Paper and Threads

While Callum was drawing two skylines during our adventure last week, I also sketched but then didn't paint each page until this past weekend (See last post for Callums drawing of the Freedom Tower).  I finished both drawings over the weekend and now post them, along with a few highlight photographs.

World Trade Center 1: Freedom Tower - with nearby construction on another WTC building.  

My photo of the Freedom Tower from the base.   

A sketch of the Jersey City skyline from our walk up the Battery Park City Esplanade.  There were lots of benches in the shade, and Cal and I sketched, and discussed perspective while my husband finished the NY Times Crosswaord Puzzle.  Cal abandoned his drawing so we could discuss drawing 3D boxes viewed first from the top and then the bottom.  His curiosity and joy make my day.

My photo of the Santiago Calatrava Oculus, which is part of the new Transit hub.  I still think that it looks like it was "stuffed" between the Freedom Tower and 9/11 Memorial.   The retail mall, which extends around the inside of the Oculus on two levels, just opened!

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The Museum of Jewish Heritage, in Wagner Park, is great to draw.  This is actually part of the back of the Museum that I walk by when going to South Cove for figure drawing.  

We try to spend time with one just one grandchild when we can schedule a full day.  Yesterday was our long awaited day with Cal, who asked about a visit to the Seaglass Carousel and the Oculus for at least the last 3-4 months.  We caught him between summer sleepaway camp and the rest of his vacation!  Yesterday morning I divided a sketchbook page with 1/4" artist tape and prepainted the background.  Then I added quick drawings as we progressed through our day. 

We began with rides on the Carousel, then walked around Battery Park for lunch at Pier A.  The view of the Freedom Tower (WTC1) is great when looking north up West St. and we stopped to draw it as we left the restaurant.  

Cal likes to draw and we stopped several times during the day to draw in our sketchbooks while Grandpa worked on the NY Times crossword puzzle.  This was his quick sketch of the Freedom Tower.

The rest of our adventure included Brookfield Place and a Virtual Reality Movie about bringing water to Ethiopia, the 9/11 Memorial pools, the Freedom Tower up close, and the exterior and interior of the Santiago Calatrava Oculus.   

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I find drawing hands and feet to be very difficult, and years ago began a self-imposed practice of drawing both from photos found in magazines and catalogues.  My most recent drawings are of two hands together.  At figure drawing sessions, there is rarely enough time to devote to either in any detail, but occasionally I am able to focus on a hand or foot, and slowly I'm improving.  Both of these pages were drawn with a colored pencil on cold press paper.

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On an incredibly hot day in NYC, there was wind in BPC - wonderful outdoor sketching weather. 

These are three 5 mniute poses, each drawn with A General Sketch and Wash pencil and then shaded with a water brush.

I rarely can keep sketching through a 20 minute pose, so in both of these I sketched one or more artists in the background.   

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During our walk through Battery Park City, Annabelle, Zach, and I each sketched one of the dinner-plate hibiscus blooms.  It took me a few days to finally paint it.

We took Annabelle back home on Sunday, after her week with us in NYC, and her brother was very happy to see her.  I sketched this from a photo taken by our son.     

Last week I took Annabelle to see the revival of CATS, and the morning after she arrived home she made herself CAT's ears on a headband, and then dressed all in black to be a cat.  I was able to get her to pose for me in her costume while she was watching Cats videos and listening to the original CATS cast album.  I think she really liked it! 

Before we came home my husband and I went to see the 75th Anniversary Exhibit at the National Gallery -" A Lasting Legacy - Paintings and Sculptures from the Paul Mellon Collection."  These are works of art on paper that are exhibited infrequently and I loved seeing them.   I chose one drawing to copy in the Museum and photographed a few others for practice.  This is a self-portrait done by Henri Matisse. 

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