Paper and Threads

The Metropolitan Museum of Art currently has a Rodin Exhibit - which includes many of the sculptures that are usually seen on the 2nd floor.  But the added pieces round out the exhibit, including some small terracotta sculptures that were preliminary to some of his Bronzes.  I like sketching sculpture, I love his Fallen Caryatid sculptures, and was mesmerized by the small terracotta piece which is directly across from the large bronze version.  Exhibit closes Jan 15th.  Note:  Entrance sticker from the Cooper-Hewitt was just another museum visit on the same day - not connected.

And for all of my quilting friends:  War and Pieced is a spectacular exhibit at the Folk Art Museum.  These "quilts" were all made by men, British men who served as Soldiers, Sailors, and Tailors.  The brochure describes them as "dazzling and complex textiles containing thousands of pieces (many 1" square).  They were made during the 19th Century conflicts in Crimea, South Africa, and India - and all of the fabrics are from felted wool used in their uniforms.  One of my favorite facts, the military encouraged piecing these textiles in India, where soldiers didn't have much to do except drink!  I chose to sketch these embroidered soldiers from a smaller collection of the textiles made with the intarsia method.  The oldest textile in the intarsia section was made in 1719.  Exhibit closes Jan 7th.

Posted by Shirley at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I plan to continue my blog posts about my current class at FIT.  This week we focused on mass instead of line, and in the 3 minute warm up model drawings, we had to use color to emphasize some mass, using markers or Nu-Pastels.  Three minute poses were not long enough to complete each drawing, but this is a single 18 X 24" page, and my drawings proceeded from the right to the left  (I'm left-handed).  I tried to color the masses with my Tombow marker.

I never used Nu-Pastels and later in the class she came by to demonstrate, asking permission to draw on my page.  She stressed using the chalk to block out the mass, and not drawing the edges and filling it in coloring book style. 

See her drawing demos  labeled "This" and "Not this."

A 10 minute pose, and as before we were instructed to start our drawing at the top, and to proceed from one side of the face to the other, then the body, etc, in short segments, adding the other objects, the ceramic pumpkin and the chair, only when we drew our lines down to their level in the pose.  

Our last pose was 12 minutes, and included both of the class models.  I can feel myself starting to use her prescribed drawing method, and working very fast to get everything included - two models, a table, chair, and platform!  Fashion illustrations have different body proportions than in real life - tall and skinny, and dramatic and bold.  In this class she said that we will develop our style by the end of the semester, and I'm beginning to see how our classes are leading in that direction. 

Posted by Shirley at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am taking the Sketchbook Skool Class called Imagining.  Koosje Koene, co founder of Sketchbook Skool, demonstrated her approach to a 5 day imagination drawing.  She sat down each day without a specific plan and allowed ideas to appear.  She said there is a concept in the Netherlands called "The Red Thread" which means something that follows a subtle theme.  She sketched elements of sky, with a red thread as a link across the pages of an accordion book, and sketched clouds, electrical wires, birds, a face, a crocodile, even wrapping 1t around the moon.  

Instead of using a red thread to link my drawings, as in her demo, I decided to add some more illustrations to the storyline of my imaginary characters Axel and Alice. 

I created Axel during Fabio Consoli's imagination homework assignment in the Sketchbook School Class called Stretching .  The character on the far right was created by my grandson Zach (who was then in his final year of pre-school).  I had to take a child's drawing and expand upon it.  Zach said that he thought that Axel came from the moon, and his head was that shape because of the phase of the moon when he was born.

I draw Axel often and for the last two summers he was the subject of mail art on letter envelopes to my grandchildren in summer camp.   He even became a Christmas ornament for our grandchildren.

I expanded the imaginary friend group in a watercolor illustration for my final project in my Illustration Class last semester at FIT.  

All of my grandchildren relate to Axel, and I thought it would be fun to create a short storyline that would end with the above illustration.  So here are my 5 days of drawings for Sketchbook Skool homework. 

Day 1:  Hi!  I'm Axel.  She doesn't even know I'm here.  I'm looking for a place to live."

Day 2:  "This is my friend Alice and she found this doll house in the trash, and we can live there."

Day 3:  "Alice, I wonder who lives in the little houses here on the top of the hill?  Let's watch this one and see who comes out."

Day 4:  Axel asks "Do you live in that house?  Where do you come from?  Jupiter?  Where is that?  Can we be friends?  Who lives in the skinny house?" 

Day 5:  "Axel, this is my neighbor from the skinny house.  He says he comes from Mars.  Maybe we can all be friends since we can't go home."

To be continued. 

Posted by Shirley at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two drawings among many from my second class about Fashion Applications at FIT:

The goal of this class was to reemphasize line drawings, and to both draw models in an environment,  and draw two models together.  The professor still stressed starting the drawing at the very top - even if it a plant above the model's head - and then drawing from top to bottom, moving from side to side until reaching the bottom.  Lines should be confident and bold.

We had 7 minutes to draw the first model with the poppies, and 10 minutes for the two models together.  In each class she also shows us the work of famous fashion illustrators.  And gave us a link for a website to search and review specific fashion illustrators.

http://www.illustrationdivision.com/ 

These are large drawings that needed to be photographed and not scanned. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm taking another Illustration course this semester at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).  Last week was my first class and our professor demonstrated how she draws the models several times during the class.  She instructed us to start at the head and then slowly draw down the body carving out space - moving back and forth from one side to the other.  She stressed the body directions, and specifically the shoulder and hip directions and asked us to make them dramatic.  This was a 3 minute warm up drawing of mine early in the class, and when she came by me she sketched in those direction lines, and suggested that I bend her hips all the way over to the outside line she made for drama.

2.  We had 3 models, each changing clothes multiple times.  This is a later 7 minute pose - as I tried to achieve more drama.

3.  And this was my final pose at the very end of the 3 hour class.  This is definitely going to be fun!

Posted by Shirley at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)