Woman Waiting On A Sunny Morning

Painted this morning, from life.

Oil on 30"x40" canvas.

The figure in the foreground is the figure I painted today.  I painted her on top of an old painting (actually one of my first tries at oil painting on a large scale), probably painted three or four years ago.

Today is unseasonably warm, expected to be in the 70s (F).  We were able to have windows open while we painted.

Man In Pink And Green

Drawn Thursday morning, from life.

Pastel and charcoal on approximately 10"x16" pastel paper.

Another drawing with my non-dominant hand.  This time, I remembered to angle the easel appropriately. 



After this drawing, another artist and I played a game.  We each started drawing, switched drawings and easels after 10 minutes, and continued switching until one of us declared a drawing done.  Interesting exercise in working with another person's starting vision and materials   The final drawings, which I will not post, are amalgams of style and vision.

To clarify, this posted drawing is not one of the two-artist drawings.  Those ended up looking like a tug of war was fought over them, with line over line, concept over concept, color over color.  Kind of a mess.

This drawing had one artist, me.  

Sketches Of Woman In Marker And Ink; Seated Woman With Feathered Back; Reclining Woman With Feathered Back

 Drawn yesterday morning, from life.

The first  is Tombow marker and ink on Yupo paper, about !8"x24".

The remaining two are Tombow marker and ink on 9"x12" drawing paper.

The model has an amazing, elaborate and beautiful tattoo of feathers on her back and upper arms. It was added to her body over the course of a summer.

I did all the one minute poses (the drawings in the background of the top drawing) with my left hand, and I also did large portions of the remaining drawings with my left hand (sometimes I'd forget, when coming back to a longer pose).  The longer poses this day were from 15 minutes to 30 minutes long.

Using my left hand for drawing is not what I normally do.  So I am much slower with that hand.  But the most awkward part was that I am so used to setting things up for right-handed drawing that I placed my easel in a very unnatural position for left-handed drawing.

It's fun to switch to the non-dominant hand, and I find it also helps to diminish bad habits:  seems like a fresher take on the subject matter.

Why draw with the non-dominant hand?

Well, it is a standard drawing exercise. The idea is that it frees one up to use the "right brain" to draw with. I don't know how valid this concept is, but it is a popular notion.

A practical reason, that PA is now bumping up against, is that sometimes you need to. Hands wear out or get injured.

Exercising that spare hand and arm and training and strengthening them, just gives the artist an extra drawing arm: a good thing.

Crying Woman

 Painted this morning, from life.

Crying Woman is oil and oil pastel on 12"x12" canvas.

Hand In Red And Blue; Head In Blue

 Drawn this morning, from life.

The hand is Tombow marker, with water and brush, on 9"x12" drawing paper.

The head is Tombow marker and ink, with water and brush, on 9"x12" sanded pastel paper.

This model has amazing hair, which she never cuts.

Liz, this drawing is for you.

Reclining Woman Holding Leg; Seated Woman Holding Leg; Woman Turning Away

 Drawn yesterday morning, from life.

These are pastel and charcoal on 9"x12" sanded paper

My left leg has been hurting, and yesterday, it was hurting a lot.  Today, it feels like it's healing.  The top drawing encapsulates how I felt yesterday morning.

Also,  I was heavily influenced by the art nouveau posters I've been looking at lately in connection with Loie Fuller.

Woman With Cowlick Holding Rose; Woman Holding Rose 2

 Painted this morning, from life.

The top painting is oil on 16"x20" canvas.

The bottom painting is oil and oil pastel on 12"x16" canvas.

It was overcast this morning when I started the top painting.  Just about an hour later, the sun had come out, just in time for the bottom painting.

 Both of these started with underpaintings. The top painting had some light blue and some yellow and burnt sienna acrylic paints rubbed on the canvas first. 

The bottom painting has a canvas that was started in oil pastels a couple of months ago at Rutamaya, so the background that shows represents the walls there, with some oil paint added on top.

What I had on my palette for the top painting was titanium white, ivory black, cadmium yellow light, cadmium red light, and alizarin crimson.  Basically, a version of the limited Zorn palette, which I've been using lately for my paintings.

For the bottom painting, I added a little ultramarine blue to the palette.

The model was actually wearing a simple black knit hooded pull-over.

A Quick Visit To MOMA And The Exhibit "On Line : Drawing Through The Twentieth Century," featuring Loie Fuller's Dance Serpentine

I took a quick trip to NYC this past week and spent a couple of mornings at MOMA.

What drew me to MOMA (as opposed to any of the other places in New York) was the "On Line" exhibit, currently showing into February.  This exhibit promises a look at one hundred years of drawing, 1910 to 2010, examining how artists over that time expanded the concept of drawing.

The exhibit is lively and kind of fun, with sculptures and film, as well as works on paper and other supports.  Mostly, though, it felt like jokes about line, one-liners, puns, cleverness about line.

One of the things I like best about it is a short film, silent and in color, dating from 1897-99.  Called Dance Serpentine II, it features a dancer wearing silk robes containing bamboo rods, moving the robes and herself through space, as lights change the color of the robe.  The overall feeling, as Paula describes it, is "Kabuki like."  Here's a link to a film of Dance Serpentine, a version  with Loie Fuller (the dancer and choreographer) performing, dating from 1896.

The video I've linked to of Dance Serpentine is still inspiring, over one hundred years later. It's under a minute long, and well worth viewing.   I am amazed by the early use of color film, something I did not know existed then.  And I like the cleverness of the dance.

Loie Fuller was part dance innovator, part applied scientist (she pioneered in lighting). She inspired many artists in her career and she lives on in their works and in her own, with choreography that is still influencing modern dance.

The photographs I've posted were taken by me with my husband's i-phone.  The first is a view into the courtyard, the day after last week's snowfall.

The second is of visitors to the permanent collection.  The paintings are by Modigliani.

Young Woman Looking Down

Painted yesterday morning, from life.

Oil on 24"x36" canvas.

Despite it being so large, this is a quick--under two hours posing/painting time--sketch.

Woman Looking Up

Woman looking Up, drawn yesterday afternoon, from life.

Ink on 9"x12" Bristol.

Woman With Red Stripes

Painted this afternoon, from life.

Oil on 14"x18" canvas.

I don't know if I'm done with this, or not.  I need to give it some time, and then look at it again.

Seated Woman In Green; Green Head; Seated Woman (Ink); Head (Ink)

 Drawn this morning, from life.

The first two are pastel and charcoal on approximately 9"x12" pastel card.

The last two are ink on about 9"x1O" Bristol and 9"x12" Bristol, respectively..

Reclining Woman In Grey; Head of Reclining Woman; Woman In Leaf; Seated Figure

 Drawn yesterday morning, from life.

Reclining Woman In Grey and Woman In Leaf are pastel and charcoal on pastel card, approximately 9"x12".

Head of Reclining Woman is ink on 9"x12" Bristol.

Seated Figure is Tombow marker and ink, with water and brush, on approximately 9" square Bristol.

Yesterday was grey and drizzly all day, and these drawings show that influence.

Woman Falling Asleep While Reading; Woman Sleeping Sitting Up

 Painted this morning, from life.

Woman Falling Asleep While Reading is oil on masonite board.

Woman Sleeping Sitting Up is oil on canvas.

The model this morning posed reading a book.  It was warm inside and the book got dull, so she kept drifting asleep.

Ballerina; Reclining Woman In Orange; Ballerina Figure; Ballerina Hand; Ballerina Head; Ballerina Head In Purple

 Drawn from life, yesterday afternoon.

The first two are pastel and charcoal on sanded card.

The rest are Tombow marker and ink, with water and brush, on Bristol.