Paper and Threads

I spent two more delightful days with Liz Steel, architect from Sydney, Australia and Urban Sketcher, in New York City.  Yesterday we were able to enter the Museum of Modern Art for a Member Preview, before the museum opened, to see the Matisse exhibit.  It was my 3rd visit to the exhibit and I still found some Matisse drawings and a sculpture that I wanted to sketch.

And then we needed refreshments before proceeding with a brief tour of the permanent exhibit and Picasso prints. Here is Liz just before she sketches our breakfast!

This morning we met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and before the museum opened at 9:30 Liz had already sketched the Met facade.  I snuck up on her as she was sketching the mansion across the street while sitting on the museum steps.  She is on the far right on this long distance photo.

Liz wanted to see The American Woman Fashion Exhibit and did several wonderful pages of sketches which I hope that she uploads tonight.  I still need to add paint to my pages.  I then gave her a tour of my favorite places in the Museum, finishing just in time for lunch.  She said that she NEEDED to taste a New York bagel, so we ate bagels with lox spread at Tal Bagel and then took the subway to City Hall to meet Jason Das, another Urban Sketcher.

Jason took this photo - the first one of both of us together on this visit.  Liz's travel charm, Borromini Bear, is between us.

The 3 of us then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge,  stopping to sketch the bridge in mid span.

Jason finishing his sketch:

We ended the afternoon sketching lower Manhattan from the other side of the East River in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

I wanted to add these photos to my blog today so Liz's family and friends in Sydney can see that she is thriving in New York City.  I loved meeting her in person and really enjoyed sketching with her for 3 days during this visit.  She is uploading photos of select journal pages with her iPhone, to her blog and Flickr page.  Tomorrow she will resume her trip around the world and we will continue to "visit" through our blogs.

Posted by Shirley at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

It is Liz's first trip to New York City and Friday was her first full day.  I asked her if she wanted to get a visitor Metro Card and go from the Upper Eastside, all the way down to Battery Park and the New York Harbor by bus and subway, stopping along the way to eat, sketch, and see things on her list.  And we did it! 

After a leisurely bus ride down 5th Ave to see Central Park, Museum Mile, The Plaza, St. Patricks, and Rockefeller Center from the bus window, we stopped at 42nd Street and the New York Public Library.  Here is Liz sketching the Chrysler Building.

And Borromini Bear watching her.

Here is the sketch that I did at the same time.  I'm not sure that she posted hers.

We then went into Bryant Park, behind the Public Library and Liz sketched the top of the Empire State Building while I analyzed a chair and table!  I was much more interested in watching an architect sketch this famous landmark, since I've struggled with it several times already.

After a walk through Times Square, a subway ride to Christopher St, a walk through the Village and Washington Square Park, we stopped for a quiet lunch and then resumed our walk in Soho.  This is the flat iron district and the buildings were so much fun to analyze.  Liz found a very complex one that she couldn't pass by.  We sat while she sketched the facade of the building while I sketched one of the columns.

She bought a quick art supply souvenir at Pearl Paint on Canal Street and then we took a bus down Broadway, through the Financial District, past Ground Zero, to Battery Park and a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty across the Harbor. 

We are planning another day together before she leaves, but you can follow Liz "sketching New York" now on her Flickr site or blog. 

Posted by Shirley at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

This was a busy week.  We visited our San Francisco friends at their lake house in NH as we do most summers.  And it was hot even in the woods.  The dogs were therefore sleepy much of the time and I could sit and sketch them more easily.  I just decided that I love square watercolor sketchbooks, but then needed to put both pages together in Photoshop because I couldn't fit the double pages on my scanner!

We also stop at the Farm Stand to buy some fresh produce and flowers to take with us.  This is one ear of corn before husking and one of many varieties of sunflowers that they grow.

We returned home Thursday and on Friday morning at 8:30 met a fabulous visitor at the corner of 96th St. and Lexington in NYC.  Can you guess who?  How about if I tell you that today is Borromini's 3rd birthday?  In the few minutes while I was waiting, I sketched the flower in one of our many flower stands and painted it after a full day of exploration, talking, sketching, and fun.  More later....

Posted by Shirley at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

My friends and I had many fun evenings during our beach week doing the exercises from the first two sections of this book.  In the mornings we sketched beach treasures that we picked up on our walks and after dinner we played" by doing these fun lab exercises which really loosen you up and don't arouse the inner critic.  Perfection is not expected!

Here are 3 of my favorites: The giraffe on the left was drawn blind and the one on the right while looking occasionally at the photo.

Blind Contour of a Giraffe:

Imaginary Creature:

Drawing with Your Non-Dominant Hand - which I had never tried. This doesn't look at all like Sara - but I was actually able to hold the pen and make it move!  Sara decided that she was going to use her non-dominant hand more - she loved the drawings she did.

Rice Freeman-Zachary of Notes From the Voodoo Cafe just did a podcast interview with Carla Sonheim.  You can go to her blog and click on the Podcast from a list on the right side of the home page.  You can also reach it from Carla's blog.  It is a delightful interview and she verbally gives you the Picasso Dog lab exercise during the Podcast.  Here's mine:

Posted by Shirley at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I started sketching in 2003, after buying Gwen Diehn's book The Decorated Page.  It took me almost 2 years to fill a watercolor sketchbook because I was still working long hours.  One of those early sketches, and watercolor painting with student grade watercolor paints, was of Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, New York. 

This morning it was 68 degrees and sunny when I woke up and I couldn't resist an 8AM walk to the Park and to Bethesda Fountain for another sketch.  I thought it would be fun to upload my first sketch and this morning's sketch since I didn't even start sketching daily or start my blog until Jan. 2006.

Here is a sketch from July 2003:

 I then redrew the top of the fountain and painted it the same morning:

And here is my still unpainted sketch from this morning - from a different bench.  The sun was changing the shadows very quickly, so I took a photo and will paint it at home sometime soon.  The faint pencil lines are the top of the trees/sky line.

Posted by Shirley at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)