Paper and Threads

Two of our grandchildren live in Washington DC, and when the oldest was born I started a sketchbook to record daily events when we were visiting her.  Pages were created for local places and important activities, and "stuff.  "I'm now on volume 2 and here are the two latest pages.  When Annabelle was visiting us in NYC she fell in love with a stuffed animal that was part of the menagerie that accumulated in our apartment when our NYC grandchildren were younger.  She took the pug, which she named Dash, back to DC, and brought Paddington back for her younger brother.  We were there two days and I painted their two newest "lovies" in my DC sketchbook.

XXX

Posted by Shirley at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've admired Anne Watkins impressionistic watercolor figure paintings for almost a decade and was thrilled when her workshop was included in the 10 X 10 NYC Urban Sketchers program.  I tend to be a detail oriented person, which was a valuable trait as a physician, but I'd love to be able to loosen up when drawing and painting.  The back-to-back classes with Marilyn Rose and Anne Watkins were a perfect combination for last week.  We met Anne in Bryant Park - the same location as Marilyn chose, and the park was full of sitting, walking, and ping-pong playing people. 

This was Anne's quick demo for us to see how she painted the ping pong players and a link to her website.

annewatkins.com/      Look especially at her wedding paintings. 

I painted many passing figures during the workshop, and loved the experience.  But I will need lots of practice before attaining any mastery of this style.  These were the best of the ones I painted. 

Posted by Shirley at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bryant Park, which is behind the New York Public Library, is amazing!  Over the last several decades, it became a cultural center in midtown NYC.  This week I attended one of their art programs, led by an artist who was a Bryant Park Artist in Residence several summers ago.  Marilyn and I, many years ago, became friends at an Everyday Matters course taught here by Danny Gregory, in NYC,  and I enrolled immediately because of the limited size of these free classes.  We met from 10-12 noon on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and she gave each of us a Moleskine Cahier book and a Unipen - to be used for all of our sketches. 

Day 1 - First Drawing: We were directed to select a small part of the NYPL front plaza and just draw what we saw.  We had about 30-40 minutes for each sketch.

Day 1 - Second Drawing 

Day 2 - Vignette:  She led us around the plaza and showed us how she creates a quick vingnette of a space, selecting random things that intrigue her.  We then sketched our own vignette.

Day 2 - People:  For our second drawing we quickly sketched each other.  This was one of my spreads.

Day 3 -  After some more instruction, we went around the Library to Bryant Park and sketched, while listening to the practice session of Broadway Show casts that were scheduled to perform in the afternoon.  I had about an hour to draw, and then we returned to the Art Cart space in the front of the library and some students added color.

Posted by Shirley at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Letters were mailed in business envelopes, and my drawings of Axel were sketched on the left.

Just as I was getting ready to mail the letters this past weekend, I learned that they can't receive mail during "The Color War."  So I'm going to print these out on welcome home cards for their return on Thursday. 

I need to find my alphabet stamps, and print out this drawing to make - something I will enjoy doing as much as drawing on 3 envelopes. 

Today I started a 3 day drawing workshop sponsored by Bryant Park and conducted by Marilyn Rose, one of their former summer resident artists.  Fun!  I'll have my very loose, pen only, drawings to scan for Friday's blog post. 

Posted by Shirley at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I continue to sketch single flowers in bloom at Wagner Park.  After making each sketch, I take a photo and then paint the whole page at home, when I can relax and enjoy experimenting with some wet-in-wet watercolor painting, and more mixing of greens from my basic yellows and blues.

These lilies were gorgeous in color and I wasn't able to get the colors to be as radiant in paint.  Nature is amazing. 

Figure Al Fresco:  Several 5 minute poses in the afternoon. 

Posted by Shirley at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)