Paper and Threads

I try to sketch in my journal daily and love documenting some aspect of my day in my sketchbook, although some days I have nothing much happening and just sketch for practice.  Here are a few of my recent pages, as I try to vary the compositions.

Making a Few More Magnetic Bookmarks from Watercolor Paper - and writing extensively about the project on the page:

Houston Intercontinental Airport:  A requisite airport journal page, at the end of my recent trip to Quilt Festival in Houston.  I was afraid that this airport cart driver would return before I finished the sketch, so I worked REALLY FAST.

An Afternoon Recycling Old Books with Watercolor Paper:

I was teaching an afternoon workshop to 3 of my art buddies using the method outlined here, and we all finished one book over the course of 3+ hours.

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Six years ago, when our first grandchild was born, I bought a very small Halloween book from the holiday table at Barnes and Noble.  It is shaped like this pumpkin, outlined in black, and the front cover is made from very soft velour and then stuffed.  It is a favorite with each one of our grandchildren - probably based on size, texture, color and a very simple story of children "trick or treating."  It remains in our book cabinet all year and is enjoyed by them regardless of the season.  The bat, witch's hat, black cat, and ghost are images I sketched from the book illustrations.  The vertical black lines are another experiment in varying the backgrounds of my drawings

I don't know what number this EDM Challenge is - #245 or 246 depending on whether the Free Choice last week was assigned a number. 

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I did several "play" exercises before I left last week for the Quilt Festival. 

Prepainting a Page Background: Roz http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/roz_wound_up/ recommends prepainting the background on some pages in your sketchbook and then just drawing and painting over it.  I prepainted every other double-page spread in my first sketchbook (2003) based on exercises derived from the Gwen Diehn book The Decorated Page, but have not done it since.  My daughter found a new leather pencil case for me and I wanted to draw it with one of each category of tool I carry in it.  To make the background more interesting, I decided to prepaint it, let it dry, and then proceed with my drawing.

Anatomy for Action Figure Drawing:  Angela Gair and Anthony Colbert, in their book The Sketchbook Kit, recommend that you "amuse yourself by drawing little sketches that show how the skeleton moves, in order to understand how the joints operate."  I love this concept and finally tried drawing their little skeletons, just in time for Halloween.

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Procion MX Dye Stock Solutions:

I use Procion MX dyes to "paint" cotton and silk and keep the primary color stock solutions (plus black) in the refrigerator - tightly capped and way in the back on a bottom shelf.   I made this batch two years ago and put them away to use again.  But for a variety of reasons, I haven't dyed another piece of cloth since then - and forgot about them.

I'm off to the Houston Quilt Festival tomorrow morning, to learn more surface design techniques and have a mini-vacation.  This is the 35th anniversary of Festival and my 25th year as a registrant.   My sketchbook will go with me and hopefully I'll at least have some sketches of conference participants in their colorful clothes when I come home. 

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I went to my second figure drawing session last evening at the New York Society of Illustrators with my friend Istar.  On Tuesday evenings the models are nude, on Thursday evenings the models may wear parts of costumes.  I wanted to experience both - and liked both evenings equally well.  The setting is wonderful and there is live music during the entire 3 hours.  I came home with 9 two minute, 4 five minute, 2 ten minute, and 3 twenty minute sketches.  I'm just going to post examples of each.

The models posed with multiple hula hoops - the male model in yellow harem pants and the female model in a red bra and black leggings.  The addition of the hoops made the 2 minute sketches more difficult, but fun.

Two models and a hula hoop even made 5 minute sketches a challenge.

I wanted to remember the costumes in this 10 minute sketch and colored parts with watercolor pencils - but the paper didn't take water well and buckled slightly.  For this pose, he put on a black hat and soft ball necklace and she put on an umbrella hat.  And she really did have dyed shocking pink hair!

A ten minute pose, with one sitting and one standing - and in different costumes:

Both disrobed, but the male model wore his black hat and brown boots for the final 20 minute sketch.  I continue to have trouble fitting everything on the page when I'm working quickly (just one more thing to work on in 2010!), so you can't see his boots.

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I love to copy drawings from the Masters when I find one in a museum exhibit that really speaks to me. 

I have a book of Delacroix pastels and love his drawings/pastels/watercolors from Morocco.  When I saw several originals in a recent exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I decided that I needed to visit the New York Public Library to see the book Delacroix in Morocco (which is out of print and really expensive).  While there, I sketched this figure, took a digital photo of the print in the book, and then painted it at home. 

I loved a drawing by Dutch artist Jacob Backer (1608-1651) which hangs in the current Vermeer exhibit at the Met and returned for a second 30 minute visit just to do this sketch.  The small original is on light blue paper with black and white chalk, but I did mine in sepia watercolor pencil, in case I decided to "paint" the drawing at any time.

Tonight I am going to my second figure drawing session at the Society of Illustrators and did the following 90 second posemaniacs.com drawings as a warm-up.  These figures are computer generated and are frequently in tortured positions, but they change randomly every 90 seconds so I can't think much about what I'm drawing which is great practice. 

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I was very lazy about doing EDM Challenges last month and even worse about uploading them to my blog.  I finally decided to post them all at once - and catch up.  One of my annual art goals is to complete each weekly sketch because it:

1. Gives me a subject for one of my daily sketches each week.

2. Stretches my drawing and painting skills.  

 EDM Challenges #238 - Draw Your First Aid Kit - and #239 - Draw What Has Scared You

My husband and I are both physicians so we have First Aid items in random places in our apartment.  When thinking about this challenge, I immediately remembered my Aircasts - one for my right ankle and one for my left ankle.  I had two very serious ankle sprains due to mis-steps and the use of an aircast allowed me to walk within 24-48 hours and continue to heal during 3-4 months each time.  I live in a City where walking is really essential - my car is parked 3 blocks away from our apartment and the nearest bus and subway stop are both one long block away each.  I was really scared after my first serious ankle injury after moving back to Manhattan, because I realized how easily I could be apartment-bound.

EDM Challenge #240: My Favorite Pencils 

EDM Challenge #241:  Draw the View from Your Kitchen Window

This is my usual view - a beautiful stained glass window approximately 15 feet away, with lovely concerts that I can enjoy when both of our windows are open.

This is my current view.  There is work being done on our apartment building and there is a scaffold below the church window and a board protecting it.  I miss it!

EDM Challenge #242:  Draw a Favorite Tchatzkah 

I could find nothing around our apartment except my figure drawing mannequin.  I collect books and fabric and try to keep  tchatzkahs to a minimum.

EDM Challenge #243: Draw a Pillow

I love fabric and frequently bring back an interesting piece when we travel.  This is a pillow that I made with a piece of Fortuny fabric that I bought in Venice.  The fabric has an overall design of lions - only one of which I sketched.

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