Drawing and painting from the museum galleries

      Time flies when you are having fun; and I recently rediscovered the joy of oil paints! I didn't want to lug oils and solvent into the museum for a class in drawing and painting. I had been using acrylics or watercolors (mistake) and drawing with fragile charcoal and chalk (mistake) when I rediscovered the fun of moving oils around and sketching with a simple Papermate 2B mechanical pencil.
Click photos to enlarge.

       It was off to the African galleries to sketch a mask or object that we could transform or use in our own art work, much as Picasso and Matisse and Modigliani discovered. I am no P, M, or M;  but I like to draw and I found several objects at the MFA and their on-line collection to sketch.

      At home, I first decided I wanted to repaint the watercolor still life I painted the week before that felt limp without oils. I added a self- portrait to the still life as I noticed Gaugin had done in many of his. My hair matched the bristles on the brush. I like to have the personal in a painting.

       From my sketches in the galleries, I chose a sculpted  lady who stood atop a grave post in Madagascar. I made an absurd quilter self-portrait using her. Then I painted a classmate, a doctor from Kazakhstan using information of her passion for apples. The Kazakh apple DNA shows them to be the earliest of apples we enjoy. I learned there is an effort to save these trees. My friend introduced me foods she enjoys from the Russian grocery stores here in the Boston area. I looked up the Kazakhstan flag and added some of its elements. I didn't have time to do something with Magritte's apple in the face, titled The Son of Man. 

       I drew other masks or sculpture that I related to  and may accomplish more before class meets tomorrow. But it was time for my monthly blog post! Tip for more fun: Prime the canvas with dark green, red, blue or orange acrylics, dry, and then let the oils slip and slide! Such fun.

(watercolor on the right)

Kantha has me IN STITCHES...all unfinished

    Simplify is my temporary mantra! In the car on trips or errands, I love to hand-stitch while Joe drives ~ from improvisation to Sashiko (see my April 22, 2012 post). Friend Donna Jean spent time at Quilting on the Lake and returned with ideas on Kantha stitchery from South Asia and Black Embroidery of Elizabethan times. I had to try my hand. When I could not do a stitch, I tried another. You could draw with white pencil, but inventing was more fun. I felt creative! Everyone feels they can do Kantha. Up and down with a needle and thread. I sew with two fabrics together.

    From pockets to pocket books! What to keep my needle, thread and scissors in on a trip for easy access? I happened on Abigail Adams' pockets at the RISD Museum in Rhode Island. I took this photo and sketched a similar pattern about 14" long. These pockets were worn inside and outside skirts. I don't have to unzip  or unsnap anything, and the pocket holds my tools and fabric as I run out the door, am in the car or at a meeting. I used an upholstery remnant, crewel needle and #5 or #8 thread. I am regularly amazed these days that what excites me is of little interest to others; but I wanted to share. At least Hannah (10) wanted the floral effort, and Erika (8) started on skeletons.

     While in NYC last week, we saw the fabulous Matisse Cut-out show. I had, just before leaving, spontaneously cut out fabric for a Boston slice quilt (that is as far as I got)...now what to do? Fix the goose's head for one. I just read in my novel about "coincidence's being a messenger of truth." And again...in NJ we saw Yvonne Well's contemporary narrative quilt cut-outs at the Montclair Art Museum, a magnetic board of fabrics for children/adults to make and quilt and Rayna Gillman. That is half the story, a wonderful experience. I am not mentioning Shiele portraits, The Boys in the Boat, the New Haven museums, Roz Chast in Greenwich, CT. Click on photos to enlarge.

   

Yvonne Wells'

Museum Weekend in NYC: Met and MoMA

       Some people go to Florida, but we drive to NYC. I wanted to see the Matisse: In Search of True Painting at the Met. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has  Selected Highlights, videos and much more up at its site. Matisse painted the same subject, people and scenes, over and over in search of the best painting, the best expression of his emotion, not precise realism, but simplification. You will enjoy viewing the highlights. I want to try those series myself.

      After also visiting the City Quilter for fabric and the Neue Gallery for their apple strudel and coffee. we hobbled home to recover for a visit from the grandchildren the next day. Beth had suggested we go to MoMA for their interactive opportunities. Immediately on admittance to the Museum of Modern Art, the three children donned free audio guides and blissfully sought out numbers on paintings to learn more. They LOVED the modern art., even the conceptual. After lunch we went to the interactive education area where they made their own art.

       Later, I picked up my English art magazine at the Hudson stand, took the kids to buy a book at Postman's and got two art books What is Art? and The Visual Language of Drawing: Lessons on the Art of Seeing. With this lovely snow blizzard I should be able to get in some reading when not on my Wii :-)  I had no idea how out of shape I was after walking the streets of NYC.

Note: Artist friend Kathy Borkowski-Byrne arrived in NYC just as we were leaving and mailed me the Met photo at the top of the page!

Click on the photos to enlarge.

P.S. How could I forget! (EASY)   We stopped off in New Haven to see the recently fabulously renovated Yale art galleries and the museum of British art. What a gift shop at the latter.