Paper and Threads

I have several sketchbook pages that I did before our recent trip tp Martha's Vineyard - and just finished painting them since our return.  Each week I arrive at Wagner Park in Battery Park City during the final minutes of the morning art session, and draw the newest flowers in bloom.  I love spending time painting them, so I wait until I'm home and have a variety of brushes, and some quiet time.  This page is from early July.

Later that week we met our oldest son, his wife, and 3 boys in Riverside Park on one the hottest days of early July.  One grandson was shooting baskets with our son.  One grandson was asked to join a softball game with neighborhood kids.  And the youngest in the family was sound asleep in his stroller.  It was too hot to move, so as I sat on a blanket in the grass, I sketched what was in front of me! 

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 I like figure drawing, and when there are live models, I try to draw hands, and sometimes feet on the longer poses (10, 20 minute poses).  But I need to continue to draw both hands and feet from photographs, and save photos from magazine advertisements for that purpose.  I have one sketchbook devoted to these deliberate practice drawings, and these are 3 that I did so far this summer.

I search for photos of hands holding smart phones, and here is one with these other drawings.

I like to draw hands in normal positions - but I liked this hand holding a hat too.

3.  

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Three of our grandchildren are in summer camp and each year I try to send them one letter each week.  Last year I started adding drawings of Axel, an imaginary character that one of my grandchildren said came here from the moon.  Axel drawings appear periodically and I even expanded the original illustration for my final project in my illustration course.  Axel is dressed in orange.

Axel and Friends

Letter Envelope for Week 1 Letter from me to the kids:  

Envelopes from Letters 2nd week:  We see camp photos of them daily and I used three favorites to draw Axel participating in the same sports as in their photos.

My oldest grandchild told me that he tore the Axel drawing off the first envelope and hung it up in his bunk for the summer.  That makes me happy! 

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We had a new, lovely, elegant, balletic model at Battery Park City on Wednesday.  She wore a simple dress and had bare shoulders, and legs which made it easier to see her body positions.  The following 5 minute sketches were sketched with a soluble graphite pencil, and then clear water was used to spread the graphite to add some color/shading.

I used the same "Sketch and Wash" pencil for these 15 minute poses, but sketched the model on pre-painted watercolor paper.  It is fun to see the random places where the drawing overlaps the paint - as an unplanned exercise.

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Wagner Park Flowers last Wednesday morning.  A quick search of Hydrangea images and information suggests these belong to the category lacetops.  I also sketched a cone flower and an unknown.

I explored the Florine Stettheimer exhibit at the Jewish Museum on Thursday and was more interested in the history of this Victorian painter and her family, than the paintings.  The early paintings had a more interesting range of values and compositions.  This is the self-portrait I chose to copy, as I continue to practice facial features.

Posted by Shirley at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)