Paper and Threads

I am currently taking Kate Johnson's "Keeping an Artist's Journal" on-line class, so I will probably upload daily journal pages more frequently to my blog because I need to also upload them to our class Flickr pool to share with Kate and my classmates.

Tueday:  Busy Day, so I sketched my lecturer at the New York Public Library Tuesday evening.  I did have paints with me, but felt very conspicuous the way the seats were set up.  I decided not to finish painting her as I experiment with different ways to compose my artist journal pages. 

Wednesday:  Melanie Testa and 3 other art buddies played with Melanie's method of tracing images from our journals, painting them, painting a background on WC paper in our journals, and then gluing the two layers together.  These were sea gull images from my summer vacation journal - and a link to the original journal image from my blog in June 2009.  Her method is described in an article she wrote in the May-June 2009 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.

Thursday: Two leaves I picked up from the sidewalk when walking home from nursery school with 4 of our grandchildren.  They were sketched and painted when I came home from babysitting last night.  I have no idea what kind of trees they are, but every autumn I find a few of these gorgeous patterned leaves on New York sidewalks!

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Last night was my 3rd figure drawing session at the Society of Illustrators in New York City and I came home with 19 sketches, even though I really didn't like one of the two models.  This was a new experience and I had to convince myself that I didn't need to like the model or their poses - it was all an opportunity to practice drawing.

The standard format is 10 two minute poses, 4 five minute poses, 2 ten minute poses, and 3 twenty minute poses, with breaks, over 3 hours.  I'm posting one from each group.

This is the other model - small, really skinny, shaved head except for a circle of bright yellow short hair in a circle on the top of her head.  However, it was the contorted positions that she took which I didn't like, except this one.

I loved the setting, really enjoyed the live piano and double bass music throughout the evening, and appreciated the glass of red wine while sketching.

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EDM Challenge #246:  Draw a Pair of Gloves: 

I love my black shearling mittens, especially when it is really cold in New York City.  But they just looked like two black blobs on my journal page, so I sketched my black leather gloves instead.

EDM Challenge #247:  Draw Something Creepy

Approximately once each year our local TV channel shows footage from surveillance cameras in fast food restaurants - and after the restaurant is closed, the camera captures the image of rats in the kitchen.  It really creeps me out - and also makes sure that I never visit that fast food chain - because of course I can't remember which branch it was in this big city.

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I signed up for Kate Johnson's Visual Journaling Class and I'm trying to focus my sketches on my daily activities for several weeks.

I sketched and painted a detail from a beautiful stained class window at the Museum of the City of New York during a visit there this week.   

The following day we took care of our newest grandchild and I sketched his "lovey" - a British Jellycat animal called Scrumpty Elly.  My daughter-in-law takes his picture with this animal every month to see Zach's growth.  I sketched him with my non-permanent Varsity pen and then just wet the elephant to create the color.

I made two new codex watercolor journals this week, and while I had my bookbinding equipment out, I made two watercolor pamphlet style journals with waste watercolor paper from a few recent recycled books.  One of them is a gift for a friend, the other may be the perfect watercolor booklet for my grand daughter.

Today we took our oldest grandchild to the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concert and I had approximately 10 minutes before the lights went down to quickly sketch the stage.  Henry and I talked about the colors so I could remember them until I got home.

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Here are 3 more journal pages - I'm on a roll!

I love watching Project Runway and periodically like to sketch the winning design the evening that I watch it.  Here is the oversized sweater and paper-bag waste pants by Althea that all of the women judges wanted to wear, right then.

The following day I thought alot about my own love of design and specifically two outfits that I made when I was a senior in college.  The one on the left is a suede suit that I made with 5 skins that my boyfriend of the time gave me for my birthday.  I had enough suede to make the skirt and front panels of the jacket.  The jacket sleeves, back, and front button panel were made from a wool-silk tweed blend that matched the suede.  The dress on the left was made as a final exam in a semester long flat pattern design course that I took (after my premed requirements were done and I was already admitted to medical school).  I selected a dress from a NYTimes newspaper advertisement and made the pattern and then the dress from a green wool tweed.  The top was a blouson style and the skirt had a deep inverted pleat and slant pockets.  I don't have photos of either design - amazing now that I have 10 photos of everything with my digital camera.

Yesterday my husband and I went to the Fall Impressionist and Modern Previews at Christies and Sotheby's Auction Houses in New York City - one of our favorite semi-annual activities.  We start at Christies, then have lunch at Dos Caminos and end at Sothebys - and in the process see well over 500 pieces of art that will be auctioned on Nov 3rd and 4th.  I loved a work on paper by George Grosz and sketched a detail from it - a man's head. 

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