Paper and Threads

This past Wednesday I attended a Collage class at MoMA.  Before I went I gathered some recent mail, and two drawings I did in ballpoint pen on index cards.  I cut out or ripped headlines and photos from my mail, looking for a theme.  I had items from the newspaper and a magazine, and even a return address on a manila envelope from Hillary Clinton.   The bowed head I sketched represents to me one of the muslims that Trump wants to keep out of our country.  The news headline "Art of Frustration No Matter the Form" made me think of the stress of this election, where a totally incompetent, sociopathic candidate like Trump could be nominated by a major party.  I  interpreted this quote literally as ART born from frustration and included images of a dancer, singers, my drawing, Dubuffet's painting, and a photograph.  "Be Creative, Get Active," and stay sane, is my mantra until Nov 8th.

I went to Figure Al Fresco in Battery Park City in the afternoon, but only stayed for part of the session.  Here is a quick sketch of Regina between poses and a ten minute pose drawn with a soluble graphite pencil and shaded with a waterbrush. 

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 I'm just posting a few drawings that I did from photos today.  Last week was too busy and I very distracted from art.  The photos used for the hand drawings are from fashion ads and drawn with a colored pencil.

I drew these heads from TV when I paused a show during a phone call.  Drawing in ink.

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I did some more experimentation at figure drawing this week at Battery Park City.  Drawings 1-4 were done with a General Sketch and Wash pencil, with or without added watercolor paint.  As I draw faster, I have more time to play, even during the shorter poses.  Poses 1 and 2 were 5 minutes and 3 and 4 were 10 minutes. 

Poses 5 and 6 were drawn with an 8B graphite pencil, and then ink.  The backgrounds were prepainted wet-in-wet watercolor paintings and then more watercolor was added near the end of the 10 minute pose. 

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 I returned to Wednesday afternoon Figure al Fresco after our week in Washington DC.  Julie Pierce, a friend of my friend Eunice, was visiting as a guest from the Sydney Australia Urban Sketchers group.  These two 5 minute sketches were drawn with a General Sketch and Wash pencil and shaded with a waterbrush and then watercolor.

The rest of my sketches (10-20 minutes) were drawn on prepainted watercolor paper - with leftover acrylic paint from my palette in my FIT art class.  It was fun seeing the drawing emerge from among the many colors and brushstrokes.

This outdoor figure drawing group meets weekly on Wednesdays, weather permitting through the month of October.  It is sponsored and funded by the Battery Park City Conservancy as one of their adult programs.

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The Battery Park City Conservancy holds outdoor figure drawing sessions on Wednesday afternoon, May 1-Oct 31.  They have a stable group of models and this one loves to change her clothes periodically during the 2 hour session.  Her bright colors may be responsible for my use of color in these drawings. 

I had a long slim piece of paper that I prepainted with acrylic paint and used it to sketch Leticia in a 10 minute pose.  I sketched her in pencil and then used a Sharpie pen to make sure that I didn't ruin one of my Pigma Micron pens.

Ten Minute Pose -  sketched with a General Sketch and Wash pencil and then shaded with water and a waterbrush.

Twenty Minute Pose:  Sketched and shaded as above, and then painted with watercolor.

Eight Minute Pose to finish the session:  We were all tired, in the heat of the afternoon, and I went back to drawing on newsprint to draw our reclining model.  Can't account for the gray-blue background after scanning the drawing.

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