Paper and Threads

Our Meetup Drawing Group met in Battery Park yesterday in spite of the heat wave and threats of thunderstorms.  It is at the tip of Manhattan, and the site of the piers for the Long Island Ferry and boats to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  The views across New York Harbor are magnificent.

I did 3 sketchbook pages, each in about 30 minutes.  Our leader selects a spot and we are free to wander and select anything we want to draw.  The group then meets back after each sketch to lay out their drawings for all to see.

Here are my 3 sketchbook pages: a view across the Harbor, part of one of my favorite statues, and a single flower.

Posted by Shirley at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I went to figure drawing at the Society of Illustrators on Tuesday evening and Figure Al Fresco at Battery Park City on Wednesday afternoon.  These are very different experiences, nude models at the Society of Illustrators (with music and wine) and a free 2 hour session with a clothed model outside in Battery Park. 

 I'm going to just post a few drawings from each session - I still feel as if I took too long a break during the months I was traveling so much and now will try to remedy that.

Society of Illustrators:  2 minute pose.  A pencil shaving fell out of my sketchbook onto the scanner and I didn't notice it until all of my scanning was done!

Two 5 Minute Poses:  I can rarely see the models' feet from where I am sitting! 

20 Minute Pose Done with Watercolor pencil, paint, and water. 

Figure Al Fresco:  This is a wonderful public park art program that takes place for 2 hours (weather permitting) along the Hudson River in Battery Park City from May through October.  There were 7 of our group of friends there on Wed. increasing the number attending to a new all time record (>51).  The model was very inexperienced, but I just tried to capture her gestures quickly and had a lovely afternoon.

One Minute Poses for Gesture Drawing:  Here are 9 of the 11 poses that were drawn in my 9 X 12 sketchbook with a 9B pencil.

1 minute Poses for Gesture Drawing:

5 minute Pose. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Our 3 children and 6 of our 7 grandchildren were together this past weekend at the beach.  Henry, age 9, is at sleep-away camp for the first time this summer and missed it.  We have great trouble getting a photo of all of them, but here is the best.

I still try to paint a page in my sketchbook while we are together - although it gets harder each year with so much activity all around. 

There was lots of swimming - and I sat on the patio and sketched the outdoor shower while they were all off for ice cream.

My daughter loves hydrangeas and all of the plants were in full bloom.  I can never remember the name of this variant - just one of the many types and colors around the house.

Yesterday there was an 8k race in town and our two sons and our son-in-law ran it.  But guess who else ran it and received a first place ribbon for the 9 and under group?

Trips to the beach, water balloons, and the ribbon - just a few more things to remember about our wonderful weekend.

Posted by Shirley at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I have to force myself to doodle.  Most of the time I have absolutely no ideas until I start, and then I struggle to fill up a whole page.  I never feel very imaginative.

This month, The Sketchbook Challenge is Circles - any kind, any size, and in any medium.  Several nights ago, I decided to see how many different circles I could doodle.  Very quickly I realized that I might run out of ideas after getting only half the page full.  But I persisted and at the end really liked some of my final drawings. 

I should take some of the final few rows and see how I can expand on some of these circles in a new composition.  But I know that I won't.  Maybe I'll just add color to these.

Posted by Shirley at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I didn't start sketching and painting with watercolors until 2003. 

Before going on our recent vacation to Venice, I painted some iconic Venice sights from my 2002 Venice photos.  I accordion-folded two 6" by 30" strips of watercolor paper and slowly painted 16 images - using both sides of each strip.

I'm thrilled that I did these pre-trip paintings because while in Venice I was comfortable just doing quick sketches based on our activities.  I've posted many of those travel sketchbook pages on my blog in the last month.  Those sketches, done in the moment, really are my memories of our recent trip. 

This week I decided to make my "pre-paintings" into a small book.  I tore each accordion strip into two folios (4 total) and stitched them together as 4 signatures (16 pages).   The end papers are a commercial Venice printed paper and the cover is black Tex Libris book cloth.  The book is 7 7/8" wide by 6 1/4" high.

Posted by Shirley at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)