Paper and Threads

This semester I am taking a Drawing I class at FIT.  It is my very first ever drawing class (except for Figure Drawing at FIT in the Fall of 2013) and I've always just "winged it" when perspective was needed in a drawing.  I usually start learning all new things on my own, from books, and then eventually find that a class provides me with some formal structure for my knowledge.  But by then I've experimented and broken many rules so I'm more comfortable playing. I knew that we were learning one-point perspective in our class, and by chance saw a good free ebook online by artist Paul Heaston about Drawing with Perspective. 

https://www.facebook.com/CraftsyDrawingClub

This is the link, but you need to scroll down to find Paul Heaston. The ebook can be downloaded as a 24 page PDF from Facebook Drawing Club.  You have to join Craftsy to download it, but there is no charge for joining and Craftsy is having a sale on their art classes right now so you may see something else you like too.  

I read pages 1-3 before class and last night sketched the hallway outside our classroom, sitting on the floor and standing, and from the right side, left side, and middle - 6 sketches in all.  Here is my sketch sitting on the left side of the hall.   I had trouble figuring out exactly where my "eyeline" was and it took all 6 sketches before I could figure out the errors I was making.  The black dot is my "vanishing point" on my eyeline (horizon).

At home I decided to reproduce one of my drawings in my sketchbook and paint it - and found it very easy once I established my eyeline and vanishing point.  Both were copied from my drawing last night while I was standing in the middle of the hall.  I made the box shape for the end of the hall, then added my "eyeline" and vanishing point, and just redrew the objects along both sides of the hall, using lines from my vanishing point. 

We have one more week on one point perspective and then move on to "two point perspective." 

Posted by Shirley at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Art Adventures at the Met were wonderful this past month. 

Pat, Benedicte and I went to the opening of Reimagining Modernism, a special look at the holdings of the Met, as rearranged by themes by the curatorial staff.  There were paintings that I don't remember from before in the 9 galleries and one newly exhibited, gallery-sized sculpture of the Last Supper by Marisol which was amazing.  Benedicte took this picture of me taking a photo of the painted faces and exquisite sculptured  and painted wood hands.

I sketched a few of the simpler drawings from the galleries and added paint at home. 

Last Friday evening the Met had a program called Jazz and Colors, during which 15 jazz groups played the same two sets in 15 different galleries.  I sketched in the Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas while we listened.

 Then we sat in the Petrie European Sculpture Hall and listened to "Jennie Scheinman's in the Museum".

Followed by The Marvin Sewell Group in the Bloomberg Arms and Armor Court. 

 I think they are repeating this program from 6-8:30 on April 24th.  It was a wonderful event - I remarked to my husband that there were so many young people that it looked like date night. 

Posted by Shirley at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Central Part Sketching and Art Meetup Group is now meeting each Saturday during the winter for figure drawing, and yesterday was the first session.  The model looked like a runway model, probably 6 feet tall and all angles and boney prominences.  I really enjoyed drawing her and here are 5, 10, and 20 minute poses, all drawn with a soluble graphite pencil, on 12 X 15" watercolor paper, with added shading done with clear water and my flat Niji waterbrush.   The drawings were photographed, not scanned.

Two 5 Mintue Poses:

Two 10 minute Poses: 

Two 20 Minute Poses:

Posted by Shirley at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It is Week 2 for me in the online course Studying Under the Masters.  The Master for this week is Pablo Picasso, and over the years I have copied many of his drawings, because I love the images he can capture drawing only a few lines or one continuous line.  So it was time to copy a painting!  The painting "Reading at a Table" is at the Met, and as soon as I saw it in the new Reinventing Modernism Galleries, I knew that I wanted to try to paint her!  As before, the Master is on the left, and my painting is on the right.  I used watercolor and black and white gouache instead of oil, and loved trying to achieve some of the spirit of Picasso. 

I debated a variety of portraits for my "painting inspired by Picasso" and finally realized that I could use one of my figure drawings from MoMA for the subject.  I made this sketch of the actress model in the Toulouse-Lautrec Drawing Session in 3 minutes, using only straight lines to draw her image.  I took a scan of that drawing as the basis for my painting and then experimented with backgrounds.  I loved the candle in Picasso's painting, so I added it to mine, and then needed to work out the rest of the setting and color palette. 

And here is my finished painting.  I usually draw and paint in watercolor sketchbooks and for this series of paintings I'm using Arches 140 lb cold press watercolor paper in a 9 X 12 block.

Next Week:  Max Beckmann, the German Expressionist Painting. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The annual Masters' Drawing week was held in NYC this week and the snow had little effect on the gallery hours and auctions.  There are 32 galleries on the Upper Eastside of New York that feature drawings from hundreds of years ago to the 20th C.  In addition, auction houses schedule their Master Drawings Auctions during this week, ensuring a truly international gathering. They publish a guide to the participating Galleries and we visit them!

I love drawings and almost always love preparatory drawings to the famous oil paintings more than the painting, so this is one of my favorite art adventures. 

I went to 12 galleries on Wed and took a few photographs so I could either remember the drawings, or try to emulate them.  This 6 x 6" Study of a Horse's Head was drawn by James Seymour (1702-1752), and it was perfect for me to try out my new Brause pen nib and Herbin brown ink purchased in Paris.

On Thursday my friend Pat joined me and we went to the remaining participating galleries.  Many of them are in townhouses between 5th and Madison Avenues and the teeny elevators are always a fun part of the whole experience.  This is a drawing of Albert Einstein by Josef Scharl.  The gallery owner told us that Einstein sponsored him for his green card, and they were lifelong friends. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)