I have resized all my images. Let's see....
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:07 pm
Our first stop of the day. Wasn't quite ready even after 2 cups of java. But the juices started flowing after a bit. This is a church near the U of AZ campus.
This red sketch was at the Women's Memorial near Centennial Hall at the UA. Interesting site. A small wild bird hopped right onto my finger.
Statue outside of the main bookstore behind the UA Student Union. Wonderful in that it has a radiospectrum reflective mirror attached on top and is decorated with lovely terra cotta shapes and very special tiles created in Tucson by the Santa Theresa Tile Company. This construction, along its lines creates the desert in storm and sunshine, in daylight and by moonlight. Lovely, difficult to really do a long study but perfect for sketching. Very enjoyable.
These are sketches of a Yaqui (from northern Sonora Mexico) Deer Dancer and a Pascola dancer sketched from figures made from plaster casts of actual dancers. I have met the Deer Dancer several times and he has posed for me personally before. Look up the Yaqui cuersma Easter Lenten traditions. There are 5 villages in Arizona and many in northern Mexico. It was great to sketch at the AZ State Museum on the campus of the UA.
Yaqui Pascola Mask, Northern Sonora. I was delighted that the masks were such a quick study. Bliss....
Mayo Pascola mask, northern Sonora, Mexico. Again from the AZ State Museum. This group of people live near the Yaqui. This mask is of a goat, the traditional Pascola mask. The horse hair hangs off and is a lot of fun to draw. Both the Yaqui and Mayo perform the ritualistic Cuersma, Easter Lenten activities, strictly prescribed by the participants making a "manda", a promise to the Christian god, that they will dance each year. Many of the rituals and prayer circles are little known about, especially by Anglo society. These are rich wonderful cultures.
Mayo mask of anglo which was very interesting. Love the tufts of horse hair. This was a very fast sketch, something like minutes. Both Mayo and yaqui enjoy making masks of Anglos and believe or not, gang ghetto kids with mohawks! I have a collection and try to get the oddball creations. I was really hustling at this point because we were due to meet soon and review our sketches.
Hopi pots from the museum too. I now realize that colored pencil is not the way to go. Too time consuming. Next time it'll be the tools recommended on Enrico's list. I hadn't reviewed them. A great time though....
Hopi Katsina doll. 10 minute sketch.
Hopi Katsina doll of mudhead, a tradtional Hopi clown who is a major part of their traditional ceremonies. This was a very fast sketch, 5 minutes. Now, I really want to see what our other three sketchers did. Great day...quiet and doing what I most enjoy...
Well, I inadvertantly deleted my sketches from this posting yesterday by creating a set incorrectly. Hopefully all have returned. Helen