Paper and Threads

Last Week was the annual Master Drawings Week in New York City.  I've gone with my Art Pals for the last several years, partly because I love drawings, and secondly because it is a wonderful opportunity to see elevators for 1.5 people and grand staircases in some of the most elegant townhouses between 5th  and Madison on the Upper Eastside.  Some European gallery owners rent space in NYC galleries for the week, making the selection even broader in scope.  There is a published book of galleries that can be requested from the website, and copies that can be picked up in the first gallery you visit.

And there is even a map of gallery locations on the back of the booklet.  We began on 66th St and ended on 86th St - only missing a few along the way.

I love pen and ink drawings - and these are two photos I took of favorites.  The first is from the 18th C. Italian artist Giuseppe Bernardino Bison and the second by Gustav Klimt. 

Last week I watched a very short Matisse video of The Piano Lesson and then was delighted to see one of several preliminary drawings exploring different positions of the 3 individuals in a Master Drawing gallery.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/impressions/2016/01/matisse-la-lecon-de-piano.html?cmp=email_selects_selects_matisse_hero2_12916-12916 

But the highlight of the day for me was my 3rd Joaquin Torres-Garcia exhibit this month.  He is described as the first South American Modernist and I now know many of his paintings for the first time.  I saw the big Torres-Garcia exhibit at MoMA at the beginning of the month, a lovely exhibit at Gary Nader Gallery at 24 W57th St last week, and then a collection of privately owned Torres-Garcia works of art on this tour.   There were drawings and paintings in the Gallery, and a watercolor sketchbook that was spread out in a glass case.  It was one of the pages in the sketchbook that I was inspired to paint in my sketchbook when I got home that evening. 

My version - for inspiration! 

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My husband and I joined friends on Thursday and Friday for rehearsals of the New York City Ballet (NYCB).  We sit in the first ring for these rehearsals, far enough away from the stage not to distract the dancers.  When we sit down, they are usually milling around the stage for a few minutes - some in costume (principle dancers) and the others in practice clothes.  Once the lights go down, it is so dark that I can't see my sketchbook.  So I watch the dancers for those first few minutes, memorize a few of their practice positions as they warm up, and scribble very quick sketches.  The ink and paint are added at home from memory.

 Thursday:

Friday

On Saturday we were taking 4 NYC grandsons to the New York Philhamonic Young People's Concert.  Just as we were ready to leave the apartment to pick them up, Lincoln Center cancelled the Concert.  We took a walk in the snow near our apartment, but hurried back because of the winds.  Before 9AM on Sunday we walked to Central Park and enjoyed the beautiful, still very white snow.  The paths were packed and we walked in crunchy white snow as the dogs were frolicking!

Looking South over the Great Lawn. 

By 9:30 AM on Cedar Hill:  Parents and children were already crowding the best sledding hill just south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

This was the second biggest blizzard measured in Central Park - ever - and it missed the old record by 0.1 inch!   

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Yesterday I watched the video of Danny Gregory doing his Jill Weber homework, and was inspired to make my book immediately.  I have many creative passions, and therefore find it hard to focus and work in a series.    When I was considering a theme about myself for the book, I decided that I needed to catalogue my passions as they developed over my life time.  I decided that I only had several hours to devote to this homework project this week, and selected and printed many of my sketchbook pages from the past to tell my story.  An accordion book was perfect to document my 6 current creative pathways.  The cover and quilt square were new drawings, the rest were collages.

Link to Danny's Blogpost which had me giggling as I watched it. 

http://dannygregorysblog.com/2016/01/25/inspiration-monday-handmade-book/ 

Accordion Book:

Cover and Page 1:  Seamstress

Pages 2 and 3:  Seamstress and Quilter:

Pages 4 and 5:  Surface Designer and Artist

Pages 6 and 7:  Bookbinder and Writer

My friend Benedicte sent me a wonderful article about Polymaths, and a new name for creatives that can't focus on one passion.  The new name is Multipotentialites.  The article and link to the Ted Talk are both interesting reading.

http://goinswriter.com/change-medium/ 

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And what an amazing day it was with my artist friends Benedicte, Pat, and Teri!  We intended to visit 4 Galleries, but it was really cold and we found other really interesting exhibits in two of the buildings, so we didn't have to go outside as often and saw more wonderful art as inspiration. 

I first learned about William Kentridge, a South African artist through his one man show at MoMA.  The Met then had an exhibit of one of his video art pieces within the last two years.  I'm fascinated by him and was completely shocked that Marian Goodman Gallery had two of his new megasize video installations.  What a thrill to be surrounded by his art combined with music, dance, and South African actors.   Here is a link to the Video of "More Sweetly Play the Dance."  But watching on video it isn't as amazing as being in the large space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-n5Kvw9v4A

 Deliberate Practice:

I sketched two of my two favorite paintings and two wood sculptures from our visits. Each copy is an education for me as I try to learn more about lines, ink, and the use of watercolor to approximate the oil paints used.  I also practiced more handlettering on these sketchbook pages for my Sketchbook Skool 5 homework.

A Painting by Paula Modersohn-Becker (1875-1907), a German Artist who died at age 31 following childbirth. 

Peasant Woman Carrying a Branch circa 1898. 

Two sculptures by Chaim Gross (Forum Gallery) and Frank Walter (Hirschl and Adler Gallery).

A Painting (Untitled) by B. Vithal at DAG Modern Gallery.

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I saw the Picasso Sculpture Exhibit many times since the preview on September 11, 2015.  Last week I went with my husband for what may be my last visit, although there are still more favorite sculptures I would like to draw.  While at home painting two pieces I just drew, I went back and painted a drawing from an earlier visit, and I used these 3 Picasso sketchbook pages to practice handlettering.   Koosje Koene, the first teacher in Sketchbook Skool 5 -Expressing. gave several demos on hand lettering, and our first homework for this week was to practice one serif and one sans serif alphabet.

Years ago I printed upper and lower case alphabets and numbers of fonts I liked from Word and Word Perfect (see sample below).  While I've used them on some occasions, I rarely use them for sketchbook drawings.  On these 3 pages, however, I did look at saved samples and started my homework.

These are my 3 sketchbook pages, now with a variety of hand lettered fonts. 

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