Day 96 "Lines of Thought at RISD" pen & ink 6 x 9

I had a chance to zoom down to Providence today to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, sandwiching the trip between a busy morning, and delivering my daughter back to school in Boston this afternoon.  So glad we made the trip.  The "Lines of Thought" show is a collection of seventy drawings from the British Museum, each showing drawing as piece of the process of discovery.  Each drawing is fascinating.  I loved examining the individual strokes and gesture in each of the works.  And, I learned a lot.  I had no idea that Victor Hugo (Les Miserables, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) rendered over 3,000 drawings.  It was wonderful to see Henry Moore's sketches for a piece commissioned by UNESCO for its headquarters in Paris.

Henry Moore at work

Here is a picture of Moore sculpting the UNESCO work.  
It was wonderful to see the beautiful and simple lines Rembrandt used to capture the gesture of families, and da Vinci's beautiful sepia rendering of Madonna and Child and a cat.  Each line is so important.  I found today's visit moving, thought provoking and a blessing.  

Victor Hugo 1857

I made a few small sketches of some of my favorite works in the show; clockwise from top left; del Sarto, Henry Moore, Victor Hugo, da Vinci, Comodi, Rembrandt.  
This is my ninety-sixth daily drawing.  Thank you for looking. 

Day 95 "Along Charles Street" 6 x 9 mixed

Charles Street, Boston, has an interesting group of shops, doorways, windows and is a fun stroll on an afternoon.  This doorway caught my eye with its grandeur and strong shadow pattern.  This is my ninety-fifth daily drawing.  Thank you for looking.

Day 94 "Chocolate Bar" 9 x 12 pen&ink

Another drawing of the L.A. Burdick Chocolate Shop in Boston.  It has interior mirrors which make for a very interesting juxtaposition of foreground, middle and background figures and images.  We spent today indoors during the snow bombogenesis, a day off from school, fifteen inches of snow to shovel later in the day before tomorrow's deep freeze.  Drawing images of the sweet smelling hot chocolate and shop was cathartic.  Thank you for looking at my ninety-fourth daily drawing.

Day 93 "Last Light" and the bombogenesis 6 x 9 mixed

We are waiting for the bombogenesis  beginning early tomorrow.  Our local weatherman insists that bombogenesis is a typical winter pattern. With the television and radio hype, the panic at the grocery stores, and the dropping temperatures, it is difficult not to feel a little apprehensive.  We teachers headed back today after the winter break for a day of professional development.  Students were to return tomorrow, but now have a day off.  I'm ready for them if they show up on Friday with a solid plan for review to get their heads back in the game.  My ninety-third drawing is the winter woods across the street late in the afternoon. I like the calm, and the pattern of light between the branches close and farther away.  Thanks for looking. 

"Vacation Afternoon" pen&ink

It's the last day of my vacation... it has been long, productive, and restful. Today I sat at my computer and caught up on a "to do" list, taking a break here in the sunny spot to sketch our lovely Christmas tree.  It sets in the entry way, so gets a lot of light, and little heat... leaving it viable for the month of January, which is our norm.  
This is my 92nd daily drawing.  Thanks for taking a peek into my world.  

Day 91 "Hot Chocolate - Cold Day" mixed 6 x 9

Last week we spent a few hours in Boston on a cold, breezy day.  It was beautiful, crisp, not yet the single-digit cold that hurts your face.  We finished our time with a stop ie L.A. Burdicks Chocolate Shop.  I have walked by there many times, a little chalet-looking building off Newbury Street.  It is much 
bigger on the inside, with an interesting beamed ceiling with bright dormers.
I will make this a regular stop on chilly days in the city from now on.  The inside is filled with mirrors.  I loved the juxtaposition of  the still-bundled shoppers in the bright, cheerful, fragrant interior.

"Luxury of Time" oil 8 x 16

The Girls Just Wanna Paint theme for December was "luxury".  I painted the heirlooms I keep gathered atop my inherited grandmother's desk.  It is my vacation week, so I have the luxury of the time to paint, and the luxury of examining these beautiful items one by one.  The blown glass lamp was my mother's dresser lamp.  I have always loved it.  There are three photographs, the first is my mother sitting atop her dad's shoulders at the beach when she was about eight years old.  Next is a small oval photo of my Dad's mother and my Dad when he was about a year old.  She is wearing a jaunty straw hat and is beaming with love at this little boy.  Then, there is a photo of our daughter as an infant, in an antique silver frame.  The larger clock is a french china clock I inherited from Mom. She had it on a special shelf in our living room, and told me that she had admired it as a young girl in a great aunt's home. The great aunt told her it would someday be hers.  When the great aunt died, my understanding is that my grandmother met with her cousin and told her that the great aunt intended Joanne to own the clock.  A disagreement began, but when they opened the back of the clock, there was a note saying it was to be Joanne's.  It now lives on my desk, and I love it.  The last item is a cherub clock from my other grandmother's in Scranton, PA.  I always loved it... and my mother didn't.  But, I am a firm believer (as I've said here before) that many thing are so tchotchke that they cross over into elegant and beautiful.  Hanging behind the desktop is an oil painting my mother painted through the windows of the villa where she lived in Florence, Italy for a year while earning her Masters of Fine Arts in painting.  The frame of the Florence painting behind the objects provides a strong design element.
I am thrilled to have the time to paint.  And, interestingly, I used my drawing from Day 88 as my reference for the painting, and the colors I retained in my head from when I drew them.  I did not look at the items themselves.  Read my blog post from yesterday for an explanation of how I used turpentine to block in the painting by wiping away the light areas.  

Block in using wiping out method

Thank you for taking the time to look at my work.  I appreciate your comments.