Paper and Threads

I posted this Fabio Consoli Sketchbook Skool homework assignment previously.  My grandson Zach sketched the blue figure on the right, and then I collaged it in my sketchbook, using it as inspiration to complete a drawing from my imagination - always remembering that this was supposed to be "child's play." 

I liked my little alien and now I draw him all the time in my 100 day project "drawings from my imagination."  Here are a series of quick drawings in which my little alien appears. 

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Last Class at FIT:  I continued to use a dip pen and ink through the remainder of my class and loved using various dilutions of the India ink as washes.  These are my last two still life drawings and several faces done only with ink from magazine illustrations as inspiration.

Pencil Free Faces Inspired by Magazine Photos:  I almost always do a quick pencil sketch when drawing and use it as a guide for an ink drawing - making corrections as I go.  For these drawings, I ended my class time with very quick, ink only, sketches.

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I am participating in Jeanne Oliver's second Studying Under the Masters online course.  Contemporary artists select a master artist and become their apprentice, researching their life, their art, their materials and methods.  They then copy one of their paintings to learn more about their style and use what they learn in a painting of their own.  Mary Blair (1911-1978) was an early 20th Century illustrator who worked for Disney and or was a freelance illustrator who was commissioned by Disney among others.  Parents the world over, will remember her Disneyland "Small World" exhibit.  

I copied one of her gouache paintings and posted it recently. 

http://www.paperandthreads.com/2015/04/_i_am_slowly_making.php

It took me awhile to finish Part 2 - my painting inspired by the work and style of Mary Blair.  My main goal was to again use gouache for the painting to get more experience with this medium, using bold colors, crisp edges and black outlines.  I chose to work from a photo that I took on New Year's Eve.

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An Urban Sketcher from Sydney Australia connected me with a Sydney watercolor artist who was coming to visit New York City and we spent two days together this week.  I'm constantly amazed at the international world of sketchbook art and the friends I meet through Everyday Matters, Urban Sketchers, and my blog.  On Monday Eunice and I met for coffee, and were in the café so long that we ordered and ate lunch!  This is a picture of us following lunch and before we went downtown to buy art supplies.  It was wonderful to meet her and I'm delighted that she will be visiting regularly.

On Wednesday we met for a combined Weekday Urban Sketchers and Battery Park Conservancy Art Day.  Eunice and I sketched Pier A, at the tip of Manhattan overlooking New York Harbor, and while we sketched we watched Navy and Coast Guard vessels arrive for the annual Navy Fleet Week.  Notice the Statue of Liberty, which is on the other side of the harbor, right above the back of this destroyer.

We were freezing while we sketched and had to go into Pier A for hot coffee.  Here is my "as yet" unpainted drawing over New York Harbor.   Pier A is on the left and way in the distance is Governor's Island and the Verrazano Bridge

In the afternoon we moved to the Battery Park South Cove for Figure Al Fresco, the weekly figure drawing session sponsored by the Battery Park Conservancy.  The wind and cold made it unpleasant, so I did only the 1, 5, and 10 minutes sketches.   From left to right - 10 minute, and two five minute sketches done of our model who was sitting or standing on rocks in the South Cove. 

Next Wednesday it is supposed to be in the 80s, so we will meet again under better weather conditions for outdoor sketching. 

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I started to make my own watercolor sketchbooks by first learning how to repurpose $1-2 "soon to be discarded" books.  The original page block can be removed and a new watercolor page block inserted into books that are the size, and even perhaps a theme that you like. 

In 2008 I posted a tutorial of one of my first repurposed books.  In 2012 I posted a 4 part tutorial which is more detailed, and photographed each step as I repurposed a book called Italian Dreams for a 2012 vacation in Venice.  I recommend using the 2nd tutorial if you want to learn how to make these watercolor sketchbooks.

http://www.paperandthreads.com/2012/02/watercolor_sketchbook_tutorial.php

Each year I repurpose a themed book for our summer beach visits and for our vacation.  I found an 8 X 8" book for $2 on the carts outside The Strand bookstore in Manhattan.  It has a 1/2" spine and I can fit 3 signatures, each with two watercolor paper folios and one folio from the original book.  I can paint on both sides of each page, so I will have 24 watercolor pages to use and several text pages from the original folios to collage over. 

I cut out the original page block  and carefully cut the binding threads so I could remove some of the original pages to use as endpapers and to mix with my 140 lb watercolor folios.   

These are the front and back endpapers, which hold the new watercolor page block in the cover. 

This is an original folio that I nested inside one of the signatures. 

I also found a similar size book called Spanish Paintings for $2, and will make it into watercolor sketchbook for a Fall vacation in Spain. 

Please leave a comment if you have any questions. 

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