Paper and Threads

I went back to the Met on Holiday Monday with my friend Judy and I saw two more new exhibits.

Guitar Heroes is a collection of guitars, violins, mandolins, lutes, and even a ukulele - the guitars from the 1930s on and most others several hundred years old and beautiful.  Drawing a Stradivari violin from 3 views was a real treat.  There is a wonderful website for anyone wanting to look, listen, and draw.

Cezanne's Card Players is very special to me.  In 2007, I selected the Met version of the painting for in depth study - and drew and painted it several times in my sketchbook.  You can read about the impetus and see my first versions here.  Last year I sketched only the standing peasant - and on Monday I copied a preparatory drawing by Cezanne of Paulin Poulet, the seated card player on the left in the Met painting.  By the end of the exhibit, I think I will be there weekly!

This exhibit was organized by the Courtauld Gallery in London and the Met.  The best coverage is on the Courtauld website, with 3 short podcasts.  The 5 Card Player paintings and the preparatory paintings and drawings are considered to be part of Cezanne's most important work. 

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The Central Park Sketching and Art Meetup Group sketched at the Met yesterday - beginning in the Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand photography exhibit and ending in the American Wing.  I thoroughly enjoy these sessions because I'm forced to select a subject and then to sketch it quickly before we move on.

I saw the photography exhibit previously and loved Steichen's portrait of Stieglitz, so that was the subject of my first sketch.  The Museum website has a good podcast and all of the exhibit photos - so I printed out the Stieglitz portrait to accompany my sketch when I got home. 

I also had a few minutes to sketch others in our group while they were sketching other photographs.

We then moved to the American Wing for several more sketches.  For my final drawing, I sketched a tiny figure from a huge painting that completely lined a very large oval museum room.   The painting is a Panoramic View of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles  that was painted by an American artist named John Vanderlyn in 1818-19.  The museum website has photos of sections of the whole painting and you can click among them.  My man was one of many people in the painting that were strolling the grounds of Versailles.

Our Meetup group leader took a low resolution photo of me while I was sitting on the floor sketching - and it shows the very large size of this painting.

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I go to figure drawing monthly at the Society of Illustrators and still love it.  Tuesday night we had a male and female model and here are my 10 minute and 20 minute drawings. 

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Picasso's Guitars 1912-1914 just opened at the Museum of Modern Art.  The museum website for the exhibit is wonderful and ArtDaily.org has a great discussion of the exhibit with several photos.  I saw "Guitars"  last week with my Journal Study Group friends and did several sketches.

I enjoyed reading and hearing about the uniqueness of Picasso's cardboard and string primitive wall sculpture and never realized what an important step this was in art history.  My sketches include a flat version of the cardboard guitar, the metal guitar from the front and side to show the actual 3D shapes, and one of the exhibit collages - Student with a Pipe - just because I loved it!

Cardboard and String Guitar Sculpture Sketched with Watercolor Pencils:  

Two Views of the Metal Guitar - sketched at the exhibit and painted at home:

Collage - Student With Pipe:  I sketched this piece at the exhibit and then redrew it at home in this version.  There is a map of the galleries at MoMA as the first layer, then a layer of absorbent ground, then my drawing and watercolor paint to complete the image.

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My EDM "Select-a-Challenge Jar" is working well - and here are two challenges that I completed recently.  I only select from the jar when I have absolutely NO IDEAS for my daily journal page because I've been hibernating!

EDM Challenge # 273 : Draw a Collection of Tools

These were a few kitchen tools that were used that day. 

EDM Challenge #288:  Draw Something With Spots

This baby leopard was drawn from a photo.

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