Paper and Threads

We took Henry and Sydney to the Central Park Zoo following the Carousel last week, arriving just in time to see the penguins being fed.  The penguin house is dark - with a climate controlled space for the penguins which means water droplets across the windows.  In addition, they move too quickly for me to draw in the dark - so these were sketched from a few of my favorite photos. 

Every penguin has a numbered tag and the animal feeders have a clipboard with a long list of them. This is to insure that each of them is first fed one "special fish" that is loaded artificially with
their vitamins.

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We took our grandchildren Henry (just 4) and Sydney (2 1/2) to the Central Park Carousel this week.  We arrived just before 10AM so we were able to see it before it started running.  I even took Sydney to see a nice little horse - but there was no way this otherwise adventurous child was going to get on that horse!  So grandma had a ride on a big horse, all alone, hoping to change her mind - but no.  "When I'm bigger" was all she said!  Henry was also very cautious and rode in the cart behind one of the horses with Grandpa. 

Tonight's dinner salad.  I really did have to sketch and paint it before eating.  I wasn't looking forward to this, but like most EDM challenges I'm glad I did it. 

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One of my goals for 2007 is to sketch in my own city as if I were on an exotic vacation.  Manhattan is so large and so varied, from neighborhood to neighborhood, that I will never tire of the scenes.  This is one apartment building on 5th Ave - in the 80s - as seen looking Southeast through foliage in Central Park.  I think these are terraces associated with the penthouse(s), but the roof watertank is also probably housed in one of these structures.

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I went back to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Paul Poiret fashion exhibit again yesterday with out of town friends.  These garments were from the first several decades of the 20th century, but avant garde for their times and still wearble.  The hats were fantastic and rarely seen today, so I chose to sketch the mannequins with the best hats.  I'm still trying to do fast loose, figure sketches, so this was a perfect journal page for the day.   

When I saw the exhibit for the first time I carefully recorded colors and painted the sketch when I got home.  Yesterday I didn't have time to really look at colors, so I'm leaving these as line drawings.

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Casey, Sandy, and I met this morning at 10 and spent the day sketching together in Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It is so much fun to meet other EDM members - who you feel like you know from reading their blogs, enjoying their art, and exchanging comments.

 Sandy and I would like to sketch faster and looser like Casey - so we watched her carefully!  The 3 of us will upload our individual journal pages as they are completed - I'm not sure that mine are too different from my normal style as much as I tried.

Here are two photos:  We started at the Toy Boat Pond, moved to Bethesda Fountain, then had lunch at the Central Park Boathouse.  We ended the day on the Sculpture Garden Roof and in the Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Left to Right: Casey, Shirley, Sandy.

On the Sculpture Roof at the Met with the NYC skyline behind us:  Shirley, Casey, Sandy

We all sketched random people at the cafe at the Toy Boat Pond, Bethesda Fountain, the Boat House restaurant where we had lunch, a statue in the Greek and Roman Galleries, and an Etruscan Chariot.  However, Casey sketched lots more!  Here are my sketchbook pages, in that order:

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