Paper and Threads

Each year I wait for the "dinner plate" hibiscus to bloom in Wagner Park.  They are beautiful and completely fill some of the flower beds.  These three color variants were drawn on Wednesday August 16th as I passed through the Park on my way to Figure Al Fresco.

When I walked through the Park on August 23rd, many of the usual flowers were blooming.  But there was one white iris, and I surrounded it with other flowers I've already painted. 

Summer will soon be over in NYC and I will need to think about practicing tree drawings and paintings as the scenery shifts.  I recently watched Shari Blaukopf's Craftsy Landscape Class to try to build up some enthusiasm for these types of drawings/paintings.  We'll see what happens.... 

Posted by Shirley at 6:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We have 2, 5, 10, and 20 minute poses in the Battery Park City Figure Drawing sessions on Wednesdays.  I love the challenge of drawing quickly, and the 2 minute pose drawings are almost the most lively of the afternoon.  Here are 4 of them from this week.  I used a Sketch and Wash soluble graphite pencil, and then slopped water on parts of the drawings.

Posted by Shirley at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I always describe myself as a City Mouse.  My childhood home was in NJ, 20 miles outside of NYC.  My college was in a City in mid-Jersey. and then I lived in Philadelphia, Chicago, San Diego and San Antonio prior to moving to New York City 25 years ago.  I love drawing in cities, and almost never want to draw a landscape.  We were at a wedding in NY State, approximately 80 miles north of the City, this past weekend, and I forced myself to paint the view from the back deck of the home we stayed in.  Today I'm posting an ink drawing from the NW corner of Bryant Park, and the landscape that I painted in Callicoon NY. 

Posted by Shirley at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Wednesday afternoons, from May through October, there are models for outdoor figure drawing in Battery Park City South Cove.  Last week Claudia was our model and I especially like her short poses - they are a great challenge.  She wore a halter top and jean shorts, and posed in the middle of a circle of the 40+ artists.  Each of these 2 minute poses were drawn with a 6B graphite pencil on newsprint.  I was pleased with my attempts and decided to post these warm-up poses instead of the ones I did in 5 and 10 minutes.

Posted by Shirley at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two of our grandchildren live in Washington DC, and when the oldest was born I started a sketchbook to record daily events when we were visiting her.  Pages were created for local places and important activities, and "stuff.  "I'm now on volume 2 and here are the two latest pages.  When Annabelle was visiting us in NYC she fell in love with a stuffed animal that was part of the menagerie that accumulated in our apartment when our NYC grandchildren were younger.  She took the pug, which she named Dash, back to DC, and brought Paddington back for her younger brother.  We were there two days and I painted their two newest "lovies" in my DC sketchbook.

XXX

Posted by Shirley at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)