Paper and Threads

This semester I'm taking an Illustration class called Watercolor Comps and our professor is covering many basic skills that can be used for illustrations.  This week it was dip pens and India Ink on Smooth Paper to see how the type of pen can influence your drawings and lettering.  I used Bainbridge Illustration Board Hot Press-#172.  I did one quick sketch with pen and ink, and diluted ink and a brush for shading.  My second drawing was of my "imaginary friend" AXEL and friends with pen, ink, and watercolor.  I didn't like the way the watercolor went on the illustration board, and didn't take the time to try other smooth papers. 

I used two pen nibs:  A Zig Kuritake Pen Nib for a Manga Saji pen from the professor and a Brause Steno nib that I bought.  Both were flexible nibs and could make very fine or thick lines.  And both are available from Dick Blick. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

New York City Urban Sketchers met at the Flower Show last week and spent the morning sketching.  I've never been, and really enjoyed walking around on multiple floors enjoying this wonderful harbinger of Spring.  The Theme this year was Carnival, and I'm including a few of the photos I took and my two sketchbook pages.

This is the Central portion of a carousel, with a ring of flower-covered animals surrounding it.  I sketched the rooster, simplifying the number of flowers that were attached.

And I sketched these beautiful Anthurium that were in a planter on the Mezzanine, overlooking the Ground Floor. 

These flowers were around the base of a large planter in an area filled with orchids.  They are gorgeous!  Can anyone identify them for me?

Posted by Shirley at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was the last day of our winter figure drawing sessions in Battery Park City, and my last post of figure drawings until their sessions begin again in May.  Yesterday Claudia was our model and she was fun to draw in her tank top and leggings.  Here are 2 ten minute poses and one twenty minute pose.

I sketched the figures in soluble graphite pencils and then added water, and watercolor. 

TEN MINUTE 

TEN MINUTE

TWENTY MINUTE

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I am still attending on figure drawing session per week at Battery Park City.  This is a special program for 25 participants who only pay a small fee for supplies for the 9 sessions.  We always start with 10 short poses to loosen up the hand and eyes, and I rarely show them.  In this blog post I am including 4 drawings from the 10 two minute poses.  I sketched in graphite on newsprint, and photographed these large sheets of paper for these images.

Posted by Shirley at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My friend Pat and I met for lunch on Tuesday and then visited the Marsden Hartley exhibit at the Met Breuer.  As we were entering, we met our friend Judy T. and then enjoyed the exhibit together.  This exhibit focuses on Hartley's years in Maine.  I must admit that I didn't like his landscape paintings, but did like his figures and a few landscapes with churches and another with a wonky lighthouse.  I sketched from 3 paintings and here display them on the same sketchbook page and include a link to a Met video with some of the paintings. 

http://metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/marsden-hartley

I sketched the lobster because I was interested in Hartley's simplification of his lobster painting.  After recent allergy testing, I was convinced that I could never again eat lobster, and always needed to carry my epipen to restaurants where there may be cross-contamination among shellfish in the kitchen.  We always have a wonderful lobster dinner with our friends at the beach, and I tolerated lobsters boiled for 19 minutes each year.  My allergist was horrified, and I've agreed that I will NEVER do that again.  She says you might get away with it, "until you don't - when the stars and the moon line up in a different way."

So this is my goodbye to Lobsters:  A rough sketch from an uncooked lobster (2003), the conversion of that sketch to a painted drawing in my sketchbook, and another painting of a lobster, uncooked, from one our beach feasts in 2012. 

Posted by Shirley at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)