Paper and Threads

Last week was a blur of food shopping, cooking, cleaning up, fixing leftovers, and lots of time with wonderful family and friends.  I literally didn't think about a blog post until I was awakened at 4:10 this morning by someone who called the wrong number from California. 

I was finished with my figure painting in my FIT class last week and spent the session doing a "portrait" of the model. 

My painting is still in the FIT Studio for our critique session tonight, so I haven't photographed it.  I'm not thrilled with the painting, but I am achieving my goal of learning how to better use acrylic paints.  I still love pen, ink, and watercolor sketchbook art, but I believe it is a good idea to shake up my brain on a regular basis, and my two acrylic painting classes have done that.

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Our trip to Montjuic, specifically to visit Fundacio Joan Miro:

We were surprised that the Metro connected directly to the funicular and disappointed that it was also in a tunnel all the way to the top.  But when we got to the exit, we had beautiful views of the City.

An early Miro painting and one of my favorites.  I sketched it in the Museum and then painted it from a photo.

One of several Miro sculptures around the Garden.

Drawing what was in front of me!  While having coffee in the outdoor Café garden I sketched the part of the Miro museum building that was in my view. 

It was a beautiful day and there were many wonderful Miro Sculptures on the outdoor patios on the upper floor of the beautiful building. 

We had a lovely visit and walked all the way back to Eixample from the Funicular exit, stopping at Placa Reial yet again for a late afternoon glass of wine.

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I came home from Barcelona with a sketchbook full of ink drawings, but only half of them were painted.  There weren't enough hours in the day!  But I did have phone photos to use for my watercolor washes.  This is the Gracias Clock Tower - which sits in a lovely village square in Gracias, within walking distance of our hotel.  There were children playing and adults sitting on benches, but we were on a much longer walk so we sat for only a few minutes to enjoy the ambience.

Our hotel staff didn't recommend that we walk to Gaudi's Park Guell, but we reminded them that we are New Yorkers and my husband takes 4-5 mile walks around Central Park several times each week.  But we had an online reservation for entry so we couldn't stop for more than a few minutes along the way.  This is the view of the Park from halfway up the hill.  The little heads you see above the columns are sitting on the serpentine bench that are a created from gorgeous broken ceramic tiles (trencadis). 

The back of the bench - photo just because I loved the colors and design! 

We sat on a bench in the shade while I sketched the top of one of the two gingerbread houses at the main entrance of the park.

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This is a huge art exhibit month in New York City.  In addition to the Fall Museum Exhibits, there are terrific gallery shows, and the huge auction previews.  Both Sotheby's and Christies now have combined auction previews for Impressionist /Modern and Post-War/Contemporary that last in each auction house for more than a week.  During my visit to Gagosian Gallery's exhibit "Nudes" and both Auction Gallery Previews I sketched pieces of sculpture that I liked and photographed many paintings that inspired me.

Matisse Sculpture at Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue:  The balance achieved in this life-size sculpture was fascinating.

 Maillot and Degas Sculptures at Sotheby's:  These life-size sculptures were next to each other making it fun to place the drawings together.

 Mbole Figure from the Congo:

 Moore Sculpture from Christies:  I love the family series of sculptures done by Moore and this one was very small and just right for my sketchbook drawing of the day.   

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Kraft-Tex is a combination paper/fabric product and like Ultrasuede, it doesn't ravel.  I took a half-day class with Australian Quilt Artist Cecile Whatman and had an opportunity to try it with many media.  Cecile brought a book she made, using Kaft-Tex as the cover.  It is a sturdy product and she said the book cover was simple to make decorate, and machine sew.  It is currently available in natural, white, black, gray, and brown and is distributed by C & T.

She used a tree stencil and dilate acrylic spray for the overall design.  The purple/blue square is painted and embossed Kraft-Tex, and the black images and text were transferred with TAP (see previous blog post). 

When Kraft-Tex is washed it becomes more like a leather, and it is softer and can be used more like fabric.  This is a piece that I washed by hand and dried twice and you can see the difference in the texture.  Cecile once washed a piece with 20 of her regular washes.

I spent our "playtime" trying many media on sample size pieces of Kraft Tex. 

1.  Blue acrylic stencil images, then gold Lumiere Acrylic painted over a Gelli plate and combed before printing.

2.  Stencils sprayed with dilute acrylic paint (2).

3.  Gold Lumiere acrylic paint on a Gelli plate - then lifted with a rubbing plate before printing. 

4.  Stamped, then Inktense pencils - leaf painted with water mixed with textile or matte medium diluted 1:5 to make the color permanent.

5.  Center image made with Shiva oil paintstick.   Then the piece was foiled using the following adhesives:  Adhesive thread, Misty Fuse pulled apart slightly, and Bonash adhesive granules.

6.  My watercolor paints - painted on and then dripped. 

The Kraft-Tex comes in rolls that are 1.5 yds long and 18" wide. 

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