Paper and Threads

We visited the Guggenheim Sunday afternoon to see the El Greco to Picasso exhibit before it closes on March 24th.  What huge crowds!  The lighting was wonderful - a combination of light from the skylight in the rotunda and the lights over each painting.  I was captivated by the view across the open center and stood along the balcony to sketch the scene.  I had to reduce the number of people in my sketch in order to really see the paintings.  The half circle in the center of the sketch is an open area overlooking a small adjoining gallery below.

I then quickly visited a few of my favorites in the permanent collection and sketched this small portion of Camille Pissaro's painting Hermitage at La Pointoise.  I love rooftop scenes and ! was looking for something to paint using a single color triad: cadmium red, Winsor blue, and Winsor lemon. 

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Last Sunday I explored Bryant Park, the space behind the New York Public Library.  A free skating rink and 100 artisan Christmas shops were set up in the park and Christmas decorations were everywhere.  The sky was clear and the late afternoon sun was on the Empire State building and the Chrysler Building.  I sketched and painted both of them, and tonight collaged the wreath that I painted last week on both buildings.  However, I'm not proficient enough in Photoshop to do it digitally, so I cut out the wreath, used restickable glue (like post-it notes) and put the wreath on each building before scanning.

Our family Christmas card each year is a Manhattan holiday design - next year I might be able to make my own. 

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I have 100s of buttons in my studio from my many, many years of sewing.  When we lived in Texas I bought an old English oak button cabinet to use as a side table, and the buttons that I sketched tonight were some of the lovely metal buttons that came with that table.   Each one has a very intricate design, regardless of how small.   The two largest buttons in this group are 3/4 inch and the smallest is 1/2".

Last Saturday I spent the day between the New York City Garment District and Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) with my new fried and fellow EDM member Paula.  She is from Brazil and currently studying at Columbia.  I have walked past the Garment District sculptures at 40th and 7th Ave many times, but on Saturday joined Paula in taking a few pictures of the large button, needle, and garment worker.  It sometimes takes new eyes to make you see something that is so familiar!  I thought that I would include it as another sketch for the Button challenge.

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I have never sketched a flag - and was lucky enough to have one in front of a historically landmarked building in my neighborhood in New York City.  I want to do multiple sketches of this beautiful building that was the home of a light opera composer in the early 1900s.  In the 1930 census that I viewed its value was already estimated at $1,000,000 and it is well maintained and now contains several luxury apartments.  I was able to do the sketch while standing in front of the building and then take a photo of the flag when it was blowing to sketch and paint at home. 

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I looked at traffic signs all week as I drove from home to work and back again.  Our streets are very wide and I suddently realized that 95% of the traffic signs  are along the sides of these 4-6 lane city streets and highways.  I never remember seeing half of the signs that I saw when I was patiently looking (and trying not to hit the cars in front of me).   My favorite was the yellow and black sign in the middle of this drawing - on a signpost in front of yellow and black arrows.  An undivided city street suddenly acquires a center median and all traffic needs to move to the right.  If you fail to do so, you plow into the sign and a huge row of black rubber containers!   My second favorite is the "Don't block the Box  - Fine +2 points" sign.  I wonder if our EDM members would have any clue what this sign means?

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