Paper and Threads

My husband and I love early morning beachwalks and I spend my time, while walking, learning about the changing ocean, sand, shells, and creatures.   It is even more fun when our friends visit for a week because they can help identify some of the creatures brought in with the tides. 

I found almost a dozen sea robin fish skulls over the last several years, but this year found this very interesting 3.5 x 2.5 inch skull right at the surfline.  There is a very small black shell trapped within making it seem likely to be from the ocean.  We searched all animal skull images with sagittal crests on the web and found one identical image  - uploaded by someone who also couldn't identfy it.  Since then we sent the photo to a bird watcher, a veterinarian, and a  reptile/amphibian expert, but we still don't have an answer.

I also found 2 dead Portuguese Men of War.  Jeff needed to identify them for me - I've never seen one dead or alive in the ocean or on the beach.

Posted by Shirley at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The Central Park Drawing and Art Meetup Group met at Grand Army Plaza in front of the Plaza Hotel last weekend and we sketched the Zodiac Heads sculpture by the Chinese artist and activist WeiWei.  There are 12 large heads - arranged in a semi-circle, on tall sculpted poles.  They are really impressive and can be seen until July 15th! 

I decided that I liked the "bull" best and did 3 sketches.

I did the first sketch as a "one-liner" because I love Picasso's bulls and toreadors that were all done with one line.  It was hard.  The second was done with ink and watercolor and the third was a side profile done with pencil.

Posted by Shirley at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I'm posting 4 of the 19 sketches done last night at the Society of Illustrators Sketch Night - two 5 minute sketches and two 20 minute sketches.  The long poses were drawn with a watercolor pencil and then shaded with my Niji waterbrush.  And they are on watercolor paper which is too big for my scanner and were thus photographed.

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Yesterday was our 44th wedding anniversary.  This is a quick painting that I did of my husband when we were at the beach last week.  And the second page is the bottle of champagne that we consumed with friends on our anniversary yesterday.  There were 3 couples at the beach last week and a total of 144 years of marriage among us!

Posted by Shirley at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I sketched and painted the sea gulls from two of the reference photos I posted here last week.  Over the summer I become obsessed with getting photos of them as they start moving away from me and then take off and fly.  Their wings are soooooo long.  Stay tuned for more photos and drawings next week as we return to the beach.

I found my next book to recycle as a Summer sketchbook.  This Summer I recycled a book called Watercolor Painting is Fun with 140 lb. Fabriano soft press watercolor paper.  My next book, purchased for $1.00 is called Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (pub. 1955).  I scanned the cover and Table of Contents below.  Isn't it perfect for the type of journal pages that I love to create at the beach?  But before I recycle it, I need to read it!

Posted by Shirley at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)