Paper and Threads

I had a wonderful day Saturday - talking a long walk among art supply stores and ending at the Flatiron Building where Gwyneth Leech was ending her fabulous art exhibit called Hypergraphia. 

The weather was wonderful and the City was full of people out walking, running, shopping, and playing.  By counting blocks, I estimate that my walk from Dick Blick to NY Central Art Supply, to Casey's Stamps, and then the Hypergraphia exhibt was 1 1/2 to 2 miles.

I bought a new sketchbook for figure drawing and a package of gold leaf, which I didn't draw - and these items which I did draw.

I'm always amazed at how little it takes to make me happy - 2 pencils, a pen, some paint and a new rubber stamp.

Gwyneth Leech paints on disposable coffee cups and creates wonderful works of art.  She sat in a beautiful small gallery in the prow of the Flatiron building for the last few months, ending Saturday afternoon.  Here is a photo I took from where she sat and watched thousands of people pass by each day. 

Here is her blog post from the last day.  She told me that she now has more than 800 painted cups - and plans are being made for exhibits in other cities.  You must read her last blog post!

Posted by Shirley at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are several sketches from Valentine's Day at the Society of Illustrators.  One of the models had on a red sequin headband and red net stockings - one of which is visible on her leg in the first sketch while the other one is wrapped around her wrist.  This is a 10 minute pose.

The remaining two drawings are from the 20 minute poses.  I sketched the models with a watercolor pencil and then brushed on clear water in the last few minutes to achieve some shading.

These drawings are on 9 X 12" watercolor paper and are too big for my scanner.  The photograph background color was adjusted a little in Photoshop.

Posted by Shirley at 3:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

 I'm not a very good "doodler" so I bring a Doodle Sketchbook when I go visit my mother each week.  During the cold weather. we go for a long walk in her Senior complex and sit for awhile on a bench, in a glass crosswalk, in the sun.  Last week I doodled hearts and actually finished multiple ones while we sat for an hour and talked. 

This weekend, I resized them and used them as Valentine gift cards for our grandchildren.  Even doodling takes deliberate practice!  Having a separate sketchbook has made me very loose and experimental.  I bring a simple set of watercolor pencils with me, a water brush, and pen - plenty of tools for this activity.

Posted by Shirley at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I continue to do some Venice sketches in preparation for our Spring trip.  I went through my photos from previous visits, 10 and 20 years ago, and made a computer folder of some to sketch.  And now I'm working my way through them at least 1-2X/week.  Here are my latest 3.

I'm really enjoying getting to know a little bit more about the architecture of the most iconic buildings.  The big question - how much will I sketch while there?  I'm pretty good about making myself fill one page per day - quickly.  But I want to be looser, and sketch little bits and pieces whenever we sit down for a little while - and fill more than one page daily. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I recently posted a 4 part tutorial on making watercolor sketchbooks from old books - recycling of orphan books to give them a new life. 

The tutorial is in 4 parts, in order to cover the procedure in depth.  Rice Freeman-Zachery did a Q and A with me about bookbinding and making my sketchbooks, and I now realize that it would be nice to have one blog post with links to all 4 sections of the tutorial.

Making a Watercolor Sketchbook:

Introduction to Tutorial:  Selecting a good book to recycle.

Part 1:  Removing the old page block, tearing down watercolor paper and making new signatures.

Part 2:  Creating the new page block.

Part 3:  Casing in - gluing the new page block into the old book cover.

There is a bookbinding category in the column on the right side of the blog page, under the Archives list.  All of my watercolor sketchbooks, recycled and made with original covers (including book cloth covers I made), are tagged in that category.

Posted by Shirley at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)