Paper and Threads

Several years ago I discovered that I really like contemporary Southeast Asian Art and during Asia Week there are auction previews at the NYC auction houses for this specific type of art.  The auctions are taking place this week, and my friends and I went to the Preview at Sotheby's last Friday.  I love the paintings by B. Prabha (1933-2001) and painted one of her paintings and a detail of another.  Please ignore my difficulties remembering how to spell her name.

There were 3 drawings of dancers by Shiavax Chavda (1914-1990), and I sketched one to try to learn how he achieved such great movement in his drawing.

I draw and paint from the Masters for two reasons: 

1.  I want to have a sketchbook page that represents that day in my visual sketchbook, and at least one artwork I loved.

2.  I learn so much by reproducing lines and their watercolor palette.   

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Juilliard Jazz Orchestra - A drawing done while we were listening to the Jazz Orchestra play at Juilliard - always a delightful experience.  My days got away from me and I decided not to paint the page.

Art on Paper - An annual weekend art show on Pier 36 in NYC.  I always enjoy the variety of artworks displayed and like to find one piece that I want to draw in my sketchbook to remember the day.  This Picasso print was in John Szoke's booth, and it gave me an opportunity to use my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.

Wine bottles at Tartinery - After the exhibit my husband and I walked through the Lower East Side to Little Italy for a mid-afternoon lunch.  We sat at the bar to eat and I sketched the wine bottles in front of me.  I just watched the second week of the first Strathmore 2018 online art program, and wanted to use masking fluid for the glass reflections.  I used the squeeze bottle type of masking fluid, which I last used one year ago and the color had changed from light blue to green.  After removing the mask, the green color remained on the paper!  I need to go back to my Winsor-Newton masking fluid. 

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Last Friday I went to a Swann Gallery's "Drawings and Prints" Auction Preview with my friends Pat and Eunice.  There was a wonderful selection of art, more prints than drawings, but everything was inspiring.  After looking at everything I chose 2 drawings to add to my sketchbook.  This was a drawing by Toulouse-Lautrec ("Caudieux - 1893") and I chose to paint it. instead of using charcoal. 

 Almuerza 1937 - a brush and India ink drawing by Diego Rivera. 

After viewing all of the Art, which will be auctioned beginning today, we had a late lunch at Panera.  After lunch I sketched and painted several other customers.

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I went to the opening of the new Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit called Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas.  I was overwhelmed by the variety of archeologic finds, their materials, artistry, and beauty.  These are 3 out of almost 300 objects.  It was almost like going to the Picasso Sculpture exhibit at MoMA when I wanted to draw everything.

This is a link to the Met website, and every item in the exhibit can be seen in photos.  Scroll down to see the link for all items.

https://metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/golden-kingdoms 

 I'm also including a few of the photos that I took.  These were favorites, but I didn't copy names or dates - they stretched from 600-700 AD to 14th and 15th Centuries.

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The NYC Weekday Urban Sketchers met at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for the twice per semester Juilliard Concert of the Historical Performance Graduate Students who play early music.  I arrived 15 minutes before the doors opened and made a quick sketch of the building at CPW and W65th St.

I've previously sketched players and their string instruments at this concert, and wanted to sketch the harpsichord player during the concert.

This is a wonderful free concert, and it is first come, first serve seating.  Our group members met after the concert to show their drawings and there were so many different types of drawings, including the 4 big stained glass windows. 

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