Paper and Threads: Figure Drawing Archives

Winter Battery Park City Program

Battery Park City sponsors outdoor Figure Drawing and Nature Art Programs from May through October. They are now offering 9 sessions indoors during February and March for the first time, and last week one of our favorite models, Regina, was there. I usually sketch in soluble graphite at these sessions and then add water for shading. This time I decided to add watercolor paint because of Regina's very colorful wardrobe.

Three 5 minute poses:

15 minute pose on the left and 10 minute pose on the right:

15 minute pose without watercolor: with a little more attention to drawing her hands and feet.

Posted by Shirley at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Before and After the Blizzard

My husband and I joined friends on Thursday and Friday for rehearsals of the New York City Ballet (NYCB). We sit in the first ring for these rehearsals, far enough away from the stage not to distract the dancers. When we sit down, they are usually milling around the stage for a few minutes - some in costume (principle dancers) and the others in practice clothes. Once the lights go down, it is so dark that I can't see my sketchbook. So I watch the dancers for those first few minutes, memorize a few of their practice positions as they warm up, and scribble very quick sketches. The ink and paint are added at home from memory.

Thursday:

Friday

On Saturday we were taking 4 NYC grandsons to the New York Philhamonic Young People's Concert. Just as we were ready to leave the apartment to pick them up, Lincoln Center cancelled the Concert. We took a walk in the snow near our apartment, but hurried back because of the winds. Before 9AM on Sunday we walked to Central Park and enjoyed the beautiful, still very white snow. The paths were packed and we walked in crunchy white snow as the dogs were frolicking!

Looking South over the Great Lawn.

By 9:30 AM on Cedar Hill: Parents and children were already crowding the best sledding hill just south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This was the second biggest blizzard measured in Central Park - ever - and it missed the old record by 0.1 inch!

Posted by Shirley at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Art Goals for 2016

My main goal is to develop better drawing and painting skills on paper and with dye-painting and surface design on fabric. At the beginning of each year, I like to define new projects which will help me progress and then remain open to new opportunities.

1. Take Classes:

Studying Under the Masters 3: I really enjoy this online class and registered for it during 2015, even though I was saving the content for Winter 2016. In the weekly videos I learn more about specific artists I know and meet artists I don't know. And then I stretch my painting skills by copying a painting of the Master and subsequently using those techniques in an original painting! Since I convert my copies of masterworks from oil to watercolor for each artist studied, I also experiment and learn an enormous amount in the process. This is the last time this class series will be offered by Jeanne Oliver and the artists for this series include Horace Pippin, Joan Miro, Marie Laurencin, John Singer Sargent, Gustav Klimt, and Alisa Burke.

Sketchbook Skool Semester 5: I think Danny and Koosje have created a wonderful model for art education and a committed community of artists, new and old. I'm already registered for Semester 5 which is called "Expressing." And here's hoping there is a 6th Semester in 2016!

Craftsy: I just signed up for "Sketching the City in Pen, Ink, and Watercolor" by Shari Blaukopf.

Battery Park City Conservancy "Still Lifes and Figure Drawing" with Marla Lipkin a new 9 session class being offered this year locally in NYC from Feb. through March (9 sessions).

Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT): Registration for Spring isn't until the end of January, but I intend to continue taking classes there as long as their Senior Learner program is in existence.

2. Maintain a Community of Artist Friends:

It is impossible to attend all of the art activities scheduled in New York City, so my goal is to attend a minimum of one activity/week - Meetup, Urban Sketchers, Battery Park City (May-Oct), Society of Illustrators, and to add other museum and gallery visits with my friends into those days. I will also continue to post new entries to my blog twice each week to continue my interaction with and inspiration from artists online.

3. Bookbinding:

Continue to make my own sketchbooks - for daily drawings and for travel.

Create a tutorial for my pencil-pen pocket for sketchbooks.

Create another batch of paste paper for my stash.

4. Special Project: I also like to have one separate project each year. Several winters ago I sketched/elephants for a whole month using every medium I had. Another year I studied different methods for making books and made a different type of book each month for 8 months. This year I am trying to figure out how I can use some of the figure drawings I've accumulated during the last 5 years and transform them into an artist book. I already transferred images to fabric using a different method for each Quilt Journal Page (8.5 X 11") I created. Last year I made a small book of the Figures I drew in the Toulouse-Lautrec Café Society sessions at MoMA.

Here are the first 6 of the Quilt Journal Pages I made in 2012 using hand-dyed fabrics. I transferred drawings I made of a pregnant model at figure drawing in order to create this Mother and Child series in fabric.

Posted by Shirley at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reflections on Art in 2015

A Review of Art Experiences and Learning During 2015: A Progress Report

January 4th is the 10th anniversary of my blog and it is always a good time for reflection and planning.

Long Term Goals: Develop better drawing and painting skills on paper and with dye-painting and surface design on fabric.

1. Goal: To sketch and paint everyday, and to blog twice each week. These activities give my retirement life some structure and provide enormous inspiration within an artist community.

Progress: I no longer do quick sketches every day, but no week passes without me having several good drawing sessions. It was really important to me to sketch daily when I was beginning this journey as I prepared for retirement from medicine, but the habits were formed and now I can rarely pass a few days without some scribbles, if not a full sketchbook drawing/painting. My blog posts are important to me, and continue to give structure and meaning to my art adventure and posting twice each week is a great schedule.

2. Goal: Take more classes online and in person to remain inspired:

Progress: I participated in several online classes this year, just enough to be inspired on an almost weekly basis during some months: Studying Under the Masters 2, Sketchbook Skool Semester 4, and an assortment of Craftsy Classes. These included: Close-up Flowers in Watercolor (Nan Carey), Travel Sketching in Mixed Media and Sketching People in Motion (both Marc Taro Holmes), I also took a surface design class through Craftsy: Fabric Patterning with Wax Resist with Malka Dubrawsky.

Each semester, for 14 weeks, I took a class at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and was lucky enough to register for Drawing and Watercolor classes in 2015. As with the other classes I've taken there on subjects about which I already have some knowledge and experience, I always learn something new. Our few drawing classes on perspective were excellent and our watercolor classes on different palettes and the use of Chinese White (with watercolor) and Black gesso (with gouache) as grounds were completely new to me.

3. Goal: Continue to draw and paint locally:

Progress: I belong to two Meetup groups and attend semi-regularly, schedule permitting: "Central Park Drawing and Art" and "Drawing New York." We have an NYC-Urban Sketchers Weekday Group, and that provides other opportunities for group inspiration and contact. Battery Park City Conservancy has weekly Nature Painting and Figure Drawing from May through October and I regularly participate in both the morning and afternoon sessions, weather permitting. This year I attended figure drawing at Society of Illustrators with two visitors, my dear friends Sara from Alabama and Casey from France, and a series of Toulouse-Lautrec Café Society Figure Drawing sessions at MoMA. And last, but not least, my very special days, spent with my artist friends Benedicte, Pat, and sometime Teri, means that we rarely miss the best museum and gallery shows in the City. I would feel very isolated without these special 3 friends and would have many fewer good laughs!

One of my favorite projects this year was participation in the 100 Day Challenge by Elle Luna and The Great Discontent. My goal, especially after taking Sketchbook Skool Semester 4, was to draw more from my imagination. I didn't upload my daily drawings to Instagram, or follow along with other people's projects, but once I committed to it, I was faithful to the project for all 100 days, and even created my little imaginary character Axel.

4. Goal: Make watercolor sketchbooks, for daily drawing and painting and travel:

Progress: I made cased-in watercolor books for my daily sketchbooks, accordion journals for our outdoor Urban Sketchers sessions, a travel sketchbook for our vacation in Spain from an old book of Spanish Drawings, and a summer travel sketchbook from a recycled book called Colors of the Sea. All of these are discussed and photographed in daily blog posts in my bookbinding category on the blog.

July was my big surface design month, during which I spent part of almost every day dying fabric, exploring new techniques, and creating dyed fabric for bookcloth. In the process I also made dye samples and created a unique sewing pattern for a pencil-pen pocket which goes around my sketchbook cover with Velcro. It is a wonderful convenience when I am sketching as I walk around museums and galleries.

Even Axel and his friend Alice made an appearance on fabric - using thick dye for the drawing and color.

This year I also planned to make another batch of paste paper to use for covering bookboards and/or as endpapers, but I didn't deplete as much of my stash as I thought I might.

I'd love to read what others are planning....

Posted by Shirley at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last FIT Watercolor Class

Last night was the final class of my Watercolor Class at Fashion Institute of Technology. My goal for this class was to finally spend time in a real class, instead of learning on my own, and to work bigger and looser. I have no interest in changing my main goal, which is to keep a watercolor sketchbook journal, but change and growth through a formal course can result in some changes to my pages. We learned about so many brushes, grounds, resists, and types of paint. We used Chinese White on white Illustration board and brown cardboard, and most recently gouache on black gesso, a fun technique which I still need to play with before posting my paintings. Our model last evening, the young man with the Mohawk, dressed crazy for Christmas! Here are two of my paintings and a drawing of Professor Martino as he was painting during our party.