Paper and Threads

My friend Melanie Testa and I went to the Society of Illustrators Figure Drawing session last week - and enjoyed a 3-piece jazz combo, a glass of red wine, and 3 hours with 2 models for every pose.  One of the models was new to me - and was the tallest and thinnest I sketched there.  It took me awhile to get used to the thinness of her extremities and seemed to draw her, rather than the other model during each pose.  Here is one 5 minute sketch, two 10 minute sketches, and two 20 minute sketches.  In the last drawing, I added the second, seated model, as an afterthought and she probably should be larger.

See Melanie's blog for her sketches from the session.  She is also posting them today.

I met Melanie just over a year ago and love having someone to share art, surface design and quilting, and bookbinding with.  This was our first Live Figure Drawing together, although we regularly sketch around New York City, and work on projects with our Journal Study Group.

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I still sketch from Carla Sonheim's book Drawing Lab, and hope to finish all 52 exercises by the end of Winter.  I periodically post some of my 100 Faces (Lab 16), but have only completed  36/100.  I have a zipper pouch with cards cut from watercolor paper, pencil, pen, eraser, 8 watercolor pencils, and a watercolor brush that I carry with me when I know I might have a chance for a live Face Drawing.  I'll post a picture of my great pouch with the next batch of faces.

Lab 35:  Browse a magazine and rip out a few pages that speak to you.  Then collage one or more elements to a page and add a sketch around the collages.  I picked up the Sunday NY Times magazine and found this mask/color samples, and didn't want to look for anything else.  It spoke to me!

Lab 37  Instructions for this lab are as follows:  Quickly make a list of 20 things.  Using a random number generator (she provides the URL for one on the web), draw each item in the order that they are "selected" as a random number. 

My list of 20 items is on the left side of the spread.

This was great fun and another one of her terrific methods for making original drawings.

Lab 38:  Sidewalk Crack Drawings

I photographed sidewalk cracks for several months while walking around New York City.  When I finally got to this Lab, I selected a photo, rotated the image on the computer, and finally saw a little lamb.  I should have left out the curb edge (upper left corner) and the bottom of a scaffold support (bottom left corner) - but I hope you can see my lamb anyway.

Katherine Tyrrell, on her blog Making a Mark, posts monthly data re: art book ratings and sales.  I'm not surprised that Drawing Lab remains tops in sales for Drawing Books.  It is a great book if you want to loosen up and have fun - especially with a group.

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I love to create journal pages that reflect my daily life - and post them only occasionally to my blog.  Since I started sketching daily in Jan 2007, I filled 33 sketchbooks in addition to travel sketchbooks and those devoted to figure drawing.  Here are 3 recent daily pages that I like:

I volunteer for Goddard Riverside, a settlement house on the Upper Westside of New York, sorting new books donated by publishers each Fall and then working at the annual Book Fair where the books are sold for 50% or less.  This page was created by sketching the main characters of 3 books that I bought for our grandchildren.

We take our oldest Grandson to 4 NY Philharmonic Young Peoples' Concerts each year and he gets to try instruments in the Kidzone, which is held the hour before the concert.  Last Saturday was a concert on Baroque music and he was able to try the harpsichord, and play a violin (which he does anyway.)  The violinist picture on this page is the image from the Kidzone violin site in Avery Fisher Hall.

I spent last weekend planning and making some Christmas gifts for the children and decided to draw a grid page, in case I want to make some fun foam stamps for the season.

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I make multiple Christmas ornaments each year and just finished those for 2010.  Several years ago I made many images of a Christmas tree in a silk screen workshop by Marit Kucera and just put away the fabric squares in my studio when I came home.  This year I rediscovered them in my studio and designed ornaments for our children and grandchildren to hang on their trees.  

I made 13 total, several with a sparkly fabric overlayer.  After stitching together the fabric with the silk screen, batting, and backing, the trees were turned and machine quilted with gold metallic thread (YLI Kaleidoscope).  I love the sparkle!

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My husband and I cook Thanksgiving dinner for family and friends since moving back to the Northeast in 1993.  Over the years the number of hors d'oeuvres prepared to go with the champagne has increased to 7, but the rest of the menu remains almost fixed.  As with most families, everyone has their own personal favorite dish and it is hard to change any part of the feast.  I do rotate among 6 different soup recipes based on whim, and my daughters-in-law bring the sweet potatoes that they can't live without.

This turkey was drawn from a photo on Wed during one of my cooking breaks. 

On Thursday we put out almost 20 champagne glasses (none for the 5 children!), and to keep them from being mixed up during our long pre-dinner event, I put fobs on each stem.  These are the two that my husband and I used on Thanksgiving.  As the cooks, we wander back and forth among living room, dining room, and kitchen, so we are forever searching for our glasses.  Our guests select their own fob and then just need to remember it for 2-3 hours!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day!  Now onto the rest of the Holiday season.

Next posting:  I finished making my Christmas tree ornaments for our children and grandchildren - another annual event.

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