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
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.
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.
"Art on Paper" at Pier 36 in Manhattan: Each year my husband and I visit the annual Art on Paper exhibit on Pier 36 and then walk back through the Lower Eastside to lunch in Little Italy. I never saw a Picasso blown glass piece before (not on paper I know, but with some Picasso drawings in one booth). The Gallery owner assured me that it was a piece made in collaboration with Egido Constantini, a Murano glassblower. Think of it as an upside down globe.
New York Philharmonic Young Peoples' Concert: We take grandchildren to the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts 4 times each year. Before the main concert, there is always a short concert for Young Composers (an NYC program in the schools) to have their work played by Philharmonic musicians, and I sat right in front of the bass player.
"Central Park Sketching and Art Meetup Group" Yesterday was the 10th Anniversary of the Central Park Sketching and Art Meetup Group and we had a big party at the Manhattan Ballroom - during which we put together still life arrangements, from objects brought by group members, and sketched, painted, and ate! Congratualiations Jesse Richards. You're a great Meetup leader!
In spite of our Tuesday snowstorm, both Battery Park City and Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) sessions were open on Wednesday. I put on many layers and snow boots, and went downtown to draw. I was so happy I did.
Here are 3 of my drawings of David, our model at Battery Park City. They were all drawn with soluble graphite and then either painted with clear water or watercolor paint.
10 Minute Model Pose
20 minute Model Pose - with watercolor painting
20 Minute Model Pose: Drawn with General's Sketch and Wash soluble graphite pencil and painted with clear water. I have never enjoyed drawing with charcoal, maybe because it is so messy. But I love master drawings done with charcoal. Wish I could make the leap! So for now I continue to draw with the soluble graphite pencils.
We had a model dressed in costume at my evening FIT Illustration class. We made quick drawings of her 20 minute pose and then painted her and a background during several more 20 minute poses. I am really enjoying the emphasis placed on the use of watercolor in this class and look forward to the new assignment when we arrive each week.
