Paper and Threads

I had two wonderful days with NYC art groups this week - summer is definitely special as we meet and draw outside.  Fortunately our big heat wave ended and it is comfortable if you can stay out of the direct sun.  On Wednesday morning I went down to the tip of Manhattan and as I was walking along Battery Place, couldn't resist this view of the Freedom Tower (One World Trade Center) as I looked north on Greenwich St.  It is a beautiful tower that dwarfs the surrounding buildings. 

In the afternoon, John was again our model.  This is my final drawing of him - done in 10 minutes during a 20 minute pose.  I got bored and then sketched a visiting Peruvian artist/architect, Joel Guevara, as he was drawing John too.

The NYC Weekday Urban Sketchers met in Bryant Park on Thursday.  The Park is behind the New York Public Library between 40th and 42nd Streets and 5th and 6th Avenues.  On Thursdays the Park sponsors "Broadway in Bryant Park" and as we were sketching we listened to Broadway actors from "American in Paris" and "Beautiful" sing songs from their shows.  This is a very popular program and here are a few photos I took of the crowd on the lawn.

I like sketching buildings and pieces of buildings while trying to better understand perspective.  I sketched the very top of the building on W.40th St that you can see in the above photo. 

Next week my 8 year old grand daughter from DC will be here with us, and I can't even imagine how many places we will be in the City. 

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I have a variety of sketchbook pages from recent days.  This month I quickly sketched my husband's portrait when we were out for coffee.  I do this periodically and he doesn't think any of them look like him.  Here he is in his Mets baseball cap.

This week I met a virtual friend from Sketchbook Skool in person when Andrea Rubenstein joined our Weekday NYC Urban Sketchers Group at an air conditioned atrium in Midtown Manhattan.  Several members sketched Winston Churchill from an exhibit at Chartwell Book Store.  I tried to sketch Andrea as we talked. 

Earlier in July I sketched a beautiful pink hibiscus flower, and then painted it while our group was talking to Andrea.   Without thinking, I mistakenly added the stamen from day lilies - and unintentionally made it a rare hybrid! 

This morning the Central Park Drawing and Art Meet Up group met at the Conservatory Water and I sketched several people sitting at the Café. 

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Battery Park City Conservancy has 3 adult art programs each week.  I usually will go Wed AM for an hour to sketch flowers in Wagner Park, but I almost always go to the Figure Al Fresco sessions in the afternoon.  In a lovely spot in South Cove, with river breezes even on hot days, clothed models are scheduled for 2 hours.  These 4 drawings are of Regina - 3 five minute poses and 1 twenty minute pose.

Five Minutes:

Twenty Minutes:

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Figure Al Fresco - The Battery Park City Summer Adult Art Program:  The model was well known to us, and we politely asked him if he could take off his baseball cap and socks!  It was a great improvement.  These are several of my 2 minute sketches, done with an 8B pencil on newsprint.  Everything in this blog post was photographed because of the paper size.

Five Minute Poses:  These longer poses were drawn with a soluble graphite pencil and then "shaded" with a waterbrush with clear water.

Ten-Twenty Minute Poses:  I rarely can sustain my interest for more than 10 minutes, so I filled in the time by drawing another artist behind John in these two poses.  The artist drawn behind John, on the left, has a  hat on with a huge brim keeping the sun out of her eyes.

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I love figure drawing, and always hope that regular practice is making my drawings better.  From May through October I go to Battery Park City weekly for Figure Al Fresco, which is held outdoors and the models clothed.  Several weeks ago we began our session with 10 one minute poses, and here my first four.  Although it is always hard for me to be certain, I really think that I'm getting better at catching these poses in a very short period of time.  This and the next drawing were photographed instead of scanned.

I went to the Society of Illustrators last week with one of my out-of-town guests, and was very happy to be back.  These are some of my 5 minute, 10 minute, and 20 minute poses.

Five Minute Poses:

Ten Minute Poses:

Two Twenty Minute Poses:

When I'm back at the Society of Illustrators I remember how much I enjoy this venue and two nude models posing simultaneously.  This time I sketched one of the models most of the time - because I liked her poses, and because of where I was sitting.  The SOI sketched were done with soluble graphite pencils.

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