Cast Drawing At Grand Central Atelier

Hello All!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I have been out of commission with a broken shoulder.  It will be a bit before I am back to painting, but I am going to attempt to put up some blog posts.  I am typing with one hand so there won't be a lot of text, but I have lots of pictures to show you.

First up, I did a cast drawing course at Grand Central Atelier.  Around this time last year, I was feeling burned out and bored with what I was doing.  I actually thought it might have been time to move on from painting and start doing something else.  After thinking about this for a few months, I decided to try something completely different than I had ever done before.  I had never done cast drawing before, so I decided to give that a try.

Cast drawing is completely different from my usual way of working.  It is very precise and you can spend weeks working on one little area.  It turned out to be just what I needed to jumpstart my artistic life.

Here are some photos of my progression of an ear cast.  I have reached my typing limit, but if you have any questions, leave me a comment and I'll answer there.

The above photo is where I ended the last night of class.  This was such a good exercise for me.  I'm hoping to do it again this summer.

Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art

This past Sunday I spent the afternoon at the preview for the huge Michelangelo exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum Of Art.  I'm a MetMember, so I was able to see the exhibit before it opened yesterday.  I'm so glad that the museum had this benefit available as it was packed with people even with the restricted admission.  The show opened to the public yesterday and I have to say it is one of the most incredible exhibitions I have ever seen.  

The exhibit runs from November 13, 2017 through February 12, 2018.  Included are:  133 of his drawings, three of his marble sculptures, his earliest painting, and his wood architectural model for a chapel vault.  There are also complimentary works by his teachers, associates, pupils and artists who worked in collaboration with him.  

Michelangelo, Studies for the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, Studies of a Standing Male Nude, and Head in Profile

Michelangelo, Young Archer (unfinished)

Michelangelo, Sketches of the Virgin, the Christ Child Reclining on a Cushion, and Other Infants

Piero D'Argenta, Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John

Michelangelo, Study of a Standing Male Nude Seen from the Back

Michelangelo, Study of a Standing Male Nude Seen from the Back

Bastion (Aristotile) Da Sangallo, Record Drawing of the Elevation of the Tomb of Julius II, after Michaelangelo

Michelangelo, Designs for a Monumental Altar or Facade

Drawing for the Design of the Coffering on the Vault of Sacristy of San Lorenzo

Michelangelo, Sketch for Cleopatra

Finished Sketch of Cleopatra

Michelangelo, Young Man in Bust Length in Exotic Costume

Michelangelo, Portrait of Andrea Quaratesi

Michelangelo, Unfinished Cartoon of the Virgin and Child

Sebastiano Del Piombo, Study for God the Father

Recreation of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Michelangelo, Composition Sketches and Studies for Frescoes on the Sistine Ceiling

Andrea Di Pietro Di Marco Ferrucci, Bust of Julius Caesar

Michelangelo, Model of the Vault of the Chapel of the King of France

Closing Time

These photos are just a small amount of the exhibit.  If you are local or planning a trip to NYC, I urge you to visit this exhibition.  I don't know that all of these drawings will ever be together in one place again.  If an in person visit is not in the cards, you can order the catalog here.   The book is very well done.  I can't wait to get mine ( I ordered one. It is way too big to schlep on the subway.) so I can start copying the drawings of the master.  I've recently gotten back into drawing, so this came at just the right time for me to keep the momentum going.  You can also following along on social media using the hashtag #MetMichelangelo.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of this amazing exhibit.  Have you been yet? Planning a trip around it? Ordering the catalog?  Leave me a note in the comments.  I'd love to start a discussion!

Drawing Lilies

Lilies seem to be the favorite flower to draw, so I finally gave it a shot this week.  They were a bit more difficult than the gladiola, but still fun to draw.

This bloom was a beautiful color.  I think part of the reason this flower was a bit difficult is because it was such a vibrant pink that it was hard to capture the essence of it in graphite.

This is where I got a little off course.  Luckily, Katie Whipple, our instructor showed me how to measure the petals to make sure everything was in the right spot.  The six petals were basically across from each other, so it was then easy to see and fix any mistakes.

This is the finished piece.  I'm actually happy with it, something that does not often happen to me with drawing.  In fact, I may get myself some colored pencils and give that a try.  I'll always be an oil painter, but lately I've been having the urge to do something different every once in awhile.  I feel like it's time to expand my horizons a little bit and this has been a good place to start.

Drawing Gladioli

Let's look at something pretty today, shall we? I've been continuing on with my flower drawing, this time using gladiola as my subject.  Drawing them was much easier than I had anticipated.  It's funny how that happens.  My last drawing subject was a pear and I thought I was going to tear my hair out, but these flowers just flowed right off the pencil.

I grabbed this flower at the farmers market.  Since I was using pencil, the color didn't matter.  It was the shapes that I wanted to draw.

I drew in the basic shapes and then started adding light and shadow.

This is where I left off after the first session.  My flower didn't last more than a few days, so I grabbed another at the flower shop.  Even though it was a different color, the basic shape was the same, so it worked out well.

I started out by adding the new flower to my drawing.

This had to be reworked a few times.  In a painting, it is very easy to distinguish the lights and the darks, but with drawing, I have to constantly be on the lookout for everything falling into the dreaded middle tone.

A close up of some lights and shadows in the petals.

And this is the finished drawing.  I actually attempted to add a third bloom, but it just did not look right, so I'm leaving it at two and calling it done.  I'm not sure what I'll do for my next piece, but I'm thinking about roses.  Like most artists, I enjoy torturing myself, so I may as well give it a shot!

Designing Nature With Katie Whipple

The past few weeks I have been taking a class called "Designing Nature" with Katie Whipple at the Grand Central Atelier here in New York City.  As all of you know, I love painting my fruit and flowers, but drawing is another story.  I really do not like drawing.  I'm not very good at it, so I avoid it if possible.

At the beginning of the year, I decided that it was time to get back to drawing.  I've been wanting to take a class on drawing flowers.  Not because I'm going to stop painting.  It was really more of a desire to learn about the structure of flowers.  With oil paint, it is very easy to just get something on a canvas.  Plus I always feel stressed to go as quickly as possible before the flowers start wilting and die.

All I was finding were botanical classes, which is not something I am interested in.  I like to look at botanical art, but it is not something I want to do myself.  Over the summer, I looked at Katie's Instagram page, and she mentioned her new class.  I checked out the description and it sounded like the perfect class for me.

Each week we bring in a bloom or a piece of fruit and just work on that one thing for the entirety of the class.  We have the option of drawing or painting, but I am sticking with drawing as that is what I need to work on.

Here is a sunflower I did the second week of class.

I am working on grey toned paper using pencil and white charcoal.  Of course, I started out trying to draw every little petal, something I would never do while painting.  Luckily, Katie spotted me and came over to remind me to start out with the basic shapes and work from there.  

After getting the shape of the flower right, I started putting in the petals, paying careful attention to their shape and making sure they went in the proper direction.

At this point, I started adding in the darks and some lights.  This was my first experience using white charcoal and I really like working with it.  

As you can see, I went a little heavy on the darks.  I'm still trying to master getting the right dark with a pencil.  In a painting it is very easy.  You just mix up the appropriate color and put it on.  If it is too dark or not dark enough, it is very easily fixed.  Not so with pencil.  I'm practicing using a lighter touch and I think that is helping.

Leading up to the big finale...

This is where I finished for the day.  It's not great, but not horrible considering it was my first time out drawing flowers.  

The week after I did the sunflower, I decided to tackle a pear.  Pears are hard to paint (for me) and I discovered, even harder to draw.

This is the end result of the pear drawing.  I can't believe I'm going to put this on the internet for all to see, but I like to be honest about my art trials and tribulations.  This little pear drawing took me about three and a half hours!  Yes, you read that right.  Just getting the shape and proportions right took a long time.  

Katie doing a demo of a rose for the class.

All drawings and paintings by Katie Whipple

Katie brought in some of her own drawings and paintings for the class to see.  Aren't they amazing?  If you would like to see more of Katie's work, check out her Instagram feed.  Tons of beautiful roses and peonies that she has been painting.  

Even though drawing is hard for me, I'm really enjoying this class.  It's always good to challenge yourself and drawing is certainly doing that for me!