Paper and Threads

Met Breuer NYC is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the death of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.  50 works from the Met's Scofield Thayer Collection are in the exhibit, OBSESSION, Nudes by Klimt, Schiele and Picasso.  I like all 3 of these artists, and figure drawing, very much and sketched one Klimt and one Schiele.  The Schiele was painted at home. 

This is the link to the exhibit, which will be on view until October 7th. 

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/obsession 

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My granddaughter potted a plant for her Mom, and I painted it during our art session the morning after we returned her to DC.  

I love looking for the newly blooming flowers in Wagner Park when I go to figure drawing on Wednesdays.  It was good to be back home, returning to the Battery Park City Adult Art Programs.  I like examining the plants and drawing the flower shapes, colors, leaves, and any buds that are visible. 

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After weeks away from Figure Drawing, I returned to Figure Al Fresco at Battery Park City, and we had a wonderful, new young model.  These are my 4 five minute drawings - drawn with a General Sketch and Wash pencil which I spread with a waterbrush to obtain the gray color.

During a break after this 10 minute pose, our model told us that she teaches figure drawing, and likes to throw in a few poses requiring us to draw with foreshortening.

These drawings were bigger than my scanner and were photographed. 

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My Young Artists:  My granddaughter is visiting from DC this week and her NYC cousin is spending time with her at our apartment.  Both of them like "Art" of all kinds, and chose the Natural History Museum Tuesday for sketching because it was too hot in NYC to be outside.  All 3 of us sketched animals, and Annabelle's favorite sketch of 4 was her polar bear.  Zach's favorite of 5 was his walrus.  They are " just 10" and "almost 9" and I love sketching with them.

Annabelle's Favorite Drawing

Zach's Favorite Drawing 

My drawings were made in the Museum, but painted at home from photos I took.

The Polar Bear

My Walrus

My Giraffes

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I love to draw figures, and gravitate to drawings and paintings of Masters to practice my skills when I'm at museum and gallery exhibits.  I saw a huge sumi ink and collage painting on paper by Kara Walker at MoMA this week.  It measured approximately 12 X 18 feet in size, and contained 80 heads and figures.  It is called Christ's Entry into Journalism (2017), and was inspired by slavery and misogyny, chronicling American racial history.  I sketched her Confederate soldier.  Exhibit ends June 22nd.

There is a new, exhausting exhibit of Giacometti's sculptures and paintings at the Guggenheim Museum NYC.  Unlike a previous sculpture exhibit by David Smith at the Guggenheim, and Picasso at MoMA, there is enormous repetition of similar pieces in this exhibit.  But I like Giacometti's art and specifically liked this table top sculpture of 3 figures.  I would find a place for it if someone wanted to give it to us!

Line of Action Drawings:  I watched a free Craftsy Class by Suhita Shirodkar called "Figure Drawing Made Simple" last Labor Day, and started to draw figures on 1/4th sheets of used copy paper to practice the technique.  It has now become a habit for me  to draw figures from magazines/catalogues after breakfast each morning.   I did them with my non-dominant hand while my cast was on - and now continue.  The following drawings were done after my cast was removed, with my dominant drawing hand.

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