Paper and Threads

I went back to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Paul Poiret fashion exhibit again yesterday with out of town friends.  These garments were from the first several decades of the 20th century, but avant garde for their times and still wearble.  The hats were fantastic and rarely seen today, so I chose to sketch the mannequins with the best hats.  I'm still trying to do fast loose, figure sketches, so this was a perfect journal page for the day.   

When I saw the exhibit for the first time I carefully recorded colors and painted the sketch when I got home.  Yesterday I didn't have time to really look at colors, so I'm leaving these as line drawings.

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We were riding up WhiteHall in the front seat on the top deck of a #11 bus when I took this photo of storm clouds gathered over Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.  During most of our recent visit, black clouds alternated with sunshine and there were periodic drenching rains.   

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This was a really difficult challenge for me.  I clearly need more practice seeing, sketching, and painting textures.  The pie-shaped section is my attempt to paint a close-up of the bathroom sponge surface.  Out of frustration I added a foam brush - a quasi-sponge! 

Posted by Shirley at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Casey, Sandy, and I met this morning at 10 and spent the day sketching together in Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It is so much fun to meet other EDM members - who you feel like you know from reading their blogs, enjoying their art, and exchanging comments.

 Sandy and I would like to sketch faster and looser like Casey - so we watched her carefully!  The 3 of us will upload our individual journal pages as they are completed - I'm not sure that mine are too different from my normal style as much as I tried.

Here are two photos:  We started at the Toy Boat Pond, moved to Bethesda Fountain, then had lunch at the Central Park Boathouse.  We ended the day on the Sculpture Garden Roof and in the Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Left to Right: Casey, Shirley, Sandy.

On the Sculpture Roof at the Met with the NYC skyline behind us:  Shirley, Casey, Sandy

We all sketched random people at the cafe at the Toy Boat Pond, Bethesda Fountain, the Boat House restaurant where we had lunch, a statue in the Greek and Roman Galleries, and an Etruscan Chariot.  However, Casey sketched lots more!  Here are my sketchbook pages, in that order:

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A view of The City from a riverside cafe at Hay's Galleria on the Southbank of the Thames.   

We are nearing the end of a wonderful year during which we really got to know London so much better.  It was a unique opportunity for us - being able to live in a terrace and shop in the local markets and stores in Chelsea.  We were also, ever so briefly, part of a family that was working and going to school, going to doctor's visits, having a baby, and taking soccer and swimming lessons.  But we also had time to ourselves to explore the streets, museums, theaters, famous national buildings, and restaurants.  

Since July 2006 we have visited 6 times - each time for 2 weeks except for a 3 week visit over Christmas when our grandson decided to arrive 6 weeks early.   Tomorrow we return to New York, leaving a house that feels sadly empty since our daughter and her family moved back to New York several days ago. 

I'm surprised and delighted that I was able to complete this art project - finishing sketchbook #3 on this trip.  Maintaining a daily sketchbook is new for me and my goal always was to develop enough skills to have many photos and a travel sketchbook from our travels.  For London I used spiral Cachet Linen Watercolor Journals (9 " x 7" cold press paper) and was able to use both sides of every page without any problem.  That means that I have approximately 150 pages of sketches - and all except a few have watercolor washes.  I also will have a Liberty of London scrap quilt which I worked on while here to remember this year.

I am naturally drawn to all sketchbooks using pen with watercolor and I used Pigma micron pens in the beginning and Zig Millenium pens more recently.  I have a small Daler Rowney travel watercolor set for days out and a palette with 12 W-N watercolor paints dried in the wells for home.  I carry only my sketchbook, pen case, Niji waterbrushes, and paints in a small backpack when I leave the house.    

Many of the sketchbook pages were uploaded and can be revisited by clicking through the London tag on the right side. 

Posted by Shirley at 4:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)