Paper and Threads

Week 2 of this wonderful online course is "drawing people in motion".  Like Week 1, there are several artists drawing figures in motion demonstrating their specific method for this difficult task.  I draw lots of figures, some in action poses from reference photos, and now from photos I am taking out on the streets of NYC. 

Drawing People in Motion from My Photos: These are the current batch from the sidewalks of NYC.

Drawing People Live:  I also draw people live, sitting in one place, and these don't make me nervous.  These are ones from the bus, or at a restaurant.

Drawing Someone in Constant Motion:  The only time I draw people in constant motion is at concerts.  During week 2 I sketched this wonderful flautist, at a Juilliard Historical Presentation Concert. She played a Bach flute solo, 4 movements, and her entire body continually moved as she bent and straightened her torso along with her playing.  I am still unable to draw figures when their movements are NOT repeated occasionally.

This week, week3, covers foreshortening of the figure.   

Posted by Shirley at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Source:  We converted art photos to half tones, and made photo emulsion screens to print our images.  This is a sketchbook ink and watercolor painting I made many years ago in London.  My two oldest grandchildren, who are now teenagers, were walking in front of us in Hyde park when our one year old granddaughter turned to her 3 year old brother and said "HAND and he obliged!"  I quickly snapped a picture of them, and her monkey, and painted it at home that day.

First 2 Color Screen Print on Fabric

Last 2 Color Screen Print on Fabric

Posted by Shirley at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am taking the 5 week Sketchbook Skool class called People Drawing People.  I go to figure drawing, both nude models and dressed models, and I often draw people on the bus, or subway, restaurants and concerts.  I feel comfortable drawing in these settings.  But I find it very difficult to draw bodies who are really moving - i.e. head, torso, arms, and legs, all at the same time.  For at least a year I've been doing line of action drawings from photos of moving people, but I still lack the confidence to draw someone live who is running, dancing, etc. 

Today is the beginning of week 2 in the SBS class and there are 4 demos of artists drawing people in constant motion.  Just looking at the class demos this week brings out Mildred - my inner critic.  For my own practice, I took a number of photos the last time I was on the Lincoln Center Plaza - of people walking, running, or standing still for a moment in front of the Metropolitan Opera.  And these drawings, 1-6, are from those photos.  The final 2 drawings were done in restaurants, i.e. live direct observation.   

People in Motion:  

My Next Deliberate Practice:  I will try to draw the constantly moving models in videos from class this week.  And then I need to go into Central Park and try to draw people in all kinds of motion.  Yikes!

Posted by Shirley at 6:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am sharing my knowledge of bookbinding with a friend, and this month we each made 3 leather long stitch books.  I only made two previously, in 2013, and we had to work out many of the details re: making a jig and then punching the leather.  I bought 8 pieces of shoe leather scraps for about $1 each and only had used 2.  We split the other 6 and each made 3 books.  The maximal size possible was 7" high.

I used Mohawk 24lb extra-white paper that I purchased on sale at Talas - 100  sheets for $5 - and was delighted that the only pen out of a combination of ballpoints and drawing pens that bled through the paper was a Sharpie.    They were 8 X 10" and grain short.

These are my 3 books:

These are the spines - photographed while wedged between 2 bricks wrapped in plastic as bookbinding weights.

Posted by Shirley at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were out of town and relaxing, and there was a furry sheep in the room which just needed to be drawn and painted.  I love seeing the huge beds of daffodils that are everywhere in New York City - announcing Spring.  This daffodil was one that I couldn't resist.  Now we are surrounded by tulips that are just bursting open and the range of colors is eye-candy!

Posted by Shirley at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)