Paper and Threads

I am really enjoying the recycled books I made (originally inspired by Jan Allsopp - and now made with Martha's methods)  and was ready for a new one.  My recycled Michaelangelo Sonnet book is completed -  full of my "figure and face drawings" - so I was looking for a good replacement.  This 1960 $1.00 book purchased on the final sale cart at Housingworks in Soho was a perfect candidate.  The cover measures 5.5" X 8" and is really sturdy.  I was able to put 4 signatures of 140 lb Arches hot press paper inside.  Each signature contains 3 folios of WC paper, one folio of brown Canson paper for sketching, and one folio from the original book.  The end papers that hold the page block in place are anatomical drawings.

The spine is not glued so it opens very flat, but this means that in spite of tight stitching there are small gaps between the signatures.  I therefore put a thin strip of the anatomical drawing paper over each gap for aesthetic purposes.  Martha paints the inside of her Moleskine cover spine black instead.

One of the joys, for me, of recycling old books is being able to include pages from the original text - the cover page and at least a few others.  Here is an example of one of the pages, with an illustration that I selected.

I need to overcome new journal angst as quickly as possible or I might not ever want to use the book for fear of ruining it.  I immediately added both a figure sketch and a face sketch - and hopefully I'm on my way to a new adventure.

Posted by Shirley at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

This is my Italian hero sandwich, purchased at a local market for lunch last week.  My favorite sandwich is a prosciutto and mozzarella panini - but I don't have a good local source!  The cherry tomatoes were added at home for color - and challenge - when sketching and painting my sandwich.

Posted by Shirley at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Today I had an hour to go back to the Eternal Ancestry exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to sketch the wonderful faces on these Reliquaries.  They are 1-2 feet in height - some are full figures, but most are just heads on a standard base.  They are mostly earthcolors with some gold, bronze, silver, and even feathers. 

I walked through with my Moleskine watercolor notebook and walnut brown Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil and just sketched pieces that I really liked.  The digital photo image below shows all of the faces across a double page spread in the Moleskine.  I originally intended to add water, but then started using the pencil for small details meaning these strokes would be lost if I painted over the pencil. 

Here is the first page in more detail  (scanned):

      Here is the second page in more detail (scanned):

I wasn't at all sure what would happen if I sprayed these pages with Fixative, so I sketched another page with another mask and tried it.  There was no running or smearing of the color - and in fact I couldn't get the pencil to rewet so I could add color. 

The exhibit doesn't close until March 2nd, so I hope to have time to sketch more of these beautiful 19th and 20th C. sculptures from Central Africa.

Posted by Shirley at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Two journal pages from my Figure and Face practice.  The nude is the on the last page of my Michaelangelo sonnet recycled book.  The Beefeater is sketched from a London photo and was done in my recycled Elizabeth I book. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

New York City Brownstones are really red-brown and have wonderful, decorative columns and porches for their front stairs.  This sketch was made from a photo that I took in the East 80s during the spring (hence the flowers blooming so nicely). 

Posted by Shirley at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)