Paper and Threads

Week 1:  We are working through a structured syllabus in my Fashion Application class at Fashion Institute of Technology, and after several weeks of working with "line,"  we worked with depiction of "mass."  Instead of using markers, I chose to work with Nu-Pastels, a completely new medium for me, and these two drawings were very fast poses using only small pieces of pastel chalk.  It would not be my favorite method for figure drawing, but it was a fun challenge to see if I could do it.  The first pose was 2 minutes and the second one was 7-10 minutes, if I remember correctly.  I bought a small set of the Nu Pastels for the class and don't have anything close to a skin color.

Week 2:  These are 5 two minute poses to begin class, and I can still hear our professor saying, "mass only if you want to get all the way down to the feet on the 18" paper."  I still don't have a lighter pink Nu-Pastel, so this skin color was obviously done with the only pink-red in my set.

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I named my Inner Critic Mildred after my very critical Mother and Mother-in-law, Marge and Miriam.  In this Sketchbook Skool "Imagination" drawing she is saying:  You haven't done Marloes' homework yet.  Your problem is that you don't have enough imagination.  You watched the class on Monday and it is now Thursday.  You can copy, but are not original.  Don't you have any ideas?  You NEED to talk about your Inner Critic and I'm helping you.  I'm not going to give you an idea now - maybe you'll find an idea soon.  You waste so much time drawing and painting!

Draw An Experience:  I had to fill more than an hour last Wednesday and took a book to Starbucks.  I wrote "It's FREEZING in here," and people working on computers were here when I arrived and are still working more than an hour later.

I was part of a Bronx 3rd grade class "Lock Down Drill" last Thursday.  The Door was immediately locked and the small children all were huddled together in one tiny space in the corner of the room, out of a line with any windows or the door.  I was so sad looking at their tiny bodies and innocent faces - what is our country becoming?  Then I reflected on my elementary school drills during which we hid under our desks to protect us from Russian bombs.

I sketched my childhood home completely from my imagination, although I did sketch every place I've lived in my lifetime many years ago. 

I still didn't do a group sketch of all my friends - our 5th homework assignment from Marloes De Vries. 

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art currently has a Rodin Exhibit - which includes many of the sculptures that are usually seen on the 2nd floor.  But the added pieces round out the exhibit, including some small terracotta sculptures that were preliminary to some of his Bronzes.  I like sketching sculpture, I love his Fallen Caryatid sculptures, and was mesmerized by the small terracotta piece which is directly across from the large bronze version.  Exhibit closes Jan 15th.  Note:  Entrance sticker from the Cooper-Hewitt was just another museum visit on the same day - not connected.

And for all of my quilting friends:  War and Pieced is a spectacular exhibit at the Folk Art Museum.  These "quilts" were all made by men, British men who served as Soldiers, Sailors, and Tailors.  The brochure describes them as "dazzling and complex textiles containing thousands of pieces (many 1" square).  They were made during the 19th Century conflicts in Crimea, South Africa, and India - and all of the fabrics are from felted wool used in their uniforms.  One of my favorite facts, the military encouraged piecing these textiles in India, where soldiers didn't have much to do except drink!  I chose to sketch these embroidered soldiers from a smaller collection of the textiles made with the intarsia method.  The oldest textile in the intarsia section was made in 1719.  Exhibit closes Jan 7th.

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I plan to continue my blog posts about my current class at FIT.  This week we focused on mass instead of line, and in the 3 minute warm up model drawings, we had to use color to emphasize some mass, using markers or Nu-Pastels.  Three minute poses were not long enough to complete each drawing, but this is a single 18 X 24" page, and my drawings proceeded from the right to the left  (I'm left-handed).  I tried to color the masses with my Tombow marker.

I never used Nu-Pastels and later in the class she came by to demonstrate, asking permission to draw on my page.  She stressed using the chalk to block out the mass, and not drawing the edges and filling it in coloring book style. 

See her drawing demos  labeled "This" and "Not this."

A 10 minute pose, and as before we were instructed to start our drawing at the top, and to proceed from one side of the face to the other, then the body, etc, in short segments, adding the other objects, the ceramic pumpkin and the chair, only when we drew our lines down to their level in the pose.  

Our last pose was 12 minutes, and included both of the class models.  I can feel myself starting to use her prescribed drawing method, and working very fast to get everything included - two models, a table, chair, and platform!  Fashion illustrations have different body proportions than in real life - tall and skinny, and dramatic and bold.  In this class she said that we will develop our style by the end of the semester, and I'm beginning to see how our classes are leading in that direction. 

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I am taking the Sketchbook Skool Class called Imagining.  Koosje Koene, co founder of Sketchbook Skool, demonstrated her approach to a 5 day imagination drawing.  She sat down each day without a specific plan and allowed ideas to appear.  She said there is a concept in the Netherlands called "The Red Thread" which means something that follows a subtle theme.  She sketched elements of sky, with a red thread as a link across the pages of an accordion book, and sketched clouds, electrical wires, birds, a face, a crocodile, even wrapping 1t around the moon.  

Instead of using a red thread to link my drawings, as in her demo, I decided to add some more illustrations to the storyline of my imaginary characters Axel and Alice. 

I created Axel during Fabio Consoli's imagination homework assignment in the Sketchbook School Class called Stretching .  The character on the far right was created by my grandson Zach (who was then in his final year of pre-school).  I had to take a child's drawing and expand upon it.  Zach said that he thought that Axel came from the moon, and his head was that shape because of the phase of the moon when he was born.

I draw Axel often and for the last two summers he was the subject of mail art on letter envelopes to my grandchildren in summer camp.   He even became a Christmas ornament for our grandchildren.

I expanded the imaginary friend group in a watercolor illustration for my final project in my Illustration Class last semester at FIT.  

All of my grandchildren relate to Axel, and I thought it would be fun to create a short storyline that would end with the above illustration.  So here are my 5 days of drawings for Sketchbook Skool homework. 

Day 1:  Hi!  I'm Axel.  She doesn't even know I'm here.  I'm looking for a place to live."

Day 2:  "This is my friend Alice and she found this doll house in the trash, and we can live there."

Day 3:  "Alice, I wonder who lives in the little houses here on the top of the hill?  Let's watch this one and see who comes out."

Day 4:  Axel asks "Do you live in that house?  Where do you come from?  Jupiter?  Where is that?  Can we be friends?  Who lives in the skinny house?" 

Day 5:  "Axel, this is my neighbor from the skinny house.  He says he comes from Mars.  Maybe we can all be friends since we can't go home."

To be continued. 

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