Paper and Threads

Here are 3 more journal pages - I'm on a roll!

I love watching Project Runway and periodically like to sketch the winning design the evening that I watch it.  Here is the oversized sweater and paper-bag waste pants by Althea that all of the women judges wanted to wear, right then.

The following day I thought alot about my own love of design and specifically two outfits that I made when I was a senior in college.  The one on the left is a suede suit that I made with 5 skins that my boyfriend of the time gave me for my birthday.  I had enough suede to make the skirt and front panels of the jacket.  The jacket sleeves, back, and front button panel were made from a wool-silk tweed blend that matched the suede.  The dress on the left was made as a final exam in a semester long flat pattern design course that I took (after my premed requirements were done and I was already admitted to medical school).  I selected a dress from a NYTimes newspaper advertisement and made the pattern and then the dress from a green wool tweed.  The top was a blouson style and the skirt had a deep inverted pleat and slant pockets.  I don't have photos of either design - amazing now that I have 10 photos of everything with my digital camera.

Yesterday my husband and I went to the Fall Impressionist and Modern Previews at Christies and Sotheby's Auction Houses in New York City - one of our favorite semi-annual activities.  We start at Christies, then have lunch at Dos Caminos and end at Sothebys - and in the process see well over 500 pieces of art that will be auctioned on Nov 3rd and 4th.  I loved a work on paper by George Grosz and sketched a detail from it - a man's head. 

Posted by Shirley at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I did several "play" exercises before I left last week for the Quilt Festival. 

Prepainting a Page Background: Roz http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/roz_wound_up/ recommends prepainting the background on some pages in your sketchbook and then just drawing and painting over it.  I prepainted every other double-page spread in my first sketchbook (2003) based on exercises derived from the Gwen Diehn book The Decorated Page, but have not done it since.  My daughter found a new leather pencil case for me and I wanted to draw it with one of each category of tool I carry in it.  To make the background more interesting, I decided to prepaint it, let it dry, and then proceed with my drawing.

Anatomy for Action Figure Drawing:  Angela Gair and Anthony Colbert, in their book The Sketchbook Kit, recommend that you "amuse yourself by drawing little sketches that show how the skeleton moves, in order to understand how the joints operate."  I love this concept and finally tried drawing their little skeletons, just in time for Halloween.

Posted by Shirley at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I went to my second figure drawing session last evening at the New York Society of Illustrators with my friend Istar.  On Tuesday evenings the models are nude, on Thursday evenings the models may wear parts of costumes.  I wanted to experience both - and liked both evenings equally well.  The setting is wonderful and there is live music during the entire 3 hours.  I came home with 9 two minute, 4 five minute, 2 ten minute, and 3 twenty minute sketches.  I'm just going to post examples of each.

The models posed with multiple hula hoops - the male model in yellow harem pants and the female model in a red bra and black leggings.  The addition of the hoops made the 2 minute sketches more difficult, but fun.

Two models and a hula hoop even made 5 minute sketches a challenge.

I wanted to remember the costumes in this 10 minute sketch and colored parts with watercolor pencils - but the paper didn't take water well and buckled slightly.  For this pose, he put on a black hat and soft ball necklace and she put on an umbrella hat.  And she really did have dyed shocking pink hair!

A ten minute pose, with one sitting and one standing - and in different costumes:

Both disrobed, but the male model wore his black hat and brown boots for the final 20 minute sketch.  I continue to have trouble fitting everything on the page when I'm working quickly (just one more thing to work on in 2010!), so you can't see his boots.

Posted by Shirley at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I retired on July 1st and last night finally went to my first Figure Drawing session.  If you follow this blog, you know that I was practicing for this moment by sketching figures as 90 sec. sketches of posemaniac images, or 5 minute figures from one of two nude figure photo books for artists that I bought.  I'm very glad that I did the prep work over the last several years because I never felt overwhelmed last evening.

I met my dear friend Istar at the Society for Illustrators so I would be with someone who knew the location and process.  The setting is lovely - very open space, live music, a small bar for a glass of wine during the 20 minute break, and hundreds of inspiring illustations lining the walls on all floors.  We had two models - one short and full figured, the other tall, thin, and beautifully coifed.  I frequently couldn't see below their ankles, but on the short poses, I didn't even have time to worry about it.   

The 3 hours flew by - and I did all 19 sketches - 2, 5, 10, and 20 minutes in length.  I'm just so thrilled to finally sketch live models that I'm uploading a total of 7 to this page.  All of the sketches were done with a Koh-i-noor Progresso 6B pencil  on 8 x 11" paper in a Working Class Studio, bound, sketchbook that I bought for half-price at Barnes and Noble.  I have no idea where I got the pencil, but it was smooth and wonderful on the paper. 

Two of Ten 2 minute sketches:

Two of four 5 minute sketches:

Both 10 minute sketches:

Two of three 20 minute sketches: 

Posted by Shirley at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)