Paper and Threads

There were several empty pages at the end of my 3rd London sketchbook so I decided to work from photos to fill the journal. 

Horseguard:  We finally walked by the Horseguards on Whitehall one of our last days in London and I was able to take a quick photo amid the crowds all having their pictures taken standing next to the horse.   

Duke of York Square Sculpture:  There are actually two pupils as separate sculptures.  I loved the boy leaping over the bollard and didn't especially like the girl sitting on a bench watching him, so I only sketched him.  This piece by Allister Bowtell was commisioned in 2003 for the bicentennial of the Royal Military Asylum.  We walked by it every time we walked to Sloane Square, making it an important memory of our year-long visit in Chelsea. 

I loved this drawing of Geurcino's at the Courtauld exhibit and copied it to create a two page spread at the very end of Journal #3 - the drawing on the left page and  Callum's birth announcement on the right page.  His birth in London in December was one of the highlights of the year for everyone.

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I went back to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Paul Poiret fashion exhibit again yesterday with out of town friends.  These garments were from the first several decades of the 20th century, but avant garde for their times and still wearble.  The hats were fantastic and rarely seen today, so I chose to sketch the mannequins with the best hats.  I'm still trying to do fast loose, figure sketches, so this was a perfect journal page for the day.   

When I saw the exhibit for the first time I carefully recorded colors and painted the sketch when I got home.  Yesterday I didn't have time to really look at colors, so I'm leaving these as line drawings.

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We were riding up WhiteHall in the front seat on the top deck of a #11 bus when I took this photo of storm clouds gathered over Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.  During most of our recent visit, black clouds alternated with sunshine and there were periodic drenching rains.   

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This was a really difficult challenge for me.  I clearly need more practice seeing, sketching, and painting textures.  The pie-shaped section is my attempt to paint a close-up of the bathroom sponge surface.  Out of frustration I added a foam brush - a quasi-sponge! 

Posted by Shirley at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Casey, Sandy, and I met this morning at 10 and spent the day sketching together in Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It is so much fun to meet other EDM members - who you feel like you know from reading their blogs, enjoying their art, and exchanging comments.

 Sandy and I would like to sketch faster and looser like Casey - so we watched her carefully!  The 3 of us will upload our individual journal pages as they are completed - I'm not sure that mine are too different from my normal style as much as I tried.

Here are two photos:  We started at the Toy Boat Pond, moved to Bethesda Fountain, then had lunch at the Central Park Boathouse.  We ended the day on the Sculpture Garden Roof and in the Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Left to Right: Casey, Shirley, Sandy.

On the Sculpture Roof at the Met with the NYC skyline behind us:  Shirley, Casey, Sandy

We all sketched random people at the cafe at the Toy Boat Pond, Bethesda Fountain, the Boat House restaurant where we had lunch, a statue in the Greek and Roman Galleries, and an Etruscan Chariot.  However, Casey sketched lots more!  Here are my sketchbook pages, in that order:

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