Paper and Threads

May 23rd: EDM Challenge #120 - Draw a Flashlight

We have lots of flashlights, but I love how long this one is - I guess to use in tight spaces.   

May 24th:  More Figure Practice from my new book - a book of nude photos for artists by Mark Edward Smith.  I need lots of practice and will be very happy when the Every Day in May challenge is over so I don't need to upload sketchbook pages every day!  Some of my practice figures would be best left unseen!  And I still hate rough paper. 

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I recycled a 1940s book on Elizabeth I that I bought in the basement of a bookstore on Charing Cross Road in London for 1 pound - and added several different types of watercolor paper in the signatures.  During our regular visits to our family this year, I filled one journal page each day in Cachet Linen Watercolor Journals, so I needed to figure out how I was going to use this alternate journal.  I sketched Big Ben from a photo that I took during our visit, but then never painted it - no time vs no interest vs fear of failure or combination of all of these reasons.  This week I finally decided that I would use this London journal to do a whole series of sketches of Big Ben - close up, far away, from Victoria Street, from the bridge, from the Banks of the Thames at Somerset House where it was just a silhouette in my photo, etc.  We will visit again in June/July so I can increase my photo collection even more.  When I exhaust ideas for this image, I'll move on to another London icon and continue to play.  That will make this journal different from my other 3 - and I feel good that I finally have a plan!

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 No work today and beautiful sunshine.  My husband and I wandered through a fantastic Picasso lithograph exhibit at Helly Nahmad Gallery and then I stopped 10 blocks from home to add a page to my NYC Journal.  This really interesting little store has a very narrow facade, and is squeezed between two large buildings on E. 78th St.  The large banner attracts attention from Madison Avenue and the very sedate sign next to the gate says that it is a "unique, chic haven for brides." 

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  I continue to practice figure drawing and my Yoga Book was the inspiration for this quick sketch.  I don't "do yoga" and never have - so I only know that this is Shoulderstand Cycle from the figure legend under the photograph.  My husband is watching me type all of this and just said "That is a better foot!"  I certainly hope I am improving, if only a minute amount with each sketch!

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 Another rainy day in New York City so the Sketchcrawl group switched the location from Southstreet Seaport to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (my 4th trip this week!).  We spread out in the new Greek and Roman Galleries and sketched - ancient sculptures and visitors.  I was really happy that Paula (an EDM member from Brazil who I met last Fall) joined me.  We had fun catching up as we sat on one of the many benches that are scattered throughout the beautiful sculptures.

Since I really want to learn how to sketch figures in 2007, I used this opportunity to sketch as many sculptures as I could before we went to the Museum cafeteria with the rest of the group.  I loved the fact that none of these sculptures had heads, hands or feet.  I'm not up to those lessons in my self-imposed curriculum yet.

These sketches were done with a Faber-Castell Polychromos pencil in a Moleskine watercolor journal.

Posted by Shirley at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)