Paper and Threads

We returned from the beach with our friends and sketched in Central Park and then in Lower Manhattan at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.  This sketch of Belvedere Castle was made from the lawn at the Turtle Pond.  We had sun alternating with gray rain clouds, but there were only sprinkles during the time we were there. The National Weather Service uses it to measure wind and rainfall in Manhattan.

We ended a walk through Battery Park City and Battery Park at the Old Custom House and it was my second visit to the exhibit called Unbound:  Narrative Art in the Plains  I was attracted to another piece of art by Lauren Good Day Giago, the only woman painter commissioned for this exhibit among nearly a dozen men.  These were two of the images created as a memory to here Grandfather. 

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We are almost at the end of our beach vacation with our friends, but will return with our family later this month.  And I continue to collect shells on our beach walks, and also sketched a beach scene and our bedroom for a little variety.

The item on the bottom right is an operculum, which moon snails use as a latch door over the opening in the shell.  The are almost translucent and have a beautiful structure.

I challenged myself to draw/paint a broken moon snail, but the internal structure is hard to paint to show the depth.

This was the view from the deck at the Café where we have coffee after our beach walk.

And after our beach walk, and during the heavy rain and wind, I sketched the bedroom we stay in at the beach.  It is primarily a happy memory page for me and a perspective challenge. 

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We are at the beach on our 8th annual vacation with dear friends.  I pick up shells on our morning beach walk, but rarely see any that I haven't found and sketched previously over the years.  But that makes these trips more memorable!

I made a new case for my sunglasses using strip-piecing and old scraps from my fabric stash.  The analogous hot colors make me smile!

I love watching the seagulls and managed to get a photo of one right as it was beginning to take off in flight. 

We drove down to the beach on Sunday morning, but it was raining and likely to do so all day.  So we went for coffee at Citarellas and enjoyed the time talking to local residents.

All of these sketchbook pages were photographed, not scanned, accounting for the pale blue background colors.

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I am again loosely following a 100 Day Project - Drawing from My Imagination - even if it takes me more than 100 days.  Last year when I did this, my character Axel was just "born" and being developed.  This year I hope to increase the number of drawings I do with Axel.  Here are a few of the ones I already completed.

We are going to the beach and may or may not have WiFi for the next few days.  I have a new recycled book to use as my beach sketchbook and can't wait to start using it.  Enjoy the beginning of summer

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Matthew Midgley, a British teacher and illustrator, was the Artist for week 5 in Sketchbook Skool 6.  He is a master at painting his meals, even if it means that he doesn't eat it until cold.  I knew that I couldn't draw and paint, postponing my enjoyment of dinner, so I took photos at our pre-theater dinner last weekend and painted it this weekend.

Italian bread with olive oil, Caesar salad, a Super Tuscan red wine, sausage pizza, and a cappuccino.  Yum!  

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