Paper and Threads

The NYC Urban Sketchers met on Wednesday this past week in order to draw the Christmas Tree in the Medieval Hall  at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The ornaments were made in Italy and are ceramic and fabric, with lush silks for garments.  We listened to wonderful choral music while we sketched.  Unfortunately you can't get close enough to the tree for detailed drawings of the angels, but can see all of the sculptures around the base of the tree slightly better. 

This sketchbook page is a painting of one angel and a few of the figures around the base. 

Photo of the Tree

Some of the Urban Sketchers at the back of the tree - busy drawing. 

After drawing at the Tree, I went upstairs to the Auguste Rodin exhibit and painted a sculpture by his mistress and muse, Camille Claudel.  There are so many small Rodin scultures in this exhibit, that I hope that I have time to sketch more before it closes on January 15th.

Rodin Exhibit:  "The Implorer" by Camille Claudel  Cast in 1905

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I loved this class and learned from a master fashion illustrator. 

http://janissalek.com/fashion.html 

This week was our last class, and we had 3 models, and many quick poses.  While we were sketching Professor Salek, as a final review, talked about all of the skills she presented during the semester. 

I chose four 7 minute poses from the class to post on the blog, to  remind me about:

1.  The angle of shoulders and hips - which are usually opposite in direction - and should be exaggerated.

2.  To be bold drawing the shapes.

3.  To start drawing from the head and then to  proceed down the figure, switching from side to side.

4.  To elongate the drawing and narrow the form.

5.  To pay attention to opposition, which to her means don't draw both sides of an arm or leg with identical lines.  Exaggerate differences. 

I wish I had erased the hand on the first figure - but maybe my new Craftsy class on Drawing Hands will help me as 2017 ends!! 

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We painted all of the model poses this week and I'm uploading only one painting from class.  Three models were painted simultaneously in a 20-30 minute pose and I didn't get to finish the third model.  This was my first experience using PhDrMartin liquid watercolors, and it was fun.  I bought 3 primary colors and mixed what I needed.  However, I hated throwing away even the small amount of mixed colors on my palette and would hate carrying them around when painting away from home or the classroom.

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Collage as Fashion Illustration:  Week 12 we sketched 4 models and then selected one to turn into a collage.  Our professor demonstrated how to trace the big shapes, and then to cut around the shape from the tracing paper and collage paper simultaneously, in one layer.  We brought black, white, and one other color, either gray or brown.  This collage was made by gluing my shapes over my drawing. 

Next Week:  My first experience using Dr. Ph Martin liquid watercolors. 

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We continue to learn many mediums for doing Fashion Illustrations during this course.  And our professor brings in classic examples from some of the great illustrators and designers.  During the last two weeks we used markers one week and brushes and India Ink the next.   

Drawing with Markers:

I found this very difficult because I rarely use markers, and of all the drawings I did that night, this was the only one that I managed to both be loose and elongate the image.  These sheets of paper are all 18" long.

Drawing with Brushes and India Ink:  I felt much more comfortable using a brush than markers.  The illustration on the right was done by my professor, Janis B. Salek, who is amazing.  She wanted to demonstrate the technique she uses with ink and dilutions of the ink - in a bold, elongated figure.  She sat down at my easel and just drew this in several minutes!  I then tried to use a similar technique for the next fast pose as drawn on the remaining paper on the left.

My Next 2 Fast Drawings of the same model:

This is one of many subsequent drawings  - we had 5 models rotating continually - alone or in groups.  It is one that I was  most pleased with.

Next week - Collage! 

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