Paper and Threads

Last week Pat and I took my friend Kathy for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry.  It is one of the best activities in New York City .  It is free and ferries depart every 30 minutes.  You need to get off the ferry in Staten Island, but there are little restaurants in the ferry terminal and a huge tropical fish tank to keep you from getting bored before you board a ferry for the return trip.

These are the New York City Ferry Terminals as we were departing.

The view of Battery Park and the Financial District is spectacular.  The tall building on the left is the new Freedom Tower - built on the North edge of Ground Zero.  They are still working on the very top.

The ferry sails close to the Statue of Liberty.  This photo was taken with the zoom on my point and shoot camera.

We only had a few minutes to draw the fish - they were painted back in NYC during lunch.

We sat along the seawall for our figure drawing session to stay warm in the sun.  This is a photo of part of our sketching group.

I'm only posting my two 10 minute sketches.  Joseph was a terrific model, and in the majority of poses he was sitting in challenging positions on the rocks.

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Last Wednesday Pat and I spent the morning at the Met - at the Preview of the new exhibit "Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years," and the afternoon at Figure Drawing Alfresco.  Since then my days were devoted to our new grandson.  Today I went back to my sketchbook and scanned a few of my sketches for my blog.

I like that we begin the session with 10 one minute sketches.  The time goes VERY QUICKLY and I barely breath while trying to capture an image.  I know these are exercises for warming up, but I still like to define the position of the model.  John uses a park bench very effectively in his poses.

Two minute sketches:  The coordinator of these sessions tries to remind us not to slow down or our two minute sketches will look just like our one minute sketches.  I love being reminded, because my tendency is to slow down instead of using the extra time for refinement.

Five Minute Sketch:

Ten Minute Sketch:

Twenty Minute Painting:  I hoped that I could draw figures with my paintbrush - sometime in the future.  For the last year I sketched models with my watercolor pencils, and then painted them with water for shading.  Our model John reclined on a big rock, with the Hudson River lapping on the seawall behind us and I finally decided that I was so relaxed that I would draw him with my brush.  Unfortunately he was dressed completely in beige and the rock was light gray, so there is NO range of values in my painting.  The faint drawing that can be seen is pencil added after the paint.  Couldn't resist it!  But I DID draw with my brush!

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I haven't been to the weekly outdoor figure drawing session since July due to travel and weather and next week have jury duty!  Guess I will sketch fellow jurors and maybe even complete my Faces project.  

I'm posting the information again for those who live close enough to participate in this free city park program.

I'm just uploading a few of many sketches this morning.  We did ten 1 minute poses, five 2 minute poses, five 5 minute poses, one 10 and one 20 minute pose. 

These are two minute poses - and I was pleased that they seemed to flow easily after a month with no practice.

The others are my 10 and 20 minute poses.  In both of these graphite drawings the model's left knee is bent back completely.

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Last year I learned about a free Battery Park City Parks Conservancy adult art program.  I went approximately 6 times last year between May and Oct, and this year already attended Figure al Fresco 3 times.  I bring my sketchbook, pencils etc, but they provide free art supplies and sometimes get some curious visitor to sit down and join us.  I still love sketching nude models best, but find the challenge of drawing clothed models a nice change. 

I was downtown Wednesday morning and dropped by the Elements of Nature Drawing session in Wagner Park.  This is where I painted the day liliy at our Meet-up Drawing Session several weeks ago.  This week the hibiscus were in bloom - and HUGE.  The session was almost over, but not before I painted a hibiscus.

My friend Judy (artist who sketched the figure on the Adult Art brochure) and I then walked to South Cove for figure drawing.  Here are a few of my sketches of the male model - who was wonderfully inventive in his poses.

One Minute Pose - I love these - no time to think or fuss!

Two Minute Pose

Five Minute Poses:  I think these may be my favorite pose length - not much time to think and I still am sketching when the model changes position.

This one makes me giggle.  Only when I finished it did I realize that the model was resting his elbow on his knee - thus the arrow pointing a my huge area of  "negative space."

Ten minute Pose:  The model wheeled over his bicycle, put the kickstand down, and climbed on for the 10 minute poses.  I sketched in watercolor pencil and then used a Niji waterbrush to spread some pigment. 

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Liz Steel came to New York City on her way home from the 3rd Urban Sketchers' Symposium in Santa Domingo.  We met early in the day at Grand Central, walked from City Hall to Wall Street and then spent the morning at the 9/11 Memorial.

Left to Right:  Me, my Friend Phyllis who is also an architect like Liz, and Liz

We spent lots of time at the Memorial for the World Trade Center South Tower.  Liz and Phyllis sketched the memorial and the new Freedom Tower, while I sketched the World Financial Center.

The long low bulding behind the pool is the 9/11 Museum building - still under construction.

This is World Trade Center Tower 1 - The Freedom Tower.  You can see the construction elevator which is attached to the East side of the tower as they continue to work on the top.  The building to the right in this photo is a new office building.

I sketched a few of the World Financial Center buildings  which are adjacent to the World Trade Center site.  Our daughter was there at her desk at American Express when both planes hit, so the two buildings - one with a copper dome and one with a copper pyramid on top - carry special memories for me.  I sketched the skyline of the buildings quickly with a Tombow marker - in the 100 degree heat of the day!

We cooled off in the air conditioning at lunch in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center and then spent the afternoon back in the heat - at outdoor figure drawing in Battery Park City Park.

                                           A  "One Minute Gesture Drawing"

                                                     Two Minute Drawings

Our afternoon was cut short by lightening, thunder, and torrential rain.  Liz went on to visit many more sites in this City and she has posted many of her drawings on her blog and Flickr site.

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