Paper and Threads

I went to my second figure drawing session last evening at the New York Society of Illustrators with my friend Istar.  On Tuesday evenings the models are nude, on Thursday evenings the models may wear parts of costumes.  I wanted to experience both - and liked both evenings equally well.  The setting is wonderful and there is live music during the entire 3 hours.  I came home with 9 two minute, 4 five minute, 2 ten minute, and 3 twenty minute sketches.  I'm just going to post examples of each.

The models posed with multiple hula hoops - the male model in yellow harem pants and the female model in a red bra and black leggings.  The addition of the hoops made the 2 minute sketches more difficult, but fun.

Two models and a hula hoop even made 5 minute sketches a challenge.

I wanted to remember the costumes in this 10 minute sketch and colored parts with watercolor pencils - but the paper didn't take water well and buckled slightly.  For this pose, he put on a black hat and soft ball necklace and she put on an umbrella hat.  And she really did have dyed shocking pink hair!

A ten minute pose, with one sitting and one standing - and in different costumes:

Both disrobed, but the male model wore his black hat and brown boots for the final 20 minute sketch.  I continue to have trouble fitting everything on the page when I'm working quickly (just one more thing to work on in 2010!), so you can't see his boots.

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I love to copy drawings from the Masters when I find one in a museum exhibit that really speaks to me. 

I have a book of Delacroix pastels and love his drawings/pastels/watercolors from Morocco.  When I saw several originals in a recent exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I decided that I needed to visit the New York Public Library to see the book Delacroix in Morocco (which is out of print and really expensive).  While there, I sketched this figure, took a digital photo of the print in the book, and then painted it at home. 

I loved a drawing by Dutch artist Jacob Backer (1608-1651) which hangs in the current Vermeer exhibit at the Met and returned for a second 30 minute visit just to do this sketch.  The small original is on light blue paper with black and white chalk, but I did mine in sepia watercolor pencil, in case I decided to "paint" the drawing at any time.

Tonight I am going to my second figure drawing session at the Society of Illustrators and did the following 90 second posemaniacs.com drawings as a warm-up.  These figures are computer generated and are frequently in tortured positions, but they change randomly every 90 seconds so I can't think much about what I'm drawing which is great practice. 

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I was very lazy about doing EDM Challenges last month and even worse about uploading them to my blog.  I finally decided to post them all at once - and catch up.  One of my annual art goals is to complete each weekly sketch because it:

1. Gives me a subject for one of my daily sketches each week.

2. Stretches my drawing and painting skills.  

 EDM Challenges #238 - Draw Your First Aid Kit - and #239 - Draw What Has Scared You

My husband and I are both physicians so we have First Aid items in random places in our apartment.  When thinking about this challenge, I immediately remembered my Aircasts - one for my right ankle and one for my left ankle.  I had two very serious ankle sprains due to mis-steps and the use of an aircast allowed me to walk within 24-48 hours and continue to heal during 3-4 months each time.  I live in a City where walking is really essential - my car is parked 3 blocks away from our apartment and the nearest bus and subway stop are both one long block away each.  I was really scared after my first serious ankle injury after moving back to Manhattan, because I realized how easily I could be apartment-bound.

EDM Challenge #240: My Favorite Pencils 

EDM Challenge #241:  Draw the View from Your Kitchen Window

This is my usual view - a beautiful stained glass window approximately 15 feet away, with lovely concerts that I can enjoy when both of our windows are open.

This is my current view.  There is work being done on our apartment building and there is a scaffold below the church window and a board protecting it.  I miss it!

EDM Challenge #242:  Draw a Favorite Tchatzkah 

I could find nothing around our apartment except my figure drawing mannequin.  I collect books and fabric and try to keep  tchatzkahs to a minimum.

EDM Challenge #243: Draw a Pillow

I love fabric and frequently bring back an interesting piece when we travel.  This is a pillow that I made with a piece of Fortuny fabric that I bought in Venice.  The fabric has an overall design of lions - only one of which I sketched.

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We visited our youngest grand daughter, Annabelle, this past weekend and I added more pages to the watercolor journal I dedicated to our visits with her.  Previous pages are visible by clicking on the Washington DC category.

I rarely sketch my grandchildren because it never looks like them.  Annabelle is much cuter than I made her in this drawing.  The small sketch shows her running around the Natural History Museum with us on Friday.

Saturday we had breakfast at Eastern Market and enjoyed the many flower vendors - everything was so bright and fresh.

We then went to Oktoberfest on Barrack's Row, the highlight of which was the childrens' petting zoo.  There were two very small goats there with their Mother that all of the children loved. 

The goat on the left was drawn with a Pilot Varsity Pen, but the watercolor paper in the Cachet Linen Journal was too absorbent and it was difficult to wet the ink to shade the goat.  The one on the right was painted with a neutral gray watercolor wash.

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I was invited to applique a square for the Empire Quilt Guild 2011 Raffle Quilt.  All of the eighteen 11 inch squares are based on New York City subway mosaics and I was thrilled to be assigned the Chambers Street IRT mosaic of Kings College.  We are a Columbia University family and Kings College was the original college which became Columbia University after the Revolution.

I was gvien an applique pattern that was drafted from a photo in a NYC subway book, but decided that I wanted to make my own.  I photographed many of the mosaics which run along both the uptown and downtown platform walls trying to find one that wasn't too damaged by age.

I drew and painted the mosaic in my daily sketchbook, to try to familiarize myself with the complex design before making a new pattern and selecting fabrics.

I just completed the applique square - which required more time than any single 11 inch square I ever made - mostly because I decided that I wanted to applique every stone of the building on individually! 

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