Paper and Threads

EDM Challenge #169 Draw a Piece of Cake: This loose interpretation of the challenge was done the last day of April and never posted because of the Every Day in May Challenge which started the next day.  So I uploaded it now with EDM Challenge #170.

EDM Challenge #170  Draw a Zipper:  This is a still unused Swarovski crystal zipper.  Each zipper tooth has a rhinestone set into it creating a single line of rhinestones when the zipper is closed.  I wish I could have captured the sparkle in paint, but that is totally beyond my skills!

Posted by Shirley at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I couldn't do a serious sketch of our newspaper, because I never read it.  The New York Times is delivered to our apartment by 6:30 each day and I dutifully bring it inside for my husband.  However, I have many things to do that are higher on my personal priority list and I get my news from the WNBC Early Morning Show, WNYC NPR radio during the day in my office, and the Lehrer news hour in the evening.  So with this challenge, I bring you a charming paper hat made from the front page of yesterday's newspaper!

Posted by Shirley at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

My husband gave me this antique gold Elgin ladies' pendant watch as a wedding present.  When very pregnant with our first child, I sat down for a cup of coffee and the watch, which was hanging down over my big belly, plunged into the cup.  Ever since then watchmakers have been puzzled by the rust on the movements and no repair has lasted very long.  I still wear it to work and use it to attach my required ID - not to tell time.  It has a wonderful patina and still has great sentimental value.

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This is one fish from an entire row of fish (face to face and back to back) in a stone wall that forms the entrance to the main door of the Ukrainian Institute at 5th Ave and 79th Street in New York City.  It was much more difficult to sketch than I thought because I kept getting lost in the flourishes.  I also wasn't able to show the 3-dimensionality of it as much as I wanted because I needed to keep the stone lighter in color than the background.   I decided to post it anyway and then sketched and painted 3 of my favorite fish designs just to be colorful and playful.  This image was taking from a small area of the background on a Tibetan painting at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. 

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I found this challenge to be really hard because of the perspective that I chose.  There is much too much detail on the facade of my brick and granite 16 floor New York City apartment building and decisions needed to be made about how detailed I wanted to make the sketch.  I definitely chose not to make the upper section bricks part of my sketch.  I'm in awe of artists who can sketch and paint entire brick facades!! 

I share my house with many other families as I live in a 16 floor New York City apartment building.  In Manhattan parlance, these buildings are either "pre-war" or "post-war," i.e. WWII.  Our building was built in the late 1920s and I was able to locate advertisements for it in the archives of the New York Times.  Our architect, who was doing bathroom renovation, also found a piece of a newspaper that was buried beneath the bathtub in the master bedroom bathroom, so we have proof of the date when it was under construction.  I also located and printed the 1930 census pages for the building and now have several very interesting pages about the occupants at that time.  At the same time I printed out the 1930 census for the building 2 of my 3 children live in - showing Babe Ruth living there with his wife's family.

I will have to try it again from across the street so I can sketch it straight-on and concentrate more on the actual structure.  My stimulus for this might be to make notecards that I can use for the notes that I never get around to writing!  

Posted by Shirley at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

My two oldest grandchildren started to show an interest in my point-and-shoot digital camera just as they turned 3 (because I take so many pictures of them)!  I taught them how to hold it carefully, focus until the green light came on, then shoot.  They LOVED taking pictures and when unsure what we could get them for their birthday, we bought each the Fisher-Price children's digital camera.  It is very simple, but can actually take reasonable photos.  We recently took our cameras around the neighborhood, and my granddaughter took one photo - straight ahead- for every 10-12 steps she took!  I had to delete a few from the card so she could capture the building at the end of our walk, the external facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I uploaded their JPEGs to their own folders on my computer and each got to select one for a 5 X 7" print to take home.  The only down-side of these cameras for them is battery use! 

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We don't play cards - and the only deck that I could find in the apartment came from a Benefit Dinner for a Health Care non-profit organization that we attended.  Loved the joker - so that was good for sketching.  The individual cards each had a single Medicare fact printed on the face side.  Wish I had something more exciting! 

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I got behind last week when I was working on my blog entry re: recylcled books.  Here finally are the last two challenges:  Body lotions that smell good and my Breakfast.

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This barely qualifies as an award, but I couldn't find the quilt ribbons I received many years ago, and I've been thinking of sketching it anyway. 

In July 2005 I reconfigured my job description and gave up clinical medicine and training of young physicians - retaining my role in the medical school  3 days per week.  I wanted to have more time to spend with my grandchildren and just have fun.  My hospital colleagues presented me with this lovely clock which now sits on a shelf in our apartment library.  I tell everyone that it is the wristwatch commonly given to men at retirement!

Saturday I received the Kind Heart Award from Mellanie - and the award is so pretty that I wanted to post it here and thank her. 

I don't know where the award originated, but appreciate the kind sentiment.  EDM is a wonderful community of fellow artists - all working hard to improve their skills, and support and inspire others.  I am grateful for the advice so freely given on our message board and the comments left on my blog that spur me on.  I'm hoping that everyone who sees this on the EDM Superblog will realize that it is a really big thank you from me to the active members of EDM. 

L  

Posted by Shirley at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I have two favorite kitchen tools.  My 36 year old Kitchenaid was posted on this blog in 2006 when I was doing my color project during yellow month.  So this time I sketched my 30 year old Cuisinart!  They are very reliable machines and have been used regularly for many years.   We don't cook as often anymore, but the Kitchenaid was used twice recently when Sydney, Henry, and I baked cookies.

Posted by Shirley at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

This was a really, really hard challenge for me.  I'm not sure that any piece of my popcorn has "volume" and due to the lighting in my favorite painting place, I also don't have shadows.  At least the popcorn-eating was enjoyable.

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This sketch was inspired by a photo of my grand daughter after a bath.  The blue and white puppy towel probably belongs to one of her brothers, but on this night it was hers.  Unfortunately I am not good enough to make the sketch look like her.  Maybe next year!  For now I can just be happy that I am putting faces on my figures - a huge accomplishment for 2008.

Posted by Shirley at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

This is my Italian hero sandwich, purchased at a local market for lunch last week.  My favorite sandwich is a prosciutto and mozzarella panini - but I don't have a good local source!  The cherry tomatoes were added at home for color - and challenge - when sketching and painting my sandwich.

Posted by Shirley at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

New York City Brownstones are really red-brown and have wonderful, decorative columns and porches for their front stairs.  This sketch was made from a photo that I took in the East 80s during the spring (hence the flowers blooming so nicely). 

Posted by Shirley at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

EDM Challenge #154: Draw a Lemon

I wanted to try to capture the moist cut surface of the lemon and used Masking Fluid to create the appearance of membranes.  I need to learn to use even a thinner application tool !  I love lemon flavor and wish I had time to make lemon squares with this lemon before bed! 

Posted by Shirley at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

Four lemon-scented soaps in a clear plastic bag, purchased during our October 2005 visit to Sorrento, Italy: 

I need to spend time working with reflections - more now than ever!  It took me several days to find something to sketch and paint - and then I could see the reflections on the plastic, but just couldn't make them sparkle.  I know that these areas should be bright white, and the next time I try this I will mask the areas and try that. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

We keep salted white pistachio nuts in a hand blown glass bowl on our coffee table (when the grandchildren aren't there) or on the fireplace mantle (when they are).  There is no relationship between the size of the nuts on the napkin and those in the bowl - I just wanted to sketch some bigger. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I am enjoying documenting my annual handmade ornaments - and still have lots more to sketch.  My plan is to continue sketching the collection in the week before Christmas again next year when I sit down after busy and joyful days to do a daily sketchpage.  Over the years each has been photographed individually and on the Christmas tree, but never painted.   

EDM Challenge #150: Draw a Candle

I love candles of all shapes and sizes.  But we only burn candles that are in globes of some type in the apartment to prevent fires.  I have two of the above Simon Pearce handblown glass candle globes that are always on my dining room table and they are used constantly.  It was very difficult for me to capture the sparkle of the flickering flame against the beautiful clear glass - but I just knew that I wanted to try.

Posted by Shirley at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Progress Report for 2007: 

I copied my Goals from the 2006-2007 Progress/Goals entry on this blog and recorded 2007 PROGRESS after each Goal.  I am currently reflecting on where I am and where I want to be at the end of 2008, so my 2008 GOALS will be posted this weekend.

1. Continue to sketch/paint everyday in my large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

 I did do a daily sketch - and sometimes 2-3.  On a few days when I was too busy to even open my sketchbook, I did my daily sketch the next morning and then another one at my usual time in the evening.  The majority of my sketches are pen with watercolor washes.  Most of the time I used the large Moleskine watercolor journal (I'm halfway through the 5th for the year), but I also added sketches to my London sketchbooks and all 3 recycled books that I made. 

2. Complete each EDM weekly challenge and try to expand my skills by what I choose to paint for the challenge.

For the second year, I did all of the EDM Challenges in the 3-10 days after they were posted and tried to stretch my skills slightly by what I chose to sketch.  I posted all of them on my blog, as one of my planned 2 entries per week.

3. Make plans for how I will use my new Eliz. I recycled book.  I'm currently considering using it for more London sketches -  from photos that I have taken during our visits.  I have another Cachet journal for my London Travel Sketchbook Volume 3 and decided that I want to continue to use the same journal type for all of my London travel. 

I completed 3 full Cachet Linen Watercolor sketchbooks during our London travels.  There are approximately 150 pages in total from our 6 visits to London - my goals certainly were exceeded and I will always treasure these books.  One sketch that I never posted was added as the final page to honor the birth of our grandson last Christmas in London.  This sketch was made using colored pencil from a postcard I purchased at the Guercino drawing exhibit we saw at the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House.

My Eliz. I recycled book has been used for playful sketches of Big Ben and most recently the Tower of London from photos that I took - using different techniques, even collage.  If you look closely you can see I used the Holbein Henry VIII painting from the Tate Britain exhibit for the collage.

4.  Recycle another book since I have more paper from my previous purchase.  This time I will look for an old New York book that I can use for special days out and about my own city.

I recycled two additional books - one for New York and one Michaelangelo Sonnet bookfor some of my figure drawings.   

5.  Spend more time sketching human faces and figures.  I'm not sure yet whether I want to take any life drawing classes because I love the challenge of learning on my own.  I collected some copies of Holbein's portraits and Rodin's figure drawings from our museum visits this week.  And I now own two Hockney drawing/portrait books.  I will recreate some of these pieces from the 16th C, 19th C, and 20th C for fun and then immerse myself in my city and draw people to try to develop my own style. 

I was very productive sketching figures - or body parts - and almost filled my recycled Michaelangelo Sonnet book for some of the sketches and my Moleskine for the rest.  I alternated among Derwent light wash pencils, Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils, Zig Millenium pen with watercolor wash, and 2B pencils for the sketches. 

My references included:  Greek and Roman sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, photos of dancers, photos of nude figures from an artist book  I purchased just for these exercises (The Nude Figure by Mark Smith), and occasionally even real people!  But very few of my figures have faces - a goal for 2008!

6.  Read some of the new art books on my shelf - starting with Betty Edward's book on color.

I continue to read art technique books, but never opened Betty Edward's book.  This year I did 5 lessons from a Watercolor Skills book by Linda Elsworth.  There are 5 more lessons to do, but I was temporarily derailed by a lesson on landscapes, my least favorite type of sketching/painting. 

In May 2007 I decided to finally start an Eric Maisel book entitled The Creativity Book - a year's worth of inspiration and guidance (it has been on my shelf for several years).   There are 2 exercises to complete per week and I am now on Week 31!  I have done some sketching and painting, but mostly writing, as I explore creativity in general and my creative dreams in particular. 

7.  Make a "larger-than-journal size" watercolor painting of the house my daughter and son-in-law rented this year in London so we have a personal visual memory of this wonderful year when they return to New York mid-year.

I did this painting and included it as part of a big "London" Christmas gift that I gave to my daughter and son-in-law.  The gift also included a DVD of all of the photos (1000s) that I took of their family and London and a Guest Book that our family kept everytime we visited them.  I printed some of my sketches for the book and even included an essay re: my reflections on our visits.  I was also able to make a photo collage of them at the moment when they were leaving New York in May 2006 and then leaving London in June 2007.  The children grew lots during the year and and another grandson was born there mid-year.

8.  Be a visitor in my own city and keep a Manhattan "travel" journal.  I now have scattered journal pages throughout my daily sketchbooks. 

I did continue to sketch in NYC throughout the year - and even started a series of sketches entitled "10 blocks from Home."  My New York City sketches, however, are scattered through my New York recycled book and my regular Moleskine sketchbook.  This occurred because I used whatever book I had with me when I decided to sketch.  Since I use both sides of a page in my Moleskine, I can't easily move these sketches - and I just have to be OK about this level of disorganization!

Posted by Shirley at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

We have a short broom to sweep the fireplace hearth - and I'm not sure that we use it as much as our grandchildren.  Normally it is kept in a copper pot with kindling, but I like to sketch at night in our library, so here it is resting on my leather ottoman.  I found that drawing bristles is hard!

I just remembered that I sketched the fireplace almost two years ago when this blog was less than one month old.  Here is a copy of that drawing with the copper pot - but no broom.

Posted by Shirley at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

EDM Challenge #146:  My two favorite foods are good bread and ice cream and I could have both for supper and call it a wonderful meal!  This is a Skinny Cow mint and chocolate fudge ice cream cone that I sketched and painted really quickly before I ate it.

EDM Challenge #147:  Draw Something Wood

This small wooden box has inlaid black marble squares and one brass square on the top. 

EDM Challenge #148:  Draw Something Soothing

This Christmas Door Doll, that is 20 + years old, is wearing a Tara Aromatherapy Neck Wrap that was given to me by my daughter last weekend as an early Christmas present.  It gets heated in the microwave for 2 minutes and then provides at least an hour of moist heat to your neck muscles - relieving all computer strain.

Posted by Shirley at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I'd rather sketch 10 buildings - or many figures in motion rather than sketch and paint a tree.  So this was definitely a stretch for me!  I love the gold-orange-red trees of autumn so I take many photographs on my walks.  This tree was on the sidewalk across the street from my son's house in Capitol Hill in Washington DC.  I had no time to sit outside this week and paint, so I was happy to have my recent photo.

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It was difficult for me to find something square in my apartment.  I have a kitchen timer and a square alarm clock, but I kept looking for something else.  Then I found an old 3 1/2" computer disk and disk holder - near my stash of transparent tape which is in a square red package.   In this age of CDs, DVDs, and flash drives, I haven't carried computer files on a diskette in more than 2 years, so I sketched the diskette as a ghost. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

EDM Challenge #142:  Draw Something Hot:

When I looked for something "hot" all I had to do was look at the small burns on my fingers.  I toast English muffins and bagels in a toaster oven daily - and as often as I remind myself that all parts of the appliance are HOT, I burn a finger or two! 

EDM Challenge #143:  Draw Spices or Herbs

I love cinnamon, even mixed in with my vanilla ice cream.  And I love anise - and the fascinating shape of star anise.  So it wasn't very difficult for me to quickly find spices for sketching.

Posted by Shirley at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

We have accumulated many unused Virgin Atlantic travel toothbrushes from our trips between London and New York last year.  They are all in the cabinet in our guest bathroom in case one of our guests forgets a toothbrush.  I love the many colors - and the toothbrush was always accompanied by travel socks and one pen in the same color in the travel pouch. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

During our year of London Travel, I filled 3 Cachet Linen spiral watercolor sketchbooks.  I love having the envelope in the back of Moleskine notebooks and quickly realized that I needed to find and buy large envelopes to glue on the inside of the back cover of these sketchbooks.  As we traveled around London, I collected a few postcards from Museum exhibits so I could have inspiration for future drawings.  The postcard that I laid across this envelope, on the inner cover of London #2, is from the Royal Academy of Art Rodin exhibit.   

Here is my sketch from the postcard.  The writing on the page from January 7th says "sketched on a 747 somewhere between London and New York." 

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This is a ship lantern that we purchased on Rue Jacob, Paris, in an antique store specialing in nautical objects.   Many times over the last 2 years I almost sketched it just because I like it so much and see it every day.  This challenge made it the perfect choice.  We had it hanging in our home in Texas, but it now just sits on a surface in our dining room in our New York apartment. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

This is a child-size, really soft, light blue bear - really gentle and cute in spite of the scarey face I seemed to give him.  Between grandchildren visits to our apartment, he sits in a little car that we gave Henry (now 4) for his first birthday.  When Henry outgrew it, the car came to our apartment for all of our grandchildren to use.  I take them for walks around our busy Manhattan neighborhood when we don't need to have a stroller with us.  It is a perfect toy for an urban baby! 

Posted by Shirley at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There is nothing that I appreciate more than my programmable coffee pot.  The coffee is ready every morning when I wake up and I thoroughly enjoy my first mug of coffee of the day while slowly waking up and planning the day's activity.     

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We took Henry and Sydney to the Central Park Zoo following the Carousel last week, arriving just in time to see the penguins being fed.  The penguin house is dark - with a climate controlled space for the penguins which means water droplets across the windows.  In addition, they move too quickly for me to draw in the dark - so these were sketched from a few of my favorite photos. 

Every penguin has a numbered tag and the animal feeders have a clipboard with a long list of them. This is to insure that each of them is first fed one "special fish" that is loaded artificially with
their vitamins.

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We took our grandchildren Henry (just 4) and Sydney (2 1/2) to the Central Park Carousel this week.  We arrived just before 10AM so we were able to see it before it started running.  I even took Sydney to see a nice little horse - but there was no way this otherwise adventurous child was going to get on that horse!  So grandma had a ride on a big horse, all alone, hoping to change her mind - but no.  "When I'm bigger" was all she said!  Henry was also very cautious and rode in the cart behind one of the horses with Grandpa. 

Tonight's dinner salad.  I really did have to sketch and paint it before eating.  I wasn't looking forward to this, but like most EDM challenges I'm glad I did it. 

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This is our mahogany library ladder unfolded.  The bottom step folds under the second step and then both together fold under the top step.  It always takes me two attempts to get it open and closed.  It seemed like a great challenge to sketch the perspective in this angled view.

Posted by Shirley at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We had to disconnect our scanner to have a window air conditioner fixed and then developed modem problems with our computer - so I'm finally uploadng last week's and this week's Everyday Matters Challenges at the same time.  I bought this peach just for the challenge and unfortunately can't eat it because of allergies.  It looked delicious! 

Posted by Shirley at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I always love doing the EDM Challenges and try to make them a learning experience.  I still have a great deal of difficulty with reflections, so I chose my clear green plastic spray bottle for this sketch.  I think the transparent surface is recognizeable, but the few light reflections that I saw aren't very apparent.  More practice needed!! 

Posted by Shirley at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I love books, journals, paper, and almost anything sold in stationary stores - so buying school supplies was always a thrill.  Now my purchases are year round, not just in September, and I love it when we start a new project at work and need to look through catalogues for new supplies. 

At home I'm currently obsessed with the Levenger catalogue and new items for their "circa" notebooks.  Although I have some in all 3 sizes, and even a leather cover for my junior size notebook, I carry the compact notebook that contains index cards in my purse and use it all day long.   I have a punch that makes those great holes along the edge of the card (two pages can be cut from each 5 X 8" index card) and then the tabs wrap around the black circle discs.  Pages are really easy to add or remove - which is the beauty of the system.  The cover of this compact notebook is translucent plastic and I painted a daffodil on watercolor paper which shows through.  The pen that I use for everything is a medium Pilot Easy Touch - I don't have the obsession that many people have for fountain pens!

Posted by Shirley at 5:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I actually did EDM Challenge #129 before this one.  I walked around and around the apartment looking for a view that I felt like drawing.  Some views were boring, some too challenging, some not blog material (bathrooms).  This is the view from my dining room to a tiny stretch of counter space in my kitchen.  The perspective isn't as wonky as it looks - the counter actually is slanted and there are triangular shelves above it where we keep espresso pots and a few favorite cups.  Our coffee pot and cannister of coffee take top billing on this stretch of counter!   

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I really tried sketching my grandson Henry's face in this sketch - done from a photo taken of him just as he turned 3 last summer in London.  And in spite of my efforts to improve figure/face sketching in 2007 - it was scarey!  I think I might have been able to add a generic face, but I'm going to stay away from people that I know and love for now.  The next photo in the sequence has him winding up, leg raised like a real major league pitcher ,to throw the ball.  Baseball is big in their house!   

Posted by Shirley at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We were riding up WhiteHall in the front seat on the top deck of a #11 bus when I took this photo of storm clouds gathered over Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.  During most of our recent visit, black clouds alternated with sunshine and there were periodic drenching rains.   

Posted by Shirley at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

This was a really difficult challenge for me.  I clearly need more practice seeing, sketching, and painting textures.  The pie-shaped section is my attempt to paint a close-up of the bathroom sponge surface.  Out of frustration I added a foam brush - a quasi-sponge! 

Posted by Shirley at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

SWAN IN HYDE PARK, LONDON.  As I type this Hyde Park remains evacuated and Park Lane closed as police use a robot to investigate a suspicious car parked in/near the underground car park (under Hyde Park with entrance on Park Lane).  This follows the discovery of a car bomb on Haymarket at 1AM in Central London.  We spent the afternoon at Westminster Hall and Parliament and the crowds didn't look as if they even knew that there was a huge area closed around Piccadilly Circus. 

I took this swan photo when we were here in December. 

Posted by Shirley at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

We arrived in London on Tuesday and the only interesting yellow object to sketch was my grandson's toy tractor.  It gave me lots of practice with perspective and he always remembers pages in my sketchbook that relate to him.  Even my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter asked to see a page of her toys that I did last October - that are in a London travel sketchbook that is back in New York.  I photographed my journal page and then resized it with Photoshop Elements. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

EDM Challenge #122:  Drawing shade was really difficult for me because it required me to paint a landscape.  I took a photo walking through Central Park last Friday, with my husband and grandson, because I wasn't able to stop to sketch it.  Then I procrastinated and did 4 journal pages since then - including the next challenge.  The area of the Park is so beautiful that I will also include my photo.

I simplified this scene and structure considerably from the photo (or I would never have done it).  Here is the photo:

EDM Challenge #123: Draw a Bell

I have no bells in our apartment except for Christmas ornaments which are packed away.  Then my husband remembered my bear - complete with his own bell.  I was a frantic mother when my two sons went on a camping trip in Alaska and there were so many bear/bear bell stories that my boys brought me this really cute, plush bear.  I sketched it for the first time on a journal page that I prepared with a brown wash - right after I developed my blog at the beginning of 2006.  And I sketched and painted it again for this challenge.  Here are both versions.

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My husband had these earrings made for me for our 25th wedding anniversary because I liked  black roman coins in gold jewelry that I saw somewhere with him.  He then gave them to me at a lovely dinner in a villa in Padua, Italy - so the roman coins returned home!  The coins are more black than painted here.  As I was sketching the front and back of one earring last night, I also "googled" Roman coins and was able to identify my coins as Gordian III - from approximately 240 AD.  There are many, many images of Gordian III coins and I would need to better see the images on the reverse side of my coin to be more specific.  Both earrings use the same image on the front of the coins. 

I used gold gouache for the gold casing and back of the earring.

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May 23rd: EDM Challenge #120 - Draw a Flashlight

We have lots of flashlights, but I love how long this one is - I guess to use in tight spaces.   

May 24th:  More Figure Practice from my new book - a book of nude photos for artists by Mark Edward Smith.  I need lots of practice and will be very happy when the Every Day in May challenge is over so I don't need to upload sketchbook pages every day!  Some of my practice figures would be best left unseen!  And I still hate rough paper. 

Posted by Shirley at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

  May 19th:  I sketched my EDM Challenge while at the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday on the World Wide Sketchcrawl.  Rocks are a little hard to find in my immediate neighborhood and the weather was too awful to go into Central Park to paint one of the big rocks.  So I painted 3 big rocks that make up the side wall of the Temple of Dendur (15 B.C.E.).  This allowed me to really focus on the engraved drawings - which are wonderful.  There are approximately 5-6 figures down each side of the Temple and I don't think that any two are the same.

May 20th:  I walked 10 blocks from home, looked around, and sketched a small piece of the roofline of the Jewish Museum on 5th Avenue in Manhattan.  There was a man sitting on the one of the benches painting the facade in a wonderfully loose, impressionistic style.  I sat on the curb (because 5th Avenue was closed to traffic) and tried to just capture a little of the essence of the complicated architecture and decoration.  I love the aged copper portions.

Posted by Shirley at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

  It took me awhile to decide what to sketch for this challenge - and finally sorted through old photos to find one of me 40 years ago with my long braid.  It was cut one year later and I never let it grow that long again.  I still need lots of practice sketching faces and my husband says that it doesn't look anything like me. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

    I draw everyday so my commitment for this month is to upload one of my journal pages for every day in the month - which I never previously have done.  This one will be out of order because I wanted to post my EDM challenge today.  On Sunday I'll upload all of the other sketches.

Three "sorta" round wheels:  I was leaving the International Center of Photography exhibit several weeks ago - really inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson's philosophy about impulsive actions, when a red pedicab pulled up to the light as I was crossing 6th Avenue.  The beautiful driver, then sat up and placed her hands on her hips - exuding power and confidence.  I managed to quickly take one photo before the light changed and she pedaled on, but I was fearful about sketching from the photo because I couldn't figure out how to sketch so many spokes on 3 wheels.  I even asked for advice from this group - and sketched "the anatomy of a bicycle wheel "from our bike rack at work.  But, when I saw the magnificent tandem bicycle in the large painting by Ramon Casas at the Barcelona exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I realized the wheels had NO SPOKES - and I might never have noticed if I weren't obsessing over this photo.  As soon as Karen announced the challenge for the week, I knew I had to do this - without spokes. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

EDM Challenge #116: Draw Something Green:  I searched all week for something green that was interesting and exciting enough for me to use for this challenge.  I gathered up my apartment green objects for my Color Project Green month last year, so I was more interested in finding something in another environment.  Today I went over to the new Greek-Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and sketched the south end of the gallery for an hour.  Then as soon as I started to wander around the space, I found wonderful Roman glass from the 1st C. A.D.  This green glass vessel is only 6 inches high, but so beautiful!

Posted by Shirley at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Our general supermarket is one-half block away and I take frequent walks there to pick up a few items at a time.  We also have several specialty shops with produce and prepared foods 1-2 blocks away and a butcher, fish shop, and bakery within the same area.  Each of the stores has shopping baskets for those of us that walk there and only carry home small bags of groceries.  This basket was sketched from a photo that I took early yesterday morning when I was purchasing milk, yogurt and a banana for breakfast because Friday is the day we take care of one of our grandsons. 

Posted by Shirley at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I had a great deal of difficulty selecting something from my everyday life that was ugly, kept for sentimental reasons, and worthy of a sketch.  Our almost 35 year old salad spinner, purchased by our first Nannie for our small kitchen in LaJolla, is now cracked, but still working.  It is really ugly, especially with a crack in the lid.  It is also probably vintage and nearly a first edition!  But I just didn't feel like sketching and painting it.  So I selected my very favorite, brown leather, pocket-sized Filofax - which was purchased new when we moved to New York City in 1993.  The snap on the small piece  which closes the notebook is broken, and the estimate to replace it was $50 approximately 5 years ago.  A new comparable Filofax was only $85 and I just wasn't ready to retire mine.  So I made a small quilted wrap for the notebook and added a long piece of velcro along the end to close it.  It is still my only calendar and general all-purpose  notebook and it travels everywhere with me in my purse.

Posted by Shirley at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

There are many wonderful, artistic fences in our neighborhood, but New York City is much too cold to wander around and spend time outdoors sketching.  So I opted for a really simple sketch of the fence for our apartment building service entrance.  Most apartment buildings in the city have a main entrance and a service entrance - or multiples of both depending on the building size.  The service entrance is used for deliveries and remains locked much of the day.  What is sometimes surprising to folks who live in other parts of the country, everything, or almost everything, can be ordered and delivered to your apartment.  My personal favorite is our fire wood delivery man and the Christmas tree delivery guys because I love the holidays in the city.  Even all of the very good restaurants deliver right off of their regular menu, although if I'm eating that well, I want to enjoy the restaurant ambience for those prices.

Posted by Shirley at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Last weekend (3/16-17) we had freezing rain and snow - precluding even walking because of the winds.  This weekend was much warmer and New Yorkers ran a marathon in Central Park and filled the playgrounds on Sunday morning.  We met our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in Hippo Playground in Riverside Park.  He loves the slides - and I was warm enough to sketch the hippo sculptures.  There are buds on the trees and the early spring flowers have stems about 4" above the ground.  This is as close as we have gotten to "fresh"  - wonderful fresh air to cure winter cabin fever.

There are two groups of hippo sculptures - that children climb on and adults sit on.  Here are two pictures that I took of the "animals."

Very few New Yorkers even pay attention when I'm sketching, and while I was sketching the hippo head with open mouth, a woman kept talking to her friend and actually put her foot right up into the mouth obscuring my view.  And I was standing not more than 4 feet from her! 

Posted by Shirley at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

We had spectacular onion soup at the original Au Pied du Couchon in the old Les Halles area of Paris in November 1970.  The soup was delicious and the thick, melted layer of cheese extraordinary.  My husband and I perfected Julia Child's recipe from Volume I: Mastering the Art of French Cooking and bought these soup bowls  to use for the last minute cheese melting step and serving. 

After the Les Halles market moved out of central Paris and Au Pied du Couchon underwent a significant face-lift, the soup was the same, but the ambience of the old place was gone.  The marzipan pig was saved from my dessert plate from one of our later visits.  Somehow it survived the trip home and is now rock hard from years in the china cabinet.

Posted by Shirley at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I adore candles and all varieties of candle holders, but now limit myself to using only closed varieties, i.e. globes of some kind, because of fire hazards.  My painting of the flame needs lots more work - I should have made it bigger and just concentrated on the wonderful colors that I saw.  However, I love this Dutch brass candle holder that we bought on the Rokin in Amsterdam in 1989.  The antique brass shop had/has been in the family for well over 100 years and was then managed by a father and son named Hart  This piece is estimated to be from ca 1770 and sits in a prominent position in our apartment for my constant enjoyment.

Posted by Shirley at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

My husband and I love sitting in the front seat, on the upper deck, of a #11 bus as it winds it's way between King's Road Chelsea and Trafalgar Square/Strand, London.  We are on vacation when we are in London and have lots of time to really look at all of the buildings - which all look so cool from our aerial position.  I "examined" this clock on the front of the west entrance to Westminster Abbey during every busride, thinking about how much I would love to sketch it.  I had practically memorized all of the details - and therefore sketching from one of my photos was easier and more pleasurable.  I used my W-N gold gouache again for the gold on the clock.  Since I sketched it in my WC Moleskine, I had to simplify the center section of the clock because of space and it is not accurate!

Posted by Shirley at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I usually have a problem doing the EDM weekly challenge when we are in London.   However, the light bulb from the lighted globe that we bought for our 3 year old grandson Henry for  Christmas burned out last night and I sketched it before taking it out to shop for a new one.  I'm having fun playing with a Winsor-Newton gold gouache and used it for the brass bottom on the bulb.  Although the photograph doesn't show it, it actually glitters on the page.

Posted by Shirley at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We are currently back in London with our fantastic grandchildren.  That means less quiet time, more fun, and "news on the run."  Since I have my laptop with me to keep up with work, I read the quick headlines on Google News which is displayed everytime I open the internet.  We also see short segments of BBC news before or after Henry and Syd watch Dora or Diego.  I'm trying to remember how to work with photographed (i.e. not scanned) sketchbook pages.  I plan to upload my daily sketches from our trip soon.

Posted by Shirley at 2:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This past week was hectic, as I met various deadlines at work and got ready for another visit to our London family.   I tried to think of other examples, but only had one pickle left in my jar and no Sour Tarts in my local store.  I love lemon flavor, but only when sweetened.  My daughter and her two children eat fresh lemon and lime slices - the thought makes my mouth pucker!  I need to play more with paintings of citrus fruit cut surfaces to get more texture - maybe during a less busy week.... 

Posted by Shirley at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Several weeks ago I sketched my quilting supplies and a quilt that I was working on while too sick to be more active.  In this sketch I included my cute little blunt-nose Gingher scissors.  When air travel restrictions were relaxed and these scissors were allowed on airplanes in the US, I was horrified to lose a pair while passing through security at DeGaulle Airport in Paris.  The gendarme didn't say a word, he just reached over and dropped them into a plexiglass box full of confiscated items.  Strange that nothing was said on the prior trip through DeGaulle in the other direction.

These are the scissors that I drew for the EDM Challenge - 26 years old and still perfect.  I first learned about Gingher scissors when I started quilting and now have the above 8" shears, 2 pair of small embroidery scissors, 1 pair of the craft scissors, 1 pair of pinking shears, 1 pair of applique scissors (which I don't use), one pair of clippers, and 2 pairs of the blunt-nosed scissors sketched above.  It took awhile to convince my family that all of these were fabric-only scissors, but they have all survived and perfomed quite well.  I think this qualifies as a Gingher collection!

Posted by Shirley at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

In our kitchen we use a glass cannister of Kosher salt and a pepper mill to season food - and really don't have specific S and P shakers that we use during daily meals.  However, my daughter gave me a set of miniature salt and pepper shakers that we put out on the dining room table when we have a group dinner - especially on holidays.  Roz told someone in the EDM group that she has calligraphic gold gouache in her watercolor palette and I thought this was a great excuse to buy a tube of glittery gold for myself.  My local art store only had Winsor-Newton, not the Daniel Smith color that Roz has.  You can't see it on the scan, but these tops really glitter as you move the page around.  The darker color is the gold.  The lighter color is Winsor lemon that I added for the light reflection.  I love the effect of the sparkles!!    

Posted by Shirley at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I wonder if I will be the only EDM member without exercise equipment to sketch for this challenge?  When considering what I really do to stay healthy, I could only focus on really good weight control and daily walking.  Obesity is such a major problem in America.  When research data is displayed at national meetings that I attend, and the average weights of the study subjects are reported (regardless of the type of medical study), there is always a chuckle from the audience when comparing the numbers from the US in comparison to the study populations from other countries.  The only way that I have been able to maintain an ideal BMI as I age is to weigh myself every morning and rein in my food selections and portion sizes.  By walking, I really don't mean that I am Julie or Penny (or other EDM members) who walk a fixed distance every day.  By living in a city, however, I now walk almost everywhere that I want to go.  My car is parked 3 blocks from our apartment and when I get to work I park several blocks from my building.  All daily errands are done by walking in my neighborhood and carrying home the packages.  Our car remains in the garage, except for work days and we walk long distances in the city on weekends.  It is almost exactly one mile with stroller(s) between our apt and that of our grandchildren.  This is a huge difference from our previous life in Texas, where the culture is garage door openers and car trips even one block to the covenience store for a newspaper.  During those years I took 2 ballet classes each week in the evening after my husband came home from work and our children went to bed.  Although I do take occasional ballet classes here in Manhattan, I can't fit everything that I want to do into my usual work week.  I now buy walking shoes that move comfortably from work to play and wear out one pair of these shoes every several months.       

Posted by Shirley at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I sketched a photo of Sydney and Henry in Hyde Park - intending to do a "city park landscape" painting.  But I never got around to finishing it when we were in London, and today decided to add a watercolor wash to both of my grandchildren and then call it done.  I have a series of similar p