Paper and Threads

The Notre Dame fire is heartbreaking.  As I type this and repost my painting of the rear of Notre Dame, I'm watching the TV coverage of the ongoing fire which has destroyed the spire, and led to the collapse of the roof.  We first visited Notre Dame in 1970, and still remember the organ concert from that Day.  We almost never visited Paris without entering Notre Dame.  On our most recent visit in 2014, I spent an hour on a beautiful sunny October day sketching Notre Dame from the quay on Ile St. Louis.  This is heartbreaking.  Commentators and city officials are currently describing the role of the ceiling in holding up the stone walls.  They are beginning to wonder if the cathedral can be saved.

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William Kentridge Exhibit at Marian Goodman Gallery (24 W 57th St, NYC)

Go see this exhibit before April 21st.  I first saw a Kentridge exhibit a MoMA many years ago, and then the Met Exhibit of one of his movies - which was projected around the walls of a big gallery.  This is the one of the more recent exhibits of his I've seen at the Marian Goodman Gallery.  There are many charcoal drawings, sculptures of various sizes, and an 18 minute movie, made with his drawings, that we LOVED - called KABOOM.  I sketched one of about a dozen die cut, table size sculptures with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.  With artist friends, we spent almost two hours in this exhibit!  A record....

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Last week my husband and I went to the last Juilliard Jazz Orchestra concert of the year at Alice Tully Hall.  We love the amazing skills and knowledge of these young musicians, and the quality of the performance is as good as any we've heard.  I sketched just the 3 musicians that were directly in front of me - otherwise there were too many music stands blocking my view, and I wanted to sketch them with their instruments.  Wynton Marsalis was the Conductor, although he just spoke to the audience before each half, and had the musicians introduce each piece of music and "conduct" themselves.

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Screen Print on Fabric:  For the 3rd of our projects this semester, we had to create two "positive" images, and burn them into screens, registered, and make 2-color prints on fabric.  Registered means that you can easily place the print from one screen exactly on top of the print from the other screen.  I had the fashion model with the horizontal stripes on one screen and all of the calligraphy/typography on the other screen.  The first screen was printed in black (figure) and the second one in charcoal gray (typography).  The print measures 15 X 19"  The background fabric is white.  

Original Art Inspiration:  I sketched a live model in a Fashion Illustration course last year and then collaged over the drawing. 

Creating the designs for the Screens:  The positive images for the screen #1 were created by collaging black paper and typed words, that were printed on a transparency, to create the blouse.  All the pieces were taped to heavy vellum to photograph (burn) them onto a photoemulsion screen.  The calligraphy for screen #2 was printed on transparency sheets and cut out and taped to a second piece of vellum to make the other screen.  Here are the two sheets of vellum clipped together for me to test the image.

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New York City Urban Sketchers met at Lincoln Center last Saturday.  It was a gorgeous day, with hints of Spring, but also with wind blowing early tree pollen around the Plaza.  I took a seat at the Met Opera end of the Plaza and enjoyed drawing the David H. Koch theater which is home to the New York City Ballet.  This was a double page spread and scanning the image highlights the center of the page. 

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