Paper and Threads

British Glass in the New Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:  Early in March, when I was taking one walk each day, and making one quick drawing along the way, I met a friend in Central Park.  It was very cold and windy and we decided to go into the Met.  By then the museum was reported to be nearly empty, and we washed our hands multiple times while inside.  These drawings are from the new British galleries, selected because I love the shapes of glass bottles.  The two small drawings on the bottom are from a tapestry in the gallery.  I left these unpainted because I really have never achieved the ability to paint reflections in glass.

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This is one of the final drawings that I did in March when I was taking one walk per day - with no human contact because coronavirus had arrived on March 1st in New York City.  I walked 1-1.5 miles and sketched something I saw and liked in my neighborhood.  Then we were quarantined on March 20th and now I don't have an urge to draw, either something in my apartment or from photos.  This has to change - and I'm confident it will.  I sketched with my non-dominant hand, inside, for 6 weeks 2 years ago when I broke my wrist.  And I've had themes for drawing during certain months - elephants, figures in motion, hands from the American Sign Language alphabet to name a few.  But my pandemic brain needs to find something that excites me and that hasn't happened yet.  Patience....

I love the New York City Rooftop water towers and these were seen in a residential area on the Upper Eastside of Manhattan. 

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I stopped in front of this window which was full of watches, jewelry and random bits and bobs.  The clock hanging in the wire support caught my attention and then I just filled up the space around it.  The number of Coronavirus new cases and deaths each day in New York City are down to 1849 and 279.  But we are still in quarantine until May 15th.  At our age Covid19 has a high case fatality rate, which makes it easy to be happy and stay busy inside.  Our family are all well and we visit with Grandchildren on FaceTime and Zoom.

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I was walking down Madison Avenue on one of my daily walks before "lockdown" and saw these elephant bookends in a store window.  In 2013 I wanted a drawing challenge because I was bored with my apt. items - most of which were already drawn and painted.  I love elephants and decided to draw them from photos and videos using every possible art medium I had in my supplies.  I even did an Eric Carle type of collage with paper made from my Gelli Plate (http://www.paperandthreads.com/2013/02/elephant_experiments.php). 

I loved the project and made both a photo book of my elephants and a zine.  Now I am watching the San Diego Zoo Elephant Cam for pure pleasure during the pandemic solitude. (https://www.sdzsafaripark.org/elephant-cam)

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We have a surgical supply store in our neighborhood, and when I stopped to actually look at all of the things in or near the windows when I could still take a daily walk, I was fascinated by the varieties of canes that are available.  I picked my favorites and put them into the cane stand, ignoring the more common designs. 

Stay Home and Stay Healthy.  NYC (all 5 boroughs) had 2519 new cases of Covid-19 reported yesterday.  While the numbers are decreasing, including hospitalizations, our confinement was extended to May 15th.  I made 5 masks for family over the last few days - several for grandchildren. 

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