Paper and Threads

National Academy Museum:  I visited the National Academy Museum for the first time this week to see the current exhibit "Reconfiguring the Body in American Art."  The Museum and School of Art are in a wonderful building on Museum Mile in New York City, just north of the Met and Guggenheim.  I loved this bronze sculpture and sketched it with a watercolor pencil. 

Cricket in Times Square:  Our oldest grandchild came for an overnight visit before starting school this week and we finished reading The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden, a book from our library from his mother's childhood.  We read 1-2 chapters right before bed each time he stayed overnight and he remembered the characters and plot better than I did.  After he went to bed, I sketched the main characters, based on the illustrations by Garth Williams.  Henry loved seeing the journal page in the morning and suggested that I do another page inspired by the Goodby Party that ends the book!

Statue of Liberty:  We told Henry that he could choose what he wanted to do the following day and he requested a trip to the Statue of Liberty.  Like many New Yorkers, my husband and I had never been there.  We passed it on boats many times, but never landed on Liberty Island to see the Statue up close.   We had a fabulous time (in spite of long security check lines) - great boat rides to and from on the top deck, a visit to the Museum, a walk up 156 steps to the observation deck on the top of the pedestal, and a walk around the base.  We had 10 minutes before we caught the return boat and I sketched Lady Liberty very quickly and painted her at home.

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I continue to practice figure drawing even though I have yet to go to a Figure Drawing class.  There are many drop-in places in New York City, so I have no excuse now that I'm retired and have more time to just play!

In these two journal pages I sketched hands from ads in the New York Times Fashion Magazine and then started to work my way through photos showing American sign language letters.  The drawing was done with a watercolor pencil and then water was applied.

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Yesterday the Meetup Group met at the Alice in Wonderland Statue at the Conservatory Water (we call it the Toy Boat Pond) in Central Park. 

 I was anxious to get home to our newest grandchild (Zachary), his brother Robbie, and Annabelle who came to meet her cousin Zachary this weekend.  Therefore, I only stayed for two rounds of sketches with the group.  The weather was wonderful and the Park, as I walked past the Boathouse and Bethesda Fountain, was wonderfully crowded.

For my first sketch, I did the Mad Hatter that is on the right front of the statue and painted him while there. 

I then sketched Alice, from the right side of the statue, while drawing and sitting on a bench in the shade.  Only the mushroom was painted then - and I'm not sure whether I will add color.  My heart wants to dress her in a blue dress with a white apron like the children's book character instead of bronze!

My last drawing was of the White Rabbit and his pocket watch - again painted in bronze colors. 

My grandchildren have climbed on this statue many times over the last few years and it was great fun having the inspiration and time to really get to know it through drawing.

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I took a few photos when we visited Zachary in the hospital and used them as references for these paintings.   It will be fun to see when my figure sketching skills have improved to the point where I can sketch him better.  So far I sketch my grandchildren from the back because I can't capture their facial features.

Zachary's Baby Quilt:  My daughter-in-law brought me nursery crib linens when she finally found some that she liked.  We decided that I would use a star pattern, like I did for Zach's big brother Robbie's baby quilt.  Robbie's quilt was yellow and blue with an all over star pattern. 

I selected fabrics from my collection, including 3 fabrics that were in his parent's wedding quilt and Robbie's baby quilt.  I love the continuity and did the same for my daughter's wedding quilt and baby quilts for her 3 children.  This was my journal page for the day when I planned the quilt and started the process.

Racing to the Finish:  I needed to speed up the quilting when Zachary arrived one week early, and spent two full days finishing the quilting of the border triangles and attaching the binding.  It is hard to speed up the hand quilting process, it just requires marathon quilting sessions for me while watching old movies on TV!

The Finished Quilt:  I delivered this quilt to my son and his new son Zachary yesterday and it looks wonderful in the baby nursery!  I always feel as if I am wrapping up each and every grandchild in my love - in ways that just add to our bonds.

Annabelle and her parents just arrived from Washington, DC to meet her new cousin.  She is too young to realize that she is not the family baby any longer! 

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In Manhattan apartments, there are whole organizational systems created for under bed storage.  But we've resisted so far and I have only 2 items under our bed.

My First Briefcase:  I bought this brown leather briefcase at Frost Brothers department store in San Antonio Texas in the late 70s and used it for many years while traveling back and forth to the Hospital.  When we moved to New York City in the early 90s, I found that a large leather bookbag with shoulder straps made it easier to walk between our apartment and my car, so my briefcase remained in my office 99% of the time.  When I retired in July I almost gave it away.  This was a great opportunity to create a memory drawing.  For now it will remain under our bed in a storage container.

My New Papercutter:  When I took a bookbinding class last year I worried about my ability to cut Davey board at home without the wonderful commercial papercutter that was in the Studio.  I traveled around our neighborhood - from places like Kinkos to Staples - trying out their copy center papercutters on my sample of the book board.  This X-acto paper cutter was the winner.  I have used it to cleanly cut book boards for 10 watercolor journals and keep it under the bed in its original box for safety and storage.

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