Paper and Threads

I now have a wonderful sketchbook sent to me by my friend Maureen.  She added an outline of a left hand on the cover - my injured wrist - and added words on the spine re: drawings by my non-dominant hand.  I'll photograph it and post it here soon.  For now I am posting my 3 drawings done yesterday, in my kitchen, after breakfast.  I am starting with objects from my environment, and have no idea where it will lead me.  Hopefully I'll be out of the apartment more next week.

In the top drawing I was concentrating on shapes, and after making the lines of circles, I decided to add a profile to make it my hair, since it is my main failure as I approach life with a wrist fracture.  

These were all drawn of !/4 size sheets of copy paper because I need low stakes drawing experiences as I begin this project.  I'm not ready to draw in my new book yet.  Maybe tomorrow.... 

Posted by Shirley at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I now have a cool cast for my Colles Wrist Fracture.  The white portion is a gortex liner against my skin.  The cast is black - what else for a New Yorker?  It goes with our black clothes!  My major problem is my inability to comb, curl, or twist up my hair with a clippie.  My husband is learning how to put an elastic on for a pony tail, and that is as far as we've gotten.

Thanks for all of the comments yesterday regarding my wrist fracture.  So many "art friends" recommended drawing with my non-dominant hand, and I decided it was worth a try.  My Grandson and I spent several hours looking at my Family History Binders because he wanted to know how I found the information.  Then he wanted to draw, so I joined him. 

Here are my first attempts- drawn on scrap paper with ink.  I went slowly, drawing random objects in the dining room, one photo of a model, and some letters.

I love drawing on these copy paper scraps (1/4th of a sheet) because I have no expectation.  I will enjoy looking through my bookbinding books to find a fun way to keep them together for this period of time.   

Posted by Shirley at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Several years ago I discovered that I really like contemporary Southeast Asian Art and during Asia Week there are auction previews at the NYC auction houses for this specific type of art.  The auctions are taking place this week, and my friends and I went to the Preview at Sotheby's last Friday.  I love the paintings by B. Prabha (1933-2001) and painted one of her paintings and a detail of another.  Please ignore my difficulties remembering how to spell her name.

There were 3 drawings of dancers by Shiavax Chavda (1914-1990), and I sketched one to try to learn how he achieved such great movement in his drawing.

I draw and paint from the Masters for two reasons: 

1.  I want to have a sketchbook page that represents that day in my visual sketchbook, and at least one artwork I loved.

2.  I learn so much by reproducing lines and their watercolor palette.   

Posted by Shirley at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Juilliard Jazz Orchestra - A drawing done while we were listening to the Jazz Orchestra play at Juilliard - always a delightful experience.  My days got away from me and I decided not to paint the page.

Art on Paper - An annual weekend art show on Pier 36 in NYC.  I always enjoy the variety of artworks displayed and like to find one piece that I want to draw in my sketchbook to remember the day.  This Picasso print was in John Szoke's booth, and it gave me an opportunity to use my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.

Wine bottles at Tartinery - After the exhibit my husband and I walked through the Lower East Side to Little Italy for a mid-afternoon lunch.  We sat at the bar to eat and I sketched the wine bottles in front of me.  I just watched the second week of the first Strathmore 2018 online art program, and wanted to use masking fluid for the glass reflections.  I used the squeeze bottle type of masking fluid, which I last used one year ago and the color had changed from light blue to green.  After removing the mask, the green color remained on the paper!  I need to go back to my Winsor-Newton masking fluid. 

Posted by Shirley at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hibernate many days during January, partly because of the weather, and partly because I'm thinking about new projects.  In January 2013 I did elephant drawings and paintings using every tool/medium I had in the apartment.  I used videos of elephants for most of my drawings - pausing at images I liked.

This remains one of my favorite elephants made that month.  It is a collage created using the method of Eric Carle and previously made paste paper. 

http://www.eric-carle.com/EricCarleCollageMakingInstructionSheet.pdf 

Within the last several days my son linked to this elephant video and I can't stop smiling.  I decided to republish my favorite elephant so I can share the video  fun.  Hope you enjoy it too. 

https://twitter.com/Jahkotta/status/972885306868314112 

Posted by Shirley at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)