Another week, another trip into Boston. Again I had to wait for the Bus, not quite as long a wait as last weeks but I did wait. This week I drew one of the buses pulled up in a bay near one of the marker stanchions. Not wonderful, but not too bad either. Graphite in my sketchbook, I am using a mechanical pencil with a B lead, it works OK, but I find it a bit frustrating as while it is a fairly thin lead (0.7mm) is also isn't as pointed as I can get my leads when I sharpen them and I miss having that sharp tip for details.
A fellow passenger on the Red Line into Boston. While in a way I am happy that most passengers occupy themselves with their smart phone/readers/tablets whatever, meaning they never notice I am drawing them. It does give me a skewed look at their faces (tilted down), which isn't always the view I would prefer to draw. Oh well, I will take what I can get.
I rather liked the cap and wish I had done a slightly better job of it.
Some of the rose bushes the city has planted along the edge of a parking lot are producing the largest rose hips I have seen. Anyway the above pen and ink drawing is of one of them portraying two different views, side view and top down. Just a quick sketch with one of my technical pens in my sketchbook.
A quick sketch of a small flower/plant that I picked on my walk to the bus station. I don't know what it is as I didn't recognize it, a light purple flower with more rays than petals. I don't think it is a wild flower, maybe some kind of herb escaped into the lawn.
At long last (it has been about a month) an update on the Mandala I am working on. I finally made some decisions about the outer ring, have the poppies drawn/inked in and have started coloring them. I have also started drawing the other decorations that will go into that ring but so far haven't started inking them. That job really needs to be finished soon as I can't start on the backgrounds until I have finished inking and erased my pencil lines. Still quite a bit of work to go, but I am making progress.
Above are two photographs from the MFA Bright Matter exhibit. The top is an installation work that was set in a room by itself, painting on mirrors that reflect the bright lights onto the walls casting shadows. The bottom two images are paintings/collages that are a contrasting pair.
The artist is Shinique Smith and she uses a lot of fabric in her art. She not only collages fabric into her paintings but creates soft sculptures with stuffed animals and clothing she has acquired. I have a feeling she is a frequent visitor to her local thrift/second hand stores.
I didn't expect to like her art, there is a lot of modern art that I think is really junk that is being called "ART" by some supposed "expert", but I did. I love her use of color and the curving lines that she tends to use appeal to me.
I did a lot of wandering around the MFA on this visit, trying to get to know the old wings and the new in relationship to each other. I think I saw most of the special exhibits even if I didn't take time to examine them on this visit. Course the museum is so large that I think it will take me quite a few more visits before I become totally familiar with what is where and can find my away around without getting a bit lost.
Last image today is of a Sugar Maple that is growing in my neighborhood. It is obviously changing colors, with these glorious reds and oranges. Coincidentally the colors here are repeats of the colors used in one of Shinique's paintings above, cool blue (sky) hot red orange (leaves) with dark branches instead of black lines.
I have a feeling the owners of the house/yard where this tree stands have no clue it is a sugar maple. I have to wonder if the original owners used to tap their tree in the spring.
I worry about these trees, here in MA we are getting toward the southern range of the Sugar Maple, they like cold winters and I worry that with global warming these trees with their beautiful fall color won't survive in my area.
Just a FYI the only thing I did to this photograph was to crop it, colors are pretty much as they are in real life, enjoy.
That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.
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