Paper and Threads

We spent 5 days at the beach with our family, and even though we took our usual early morning beach walks, the rest of the days were busy with the family - and especially with the 8 children in the pool.  I still wanted at least one drawing in my summer sketchbook from this important weekend, and decided to commemorate the favorite pool activity - riding the swan. There was always one or two children climbing on or off. This is our grand daughter Sydney - drawn and painted from a photo I took.

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Prime Time Tour:  With guides Danielle and Jenny (Danielle:  An intern for 2016-2017, Jenny -Assistant Curator who worked on plans for this exhibit for 4 years!) .   Robert Rauschenberg and Friends is this summer's huge exhibit at MoMA.  It covers the entire 4th floor of the museum.  Last week I attended gallery talks, each for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday, which were part of the MoMA Prime Time experience.  As we sat in front of the art works I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to sketch any of the selected works, so I sketched our guides Danielle (an intern at MoMA) and Jenny (an assistant curator for the exhibit).

Prime Time is a special program for seniors, which includes both art history and art skills programs.  It is so popular that you must be on their mailing list and register quickly when the programs are advertised by email. 

I like some of Rauschenberg's work, specifically his silk screen and collage works, but I knew almost nothing about him.  What I learned was that he was most interested in (1) exploring techniques in art, pushing them in new directions and (2) establishing lots of collaborations for his art, including other artists, writers, dancers, composers, and even engineers.  This is a link to the exhibit, and there are some good short videos.

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3634?locale=en 

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I love the free adult art program sponsored by the Battery Park City Conservancy from May through October.  On Wednesday mornings I stop briefly in Wagner Park to draw individual flowers in bloom.  Maybe someday I will grow to like painting landscapes.

Wagner Park iris variant:

Multiple Flowers in Bloom this week:   

In the afternoon I go to Figure Drawing sessions which are held in South Cove, also in Battery Park City.

Short Poses (5-10 minutes):

Longer Poses (10-20 minutes): 

On the hottest days in NYC, there is always shade and a lovely breeze in the afternoon.   

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It is good to be back at the weekly Figure Drawing in South Cove.  These are 5 two minute poses of Gloria, one of my favorite models.

And these are two 10 minute poses:

Gloria 2 

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I signed up for Sketchbook Skool 6 - Exploring - realizing that I was going to be in Venice after Week 2.  After our return I completed watching each session, but then left for the beach and my beloved beach shells.  The Homework from those weeks will be fun to do after I stop traveling.

Here are my quick homework assignments for Danny's Class on Hatching and Nina Johansson's Class on Drawing your neighborhood.

I don't usually add crosshatching to my drawings - I love watercolor too much.  This was the scene from my couch for the hatching homework.

The day before we left for Venice I went to Christie's Auction Preview and saw this Picasso etching - an amazing example of crosshatching that I thought I would share.

La Minotauromachie  (1935)

I remembered an old fashioned ice cream parlor/candy shop/luncheonette in my neighborhood and decided to sketch it as a treasure of our neighborhood.  Malted Milks, Fountain Sodas, and a counter to sit at - reminds me of other similar places from my childhood.  

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