Paper and Threads

I love the drawings of Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) and today joined my friend Melly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to draw some of them for the second time.  My first drawings were posted here.  The exhibit ends April 18th. so I will even have time to return for more.  All of the drawings were done with a Caran d'Ache aquarelle pencil (Mahogany).

 Study for his painting Jealousy - and for me More Hand Drawing Practice:

Head of a Young Woman - and for me the challenge was getting the correct angle for the head: 

Study of Crossed Legs - and for me lots of crosshatching for shading

Posted by Shirley at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Last night was my monthly session at figure drawing.  Since they are held twice each week, I can usually find at least one night to go each month.  The format remains the same - two models in ten 2 minute poses, four 5 minute poses, two 10 minute poses, and three 20 minute poses while sketching with wine and live jazz.  I sat in a different area of the room last night and wrestled with the angle during most of the 2 minute poses.  Here are a few from the 5, 10, and 20 minute poses.  I'm still sketching with plain graphite.

5 minutes:

5 Minutes:

10 Minutes:

20 Minutes:

20 Minutes:

Posted by Shirley at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

 We took our 6 year old grandson Henry to the 3rd Young People's Concert in this year's series at the New York Philharmonic and a fabulous Spanish guitarist was the soloist with the orchestra.  We were sitting too far away for me to see his hands, so I sketched him from one of his website photos for my daily sketch.  His hands really were in that position, but it reminded me that I need lots more practice drawing hands.  I am slowly drawing each letter from photos on an American Sign Language website and I decided that it was time for J and K.  Pablo Saenz Villegas was drawn with my water-soluble Pilot Varsity pen and then brushed with water.

American Sign Language letters - drawn with a watercolor pencil from photos on a website.

Posted by Shirley at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I love watching the Winter Olympics and spent large blocks of time glued to the coverage.  Probably because of my lifelong interest in dance, and specifically ballet, figure skating is one of my very favorite events.  As I was getting ready to watch the Women's Short Program, I was surfing the NBC Olympic website and found this photo of Mirai Nagasu.  I fell in love with this perky, skilled, 16 year old while watching her skate at Nationals several weeks before.  Although she was being considered the US hope for the future, she appeared to be in a group with other world class skaters already.  I loved the entire coverage of the Women's event and have never been so impressed as I was with Kim Yu-Na's free skate on Thursday evening.  But I was even more thrilled that Mirai finished in 4th place!!   

Posted by Shirley at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

 I thoroughly enjoy my monthly figure drawing sessions - and last evening one of the two models was the lovely pregnant woman from my last session.  The fast, i.e. 2 minute and 5 minute sketches are the most fun for me, probably because I get bored during the 20 minute poses when I think I should add faces and hands.  Feet are rarely an option because I can't see them from where I sit.

2 minute Pose

2 Minute Pose Left and 5 Minute Pose Right

5 Minute Pose

5 Minute Pose Left and 10 Minute Pose Right

I realized that I chose to upload only the drawings that I did of the pregnant model. (there are always 19 total)  She is just glowing - with a beautiful calm face and lovely smile.

Posted by Shirley at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)