Paper and Threads

I continue to practice drawing faces and figures from photos - and did these 4 during October.  I selected this photo because of the foreshortened right arm and was happy with the arm drawing.  Not so much with the eyes.

This drawing was done from a runway photo.  I saw and loved a Klimt-inspired gown in the window of Oscar de la Renta's store on Madison Ave.  This is the image of the dress from the runway - but I didn't even try to reproduce the fabric design.

Two faces drawn from magazine advertisement photos.

Posted by Shirley at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Virtual Sketch Date photo was just perfect when I was deciding what to draw and paint for my daily journal page.  I usually only do the EDM challenges, but this is the second month that the photo for VSD was irresistable.

Posted by Shirley at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I am very busy in Oct, Nov, and Dec - anticipating all of the Christmas sewing and quilting that needs to be done.  So like Santa, I put out a call for reindeer help.

My son Jason had a pet iguana during college and most of medical school.  We all grew to love Pablo as long as he was safely looking at us from his fabulous terrarium that was built by my son.   This photo was an excellent inspiration and challenge for me - especially drawing a figure with a face!

My husband and I worked as volunteers all Saturday morning sorting books for the upcoming Goddard Riverside Book Fair and then spent the afternoon watching our grandchildren enjoy the Halloween Fun Fair that my daughter organized as a fund raising event for their nursery school.  After carving a pumpkin with my grandchildren at dinnertime, we came home and collapsed.  I almost didn't do a journal page for Saturday - and then picked up my sketchbook, a washable graphite pencil, and a photo of Lin's kittens and did a very loose sketch in the few minutes before bed.  I try to sketch daily and rarely, if ever, will give in to being too tired or too busy.  But some days, a 5 minute sketch like this seems like a huge accomplishment.

Posted by Shirley at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

A hard challenge - and I'm not sure how or when I should reveal the full drawing....

I don't think that this should be very hard, based on the portion I chose to include, so I will post the full version as soon as there are a few comments.

Casey immediately saw that this detail was from a train engine - so I'm adding the full drawing today to finish the challenge.  My daughter chaired the Halloween Fun Fair for the nursery school and one of the highlights was a train ride for adults and children in the New York City playground that was used for the event.   

Here are 3 of our grandchildren enjoying the day. 

Posted by Shirley at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I picked up this leaf and nut from the sidewalk in Capitol Hill, Washington DC, last weekend.  These huge trees lined the street all around the park and there were multiple nuts that looked like acorns until you noticed that the caps were really spiculated - not at all like a traditional oak acorns.  On the left is the inside of an empty cap  and on the right a drawing of a cap with the nut facing up.  The cap actually has the spicules covering it entirely.

The leaves were as long and narrow as I depicted, but the veins were actually symmetric - and I didn't manage to keep them that way when I painted the leaf.  I have no idea how the leaves were placed on the branch or what the bark looked like.  None of the tree identification web sites helped me identify this tree, so I'm hoping someone in EDM can do it.  Lin? 

Posted by Shirley at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)