Paper and Threads

We spent a long weekend in Southampton - and I used one of my recycled books as a travel sketchbook.  There were gorgeous hydrangeas in bloom everywhere and I tried a quick painting of several blooms.

We love walking on the beach and quickly established a daily routine.  Each day we took a long walk on the beach, picking up shells as we went, followed by morning coffee on the covered patio at the Snack Shack.  Just as the beach was getting hot, we were able to move into the shady, cool ocean breeze. 

A quick painting of the beach from the Snack Shack:

Shells and a sea gull feather found on the beach during our walks:

I wanted to continue figure sketching practice, but didn't have any ready models on the beach the first two days - so I sketched from an ad in a Hamptons magazine.  We definitely didn't see her on our walk!

We walked into the Village during the afternoon and from an outdoor cafe I sketched the old Southampton Town Hall building which is now Saks Fifth Avenue.

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We just returned from a long weekend, mini-vacation at the beach.  I wanted to upload last week's challenge as soon as I returned home and then will more slowly post some beach sketches.  

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My husband and I were walking to our grandson's school in London to pick him up when I saw this wonderful row of 4 phone booths.  Usually they were single or in pairs in neighborhoods we visited - so I had to get this photo to later play with perspective.  And I never did!  That is my husband in the red baseball cap - waiting for me to catch up!  It was a nice challenge for me to draw this and I listened to Danny's recent Podcast while I sketched and painted it.  A good quiet Sunday afternoon.

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Our children were all in New York City several weekends ago to celebrate my birthday, Henry's 5th birthday party, and Father's Day.  Annabelle, just barely 3 months old, met her 4 New York City cousins for the first time and we tried to get yet another picture of all of our grandchildren together.  This is always a hilarious event - with 3 cameras flashing and the other adults jumping up and down to make them smile.   Sometimes the out-takes are so funny that we print them as a series.  NOT A SINGLE PHOTO is ever near-perfect.  There are many funny faces, closed eyes, fingers in mouths and noses - and the youngest one usually starts sliding sideways sometime during the event.  For the second half of the photo-shoot Callum had his thumb in his mouth and elephant in front of his face - thereby eliminating half of the 50+ photos that were rapidly taken.

 Our daughter has 3 children and my sons each have one.  From left to right:  Callum (1 1/2), Henry (5 yrs), Annabelle (almost 3 months), Robbie (almost 3), and Sydney (3 1/2).  Like most grandparents- we adore them and spend any available minute with them.

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I'm always happy when I can post an EDM Challenge before the next one is announced.  These exercises are great for me to do and I try to stretch my skills a little with each one. 

We were on vacation when the "Sparkle Challenge" was posted and I really wanted to try to capture the light of a gem stone.  I'm not very good painting reflections and I kept looking for a big stone.  I even took a photo of the Hope diamond when we were in DC.  But then I decided to just draw a Bulgari bracelet from an advertisement and move on.

I also took photos of cute little Capitol Hill houses with flags blowing in the breeze on our trip to DC because I knew that ! couldn't draw a moving flag.  Then, at the end of my taxi ride to Union Station following my meetings, I looked up and saw the facade of the station.  I grabbed my camera, took several photos and headed inside for my train back to New York. 

I loved the Seurat Drawings Exhibit at MoMA NY and was especially fascinated with the paper (click on the Conservation button).  This is especially interesting because I don't even sketch with Conte or charcoal.  I looked up the Michallet paper and learned that the modern day equivalent is available at NY Central Art Supplies.  I bought a sheet while I was there on Saturday just to experiment with it.  I ripped it into smaller pieces and now will play with it, using Seurat's drawings as my inspiration.  Here is #1 - done with a 1/8th sheet and a Derwent Drawing pencil. 

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