditioner.  That one baffles me!

This is a huge volunteer weekend for us every year as Goddard Riverside Community Center sponsors their annual Book Fair - during which new books are donated by the publishing companies in Manhattan and sold for half-price at Columbus and W.88th St.  I am off to work as a voluteer at the cookbook table again in a few minutes, but wanted to upload these before the whole weekend is over.

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I still haven't seen a baked potato or rope in my world, so I'm uploading a few sketchbook pages instead of catching up with EDM challenges.

Our Book Group read Moveable Feast - and I found my old copy which I read in 1988.  The wine glass is for the amount consumed by Hemingway and his friends in the "Lost Generation" and the wine that I drank during our discussion.

I crawled into bed at 10:45 and still wanted to fill a journal page - so my rocker next to the bed became my focus.

After a full day with my two 3 year old grandchildren, I sat quietly in my usual evening seat and painted the view in the room that I love.  During the year that my daughter and her family lived in London, my husband and I decided to combine all Christmas, birthday, and anniversary presents to each other and bring home this lovely sculpture of a young woman reading a book.  She remains very precious to me.

On Saturday, we took our oldest grandchild, now 5 1/2, to the Museum of Modern Art and he was thrilled and mesmerized by the children's audio that they have for multiple paintings.  Here he is with the audioguide to his ear, listening multiple times to the wonderful information and music provided directly at his level.  He first learned about Picasso's Three Musicians from the children's program "Little Einsteins."  Also favorites that afternoon were paintings by Matisse, Chagall, and especially Rousseau's Dream.

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I still try to draw and paint several figures and faces each month.  These are 3 of my journal pages from November.

 My 3 year old grandchildren walking through Central Park.  They were running most of the time and I had trouble even getting a picture.

I'm always thrilled when I can draw a figure with a face.  This was drawn from a photo in a magazine.

My friend sent me a book of Delacroix's pastels and this drawing was inspired by his pastel entitled Seated Arab in Striped Burnouse.  I'm now inspired to search for Delacroix's Moroccan sketchbook.

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