Paper and Threads

 I returned to Wednesday afternoon Figure al Fresco after our week in Washington DC.  Julie Pierce, a friend of my friend Eunice, was visiting as a guest from the Sydney Australia Urban Sketchers group.  These two 5 minute sketches were drawn with a General Sketch and Wash pencil and shaded with a waterbrush and then watercolor.

The rest of my sketches (10-20 minutes) were drawn on prepainted watercolor paper - with leftover acrylic paint from my palette in my FIT art class.  It was fun seeing the drawing emerge from among the many colors and brushstrokes.

This outdoor figure drawing group meets weekly on Wednesdays, weather permitting through the month of October.  It is sponsored and funded by the Battery Park City Conservancy as one of their adult programs.

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For the last week we were in Washington DC helping to take care of two of our grandchildren.

While they were in school on Friday we visited the Hirshhorn Museum (one of the Smithsoniam Museums on the Mall) and looked at their permanent collection for the first time in decades.  I loved the Gallery that was full of DeKooning paintings and Giacometti sculptures and spent a few minutes sketching several pieces in my watercolor sketchbook. 

These were three of the busts of his Brother Diego:

And this is one of my Favorite Dog Sculptures.  I've seen it in other museums, and finally took time to sketch it.  The painting was done later at home.

Midway around the circular gallery space there is a gorgeous room which overlooks the Mall, showing the other museums and the National Archives. 

When I returned to pick up my husband, who was sitting in this room doing a crossword puzzle, I found an art class setting up to draw and paint the rooftops across the Mall.  They were interested and very well behaved!    

Art Smart Studio Class

I spent time talking to the Art Smart Lady, Lorina Harris, and was inspired to also draw one of the museum rooftops before we left. 

This is the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art.

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The Battery Park City Conservancy holds outdoor figure drawing sessions on Wednesday afternoon, May 1-Oct 31.  They have a stable group of models and this one loves to change her clothes periodically during the 2 hour session.  Her bright colors may be responsible for my use of color in these drawings. 

I had a long slim piece of paper that I prepainted with acrylic paint and used it to sketch Leticia in a 10 minute pose.  I sketched her in pencil and then used a Sharpie pen to make sure that I didn't ruin one of my Pigma Micron pens.

Ten Minute Pose -  sketched with a General Sketch and Wash pencil and then shaded with water and a waterbrush.

Twenty Minute Pose:  Sketched and shaded as above, and then painted with watercolor.

Eight Minute Pose to finish the session:  We were all tired, in the heat of the afternoon, and I went back to drawing on newsprint to draw our reclining model.  Can't account for the gray-blue background after scanning the drawing.

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A Gallery visit with my artist friends Pat and Benedicte.  This was one of the first days of the summer that we were together, and planned a visit to Galerie St. Etienne at 24W57th St.  It is one of our favorite galleries and even though it was closed for the upcoming holiday, we were allowed in to see the exhibit and draw!  We usually each have a favorite and take a few minutes at the end of the exhibit to draw it.  Drawing the Masters is one of my regular activities, a planned part of my self-learning process.

A Selfie to send to Teri who planned to join us and was then stuck at home waiting for a repair man.

I love to draw and my favorite subjects are people and buildings, and could have done copies of several by Klimt and Schiele.  But I loved this pose by Oskar Kokoschka and the use of a wash.  The hand was rather crude, but I loved the foot.  I sketched it separately because I couldn't fit it on the sketchbook page. 

Kokoschka Seated Female Nude Facing Left, 1913:

My Copy - which was painted at home: 

The Gary Nader gallery, in the same building, had remnents of a recent exhibit of Cuban paintings, and I sketched the main figure - a Caballaro on his horse, and painted it at home. 

The only other gallery that was open in the building, due to changing exhibits, was John Szoke - Works on Paper.  I made a very quick pencil sketch of a Picasso print and then finished it at home.  I used a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen for the ink drawing and almost forgot that the ink isn't water proof on my Fabriano 140lb Soft Press paper.  Neither is Carbon Platinum Ink.  The paint I applied was supposed to be in the white areas of the face, but I stopped just in time when beginning to brush on the paint on the head band.

A favorite drawing of ours by Egon Schiele - but too hard to draw in the time we had at Galerie St. Etienne. 

Standing Woman in Green Shirt, 1914:

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Figure Al Fresco:  The Battery Park Conservancy sponsors 3 adult art classes each week, May through October.  The sessions are free, held in beautiful sections of the Park, and art supplies are provided.  These drawings were done in the figure drawing session.  I loved this warm up exercise - five 2 minute poses, with the model maintaining the same pose and turning slightly every 2 minutes.  My drawing sequence isn't in order because I glued together 3 papers on Photoshop - and as a lefty I start on the left side of the page to prevent spreading graphite.

 Four five minute poses drawn with a soluble graphite pencil and shaded with water and a waterbrush.

I rarely use the full time during a 20 minute pose and I occasionally add one of my fellow artists to the drawing. 

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