Time to start Lesson 4 in my Watercolor Skills Workbook: 3-Dimensional Form-The Art of Illusion. The first exercise is "Drawing the Basics: cylinder, cube, cone, and sphere." I set up the forms, put a light across the still life and sketched the shapes. Next I may try to do them with watercolor shading - but not tonight.
Late day at work - so I decided to try PoseManiacs 90 second images for my daily sketch. Wow, the figures were in tortured positions and 90 minutes went by very fast. I did 3 of the images and then added my grand daughter's hands and feet to the page for more human figure practice.
The is a recycled book in which I inserted signatures of 140 and 90 lb watercolor paper. I used a bone folder to press the paper and a coptic stitch, pulling the linen thread as much as I could. I didn't use tape or glue paper or cloth over the spine. I wanted to make sure that glue didn't get between pages - preventing each page from opening flat.
The book was made from a 50+ year old book of Micahelangelo Sonnets and his drawings were scattered throughout the book. I incorporated many of the original pages in my book which is intended for figure drawing practice. What better inspiration could I have? Here is the first mixed page layout.
I decided to cover the two gaps between signatures with a piece of Michaelangelo's drawings - one page was divided in half and glued in place with PVA glue.
May 6th (but labeled incorrectly as the 7th on my page)
I am starting a series of New York City sketches - when the spirit moves me - probably in nice weather and when I have time to take a walk and sketch without needing to get somewhere. Since it is hard for me to decide what I want to sketch in this big city, I will walk 10 blocks (1/2 mile) and then select something from the 4 directions that I can see. Today was "10 block series #1" - and I stopped in a my neighborhood independent bookstore, sat on a bench, and read for awhile along the way. Only when I reached my destination did I realize that I only had 12 watercolor pencils with me. This was very liberating and I think the sketch is looser. I added ink and water when I came home. My only disappointment is the Arches 140lb rough paper. I bound many kinds of watercolor paper in my recycled books so I could experiment and I don't think I'll buy "rough" again anytime soon.
Here are journal pages from May 3rd, 4th, and 5th. I think it might be easier if I at least scan them daily, because my evening hours are too short to do everything I want to do. I definitely won't take the time to also upload them to the Every Day in May Flik'r group.
May 2nd: There was no sketching or photography allowed at the Met's exhibit "Barcelona and Modernity." But I was taking a few notes in a really small notebook when I saw the Gaspar Homar's 1905 furniture design drawing. I still think like a quilter and I still collect images that I want to save for textile projects. The guards couldn't really see that I was sketching instead of writing. The top half of the image is Homar's and the bottom half is my addition. The colors are all mine.
May 3rd: I was permitted to sketch in the "Venice and the Islamic World" exhibit and among the many pieces of Venetian art that were inspired by their Islamic trade, I found this "ewer." The surface was marbelized, something I couldn't do on this journal page. However, I tried to capture the shape and colors.
May 5th: I was "stuck" on the last exercise in Lesson 3 of the Elsworth Watercolor Skills Workbook because I don't love landscapes. My city landscape has really tall buildings everywhere! I finally decided to work from one of my photos, taken during a wonderful trip to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast in Oct 2005. The exercise was to paint a landscape using the layer-on-layer method - and here is Mount Vesuvius from Sorrento on a partially clear day.
