Metropolitan Art Museum

Today I spent four hours viewing art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, I walked until my feet hurt and my brain was over stimulated from all of the diverse piece of art. This is the main gallery of the armor and weapons gallery. I wasn't planning to view any of this exhibit but wandered through the gallery and was amazed at the intricacy of the coats of armor, padding, helmets, etc; even for the horses. And the design of every piece was so complex, they should be in a museum (as they are) instead of on a battlefield.

Here is a section of the Met's Christmas Tree. I walked though this central gallery several times and each time, I could not get close to the front of the tree. There were so many people standing, viewing and taking photos. There were so many incredible artworks, below are just a few that interested me today.

 I was awed by this painting The Weeders by Jules Breton, I'm not sure my photo captures the light and the dusk, the figures are reflected in the orange glow from the setting sun while the crescent moon shines in the distance. I stood and stared for a long time, he captured the peasants pulling weeds with such emotion. 

This figure study by Manierre Dawson intrigued me, each figure is a series of shapes as well as the background. It creates an intricate design which interests me. 

Here is another realist painting by William Merritt Chase, serene beach scene with colorful umbrellas. The bright umbrellas fascinate me, pulled me right into the otherwise quiet painting.

This beautiful drawing is by a woman artist, Adelaide Labille-Guiard, titled Study of a Seated Woman Seen from Behind, it is black, red and white chalk on toned paper. It is very inspiring as I have been thinking quite a bit about creating a tonal drawing on toned paper. 

While I walked through the Met I looked at people as well as the art. I stood back at a distance and watched viewers behold the art and I was pleasantly surprised. There was a variety of ages; young to old and a variety of nationalities. Each person was quietly beholding the works of art, many were sitting on benches in the galleries and staring at pieces of art. As an artist I am really pleased to see art appreciated and valued in this way.

Student Work

I'm proud of my colored pencil students from my Newport Art Museum class who put work in the student exhibit at the museum's Coleman Center. The three pieces in which I've posted are also from three different lessons. Cindy's piece on the top is from our lesson that was drawing a variety of autumn leaves on colored paper. We used Canson Mi Tientes paper in which to work on.

The middle piece by Donna is from another lesson where we drew all white objects. The students had a set of 48 Prismacolor pencils in which to work and the 48 set contains only one or two grays so we mixed colors in order to achieve the values and color changes we needed.

The bottom piece is by Helen, our assignment was to work with colored pencil and odorless mineral spirits (solvent) on 5x7" Ampersand Pastelbord. I chose a simple still life of a few cherries on a colored surface so they could focus on the technique as well as the composition. Helen chose a fun frame for this piece also.

Oscar and Cooper Pet Portrait

This is the latest pet portrait I just finished for a woman in California who owns these two lovely cats, Oscar (left) and Cooper (right). I worked from a variety of individual photos she sent me of the cats to put them together in one 11x14" drawing (apparently these two aren't friends!). I could tell by her photos that Cooper likes to pose for the camera so he was easy to draw. I looked at several pictures of Oscar in order to get his face, body and coloring right. I drew this piece on Strathmore Artagain toned paper, in which I like the tones but the paper is very smooth and doesn't take enough layers of colored pencil. The piece is worked predominantly in Prismacolor pencil with a few Luminance added.