Paper and Threads

During the Medieval period, women wore only long shifts (chemises) under their clothes. Pantaloons and pantalettes were worn under dresses, especially in France, by young girls, but it wasn’t until the 1830s that women regularly wore bloomers with tight ankles and two legs attached at the waist with a draw string.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, bloomers were shortened as skirt lengths rose and by the 1920s women were wearing short panties with wide legs, called step-ins or boy shorts. They were still commonly made of two legs which were attached at the waist.

During the 1930s and 1940s, women wore girdles and then by the 1950s panties as we know them.  From the mid-20th Century to the 1990s, granny pants became hipsters, then bikinis, then thongs.

The transition from bikinis to thongs, especially worn with cropped shirts and low waisted jeans, has resulted in more visible thong underwear and bare skin among my women medical students than I care to see. My kids call this sighting a "whale tail." What will the next fashion trend bring?

Posted by Shirley at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I'm still thoroughly enjoying my dear friend Bunny's photos from Jaipur India and this week sketched one face and 3 figures.  The man was photographed at Samode Palace, now a luxury hotel. 

 The women were working at the Amber Fort carrying pieces of rocks from place to place on their heads. 

Posted by Shirley at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

 When this challenge was posted, I began a search for a shadow photo that I vaguely remembered among my huge collection of family photos - and finally found it.  My husband and I were taking our daily one hour walk along the beach, when our shadows spread out in front of us, over several wet footprints, and I snapped a photo.  I have no idea why our shadows are so bulky!

I also had a recent photo of my granddaughter Syd, in the snow in Central Park, that showed a great shadow in the snow.  I wanted to paint this photo anyway, so it is a smaller representation of a shadow.

Posted by Shirley at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna
January 21, 2009–April 26, 2009
Galleries for Drawings, Prints, and Photographs, 2nd floor

This is a wonderful new exhibit (120 drawings - spanning 500 hundred years) and a wonderful opportunity to study masterpiece drawings.  I thoroughly enjoy trying to copy the lines in these beautiful works, and will probably return to draw and learn from a few more. 

Here are the two drawings that I did last weekend.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri  (1591-1666) was called Il Guercino - the squinter - because of his crossed-eyes.  I first saw his drawings at the Courtauld Gallery in London and was mesmerized by his beautiful figures.  The original was done with pen and brown ink, I used brown colored pencil.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805)  At the entrance to the exhibit are three drawings of girls heads by Greuze- one more wonderful than the next.  The original was done with conte - I used colored pencil.

Posted by Shirley at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We picked up two of our grandchildren from nursery school and walked them back to our apartment through Central Park.  There was a recent snowfall and Robbie (age 3 1/2) and his cousin Sydney (age 4) were having a fabulous time making and throwing snowballs and our progress was really slow.  On a bench, on one of the paths in the middle of the Park, we saw a beautiful pair of brown leather cowboy boots, a new red and black backpack, and an open bird watcher's book.  

We regularly watch Law and Order, so my husband and I looked at each other suspiciously and for an instant wondered whether we would next find a body.  There were no people anywhere in sight - in any direction.  I took a photo so I could show a Park staff member when we passed one of the them on the second half of our journey.  We never heard more about the event and hopefully the tourist who left them there was able to retrieve their stuff when they returned.  

Posted by Shirley at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)