Paper and Threads

My cast is off, and my "Non-Dominant Hand Drawing Sketchbook" only has one more empty page.  But I definitely need physical therapy to use my dominant hand without pain.  Yesterday was my first session of 6.  These were "line of action" drawings done over 3 days, after my breakfast.  I will probably continue these, but really need to try to capture people in action, not just still photo images, now that the weather is nicer.  I also miss painting with colors, and need to paint several spring flower drawings that are in my watercolor sketchbook.

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Koosje Koene:  It was great watching Koosje do a session in Sketchbook Revival.  I used an 05 graphite mechanical pencil to draw her while she talking and a Sketch and Wash pencil without water to add graphite to her blouse.  This sketch and the one of Danny Gregory were my greatest challenges while drawing with my non-dominant hand.  I am a regular student in Sketchbook Skool, and love them both.  My cast will probably be removed on Thursday, and then I'll need some PT.

New York City Ballet Dancer and Coppelia doll drawn from Programs when we went to 2 wonderful dress rehearsals last Thursday.  The company dancers and the choreography was so fast that a quick sketch from observation was impossible, especially in the dark!

Silver Elephant Bank, a baby gift for our first child many, many years ago: I'm surprised that it escaped my attention for the many years that I've been drawing household items.

Two bottles from our kitchen for my after-breakfast sketching:  And I needed practice drawing straight lines.

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Sketchbook Revival Video from Session 3.  I signed up for this free online course because I need inspiration as I enter the last few weeks of my dominant hand wrist fracture with cast.  Danny Gregory, who I first discovered in the Fall of 2005, with his Yahoo Group Everyday Matters, made me realize how much I wanted to draw and paint in sketchbooks.  I was partially retiring from Medicine that summer, and couldn't think of any skills I wanted to develop more.

While watching his video in Session 3 of Sketchbook Revival, I sketched him - while he was talking.  This was a new way of challenging me with my non-dominant hand and I used a simple 2B mechanical pencil, and a Sketch and Wash pencil without water for his sweater.

More "line of action" figure drawings from after breakfast:  These are perfect little opportunities for me to sketch in pen on quarter sheets of copy paper after breakfast - using a Pilot G-2 10 pen.  Before breakfast I haven't had enough coffee!

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Franz Marc  The Shepherdess:

I finally finished my last drawing from the exhibit at Galerie St Etienne.  I wanted to use my brush pen again, because I have lots of difficulty controlling it, even with my dominant hand.  For this I had to sit down and rest my book on a table, not on my cast.

Line of Action Drawings: I like doing these small drawings on scrap paper (5.5 x 4.25") using photos from a clothing magazine.  The pencil lines are the quick line of action/arms/legs, and then I draw the figure in ink.  I'm periodically cutting them out with very fine scissors and my non-dominant hand, and collaging them into my non-dominant hand sketchbook. 

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On Wednesday I met my artist  friends at Galerie St. Etienne to see their current exhibit - Drawing the Line: Realism and Abstraction in Expressionist Art (through July 6th).  There are 69 drawings, etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts from Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Lyonel Feininger, Richard Gerstl, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Oscar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin, Auguste Macke, Franz Marc, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde, Hermann Max Pechstein, Egon Schiele, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

As usual, we found many masters that we wanted to copy.  I sketched "Sleeping Woman" by Pechstein with my non-dominant hand.  I also sketched "The Shepherdess," but need to finish it at home because we ran out of time.  

Before my fracture I was practicing "line of action" drawings as presented by Suhita Shirodkar in a Craftsy Class.  Yesterday I used photos from a clothing catalogue to practice the technique with my non-dominant hand.  I made a quick line of action, concentrating on a line from head down to weight-bearing leg and foot, and then completed the drawing in ink.  My pencil lines are still visible.  I see my hand surgeon this morning, and hopefully will learn how many more weeks I will have my cast.

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