Paper and Threads

There is a large Andy Warhol Exhibit at the Whitney Museum.  This is one of several exhibits of his art in NYC that I've seen - at the Met, MoMA, Morgan, and now at the Whitney.  The MoMA and the Morgan introduced me to Warhol the Illustrator and I loved his drawings and book illustrations that were featured in their exhibit.  I never had any feelings for his screen prints - too commercial and mechanical for my tastes. 

After looking at the exhibit, and drawing, I joined a 4PM tour of the exhibit given by one of my friends, who led us, for an hour, from early Warhol, to late Warhol.  Below are two Sketchbook pages I created while walking around the exhibit. 

Here are a few of the early pieces that I liked.  His ad for rhinoplasty led him to narrow his own nose. The Diana Vreeland shoe is one of his slipper series, in which he "designed" and made shoes and boots for a handful of celebrities.   I used gold gouache to paint the shoe, he used gold leaf! 

Hearing about his life, and the reasons behind his artistic development, allowed me to better understand his work.  In addition, I'm taking an experimental screen printing class at FIT, and soon will understand some of his printing methods.  The exhibit will close at the end of March, and then travel to 2 other major museums in the US.  The website for the exhibit is huge.  https://www.whitney.org/Exhibitions/AndyWarhol 

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This is another favorite stop along C Street in the Capitol Hill section of Washington DC.  It is a small gourmet food store, near my beloved Capitol Hill Books. 

Figuary is a free daily challenge for February - from  two YouTube sites.  Each day there is a short 4 min video emphasizing an important aspect of figure drawing (YouTube: Love Life Drawing) and a 15-18 minute video of one model in 1, 2, and 5 minute poses (youtube: Croquis Café).  Just search for each site on You Tube - you can still access Feb 1-5 from the you tube site.  The quality is excellent, and it is 28 days of drawing figures for extra practice.  I just hope that I can fit it in to an already busy schedule.

Posted by Shirley at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These are my line of action figure drawings from the 2nd half of January.  I call these Art After Breakfast because I do these 5-10 minute drawings while I'm finishing my coffee, and paint them immediately.  I cut them out and collage them in my sketchbook later.  Each drawing is easy for me to do because my photo reference book, quarter sheets of copy paper, pencil and pen are kept together.  This is the 2-page sketchbook spread.

Left Page:

Right Page

First I draw a pencil line of action, and then I draw the figure with a black gel pen. I really enjoy drawing these - they are quick, low stakes, small sketches, and they keep me drawing even when other projects and demands intervene.

Posted by Shirley at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We saw a working dress rehearsal 0f Apollo at the New York City Ballet - to be performed that evening at the Winter Season Opening.  I quickly did a pencil sketch of the 4 dancers while they warmed up and the lighting technicians projected the sun, and then the lights went out making further drawing impossible.

Posted by Shirley at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Accordion Sketchbook with Fabriano Artistico 140lb Soft Press paper:  I made 3 of these and used them for sketching during NYC Urban Sketchers meetings when weather permitted.  This is one of those three.

I am teaching a friend from NYC USK how to make books and last week, in lesson 4 - (first 3 lessons: pamphlet book, double pamphlet book, recycled book) we made accordion books using Fabriano Artistico 140 lb soft press watercolor paper.  We tore two 8" strips from a 22 X 30"sheet of paper and glued them together with a 1/2" flap.  The pages are 8"H x 7" W for a full length of 56".  I used paste paper I made previously to cover the binders board that I made while she was following along.

Posted by Shirley at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)