Paper and Threads

I recycled a discarded $1.00 book entitled Artist and Model and now have watercolor paper in it to practice figure drawing from photos.  I snip photos from magazines, especially hands, feet, and faces to practice drawing.  I also love to copy drawings from the Masters. 

Nancy Tasker (from the Everday Matters online art group) and I decided to exchange images from the Masters and this week I copied her John Singer Sargent drawing of Myra Hess. Myra was a British pianist who was well known for establishing more than 150 lunchtime concerts in the National Gallery in London during the Blitz.  Concert Halls were closed and these lunchtime concerts significantly raised British morale.

                                                 Graphite 2B 

I searched for images of Myra Hess with Google this morning and found another artist who used the Sargent drawing for his drawing practice.  I can't wait to go back and look at his blog, the most recent blog post was about the benefits of drawing daily!

When our daughter and her family were living in London, we discovered Sargent's studio/home in her neighborhood, so drawing this brought back fond memories of a wonderful walk and gorgeous home.  Here is my photo.  31 Tite Street to the Left and 33 to the Right.  Oscar Wilde lived at 34.

I keep magazine photos of hands in my Artist and Model sketchbook so I can draw them when I have nothing to paint in my daily sketchbook.  These hands were drawn while I was watching the evening TV coverage from the Democratic National Convention.  If only my drawing practice made a bigger difference when I'm drawing hands on live models!

                    Mahogany Caran D'ache  Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencil with Water

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All of our New York City grandchildren (ages 3-9) spent the Labor Day holiday with us.  We had a picnic in Central Park Saturday afternoon - playing soccer, and then several rounds of a favorite new card game called Apples to Apples.  Here are a few photos and two of my sketchbook pages during these hectic 4 days.

When we were in the apartment, the boys played together with their electronic games and Sydney and I made more animal placemats for them to use when visiting us.  These are the 3rd and 4th that she made.

These were busy days and I barely had time to finish several journal pages.  I started to sketch a few people sitting on the bench near our blankets, because I liked the man's position with his arms over the back of the bench.  And then he moved off to play softball after about 1 minute! ! 

I also sketched the sleeping bear and walrus placemats that Sydney made and the funny fantasy crocodile that I made. 

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We spent the weekend at the beach with our daughter and her family.  The children are there during August, so we love visiting in order to see them.  My husband and I walk 2 miles on the beach each morning and Sydney joined us on one of the days.  She has wonderful energy and last appeared on this blog after her 8k Firecracker run.  

I took lots of photos of her running in the surf and painted this sketchbook page from a photo.

The next day I set up a beach still life (weathered plywood, gull feather, pine cone) + some hydrangea petals to add color.

All of our New York grandchildren will spend next weekend with us in the City and then start school .  Summer is officially over!    

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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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