Julie Kessler Fine Art
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Metropolitan Sketches

2/25/2021

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It was one of those weeks. The kind where life happens and not much art work gets done. Although I did find time to flip through some of my sketch books. And reminisce about the good old days when it was easy to take sketching trips for granted.

For me, sketching on location is just plain fun. And since it's fun, it's a painless way to practice and improve my design and drawing skills. It also happens to slow me down for a deeper look at my surroundings, which widens my appreciation of them. All wonderful reasons for regular sketching trips!

In the whole wide world, one of my favorite places to sketch is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With so many galleries and amazing treasures, it would take a lifetime to draw them all. Of course, right now getting out and about is pretty much on hold. So my sketches have become precious keepsakes, bringing back memories of the days when indoor expeditions were a lot less complicated. I'm looking forward to their return! And I don't suppose I'll ever take them for granted again.

Here are a few of my Metropolitan Museum sketches. Click through the gallery below to see larger images.

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Sit. Stay.

10/6/2020

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Picture
Me posing for an art class. Photo by my father, Milton Kessler
Look what I found! A photo of me, way back when.  I was just a kid, posing for my mother's painting class at the Hudson Guild Art School in Chelsea. It brought back memories of my first art teacher, Hungarian artist Theodore Fried (1902-1980), who taught art classes there for both children and adults. He had been in the Paris art scene of the 1920s, and later, when the Nazis came, his art was banned as "degenerate". Being Jewish he fled for his life to Toulouse where he forged passports for the French Resistance. Escaping once again, he made it safely to New York where he established his own art school. An amazing story to be sure, but I knew absolutely nothing of this when I was a child. To me Mr. Fried was a jolly man with a nearly impenetrable Hungarian accent and a twinkle in his eye. He loved kids and often entertained us by wiggling his ears. 
Picture
Portrait of Theodore Fried by his friend André Kertész
When I first showed up in his class at the age of ten, Mr. Fried handed me a brush and a muffin tin filled with poster paints. He encouraged me to paint anything my little heart desired. Months later he gave me a pencil and started me down the road to drawing from life. This was much more challenging, especially when he forbade me to use the eraser – ​an exercise designed to make me think carefully before drawing. When I became proficient enough at this he allowed me to join the older kids in the oil painting class. I was thrilled.
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My mother, Jean Kessler as a young artist, photo by Milton Kessler
​​I have no recollection of Mr. Fried asking me to pose for the adult figure painting class. But posing was not new to me, because my mother drew me many, many times as I was growing up. I knew what I was in for. And just like me, my mother had been drawing and painting ever since she was a little girl. Crayons, brushes, paints and the smell of turpentine were central to our lives. One of my very earliest memories is of accompanying my mother to a painting class with Hugo Gellert, another Hungarian artist who conducted classes in a converted water tower on top of the Chelsea Hotel.

Finding that photo of me initiated a rummage through my mother's art work for the portrait she had painted in that class. Fortunately it wasn't hard to find. And I'm so glad I did, because I absolutely love it, it's beautiful! And besides, it's a cherished document of a wonderful experience that happened so long ago. It's time to put it in a frame and hang it on the wall. 
Picture
Portrait of me by my mother, Jean Kessler, Oil on Canvas Board
Notes:​
​
• Theodore Fried's works are in the collection of Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
•​ Hugo Gellert's work is currently included in the "Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945" at the Whitney Museum in NYC, until Jan 31, 2021.

I'd love to hear from you!
Click on the comment section below to add your questions and comments. ​

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Sketching in the Time of Covid, 2

7/2/2020

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Lately I've been taking my nonagenarian mother out for her morning walks whenever circumstances permit. Luckily she's an artist too. So it's not hard to persuade her to sketch outside with me for an hour or two. We can only walk a few blocks, and there aren't many parks close by. So we find little corners and courtyards and churchyards or really any old place with a few fresh blossoms that break up the gray. Sometimes it's a challenge to see beauty in an area that I'm so used to walking right past. But since we've started sketching together I've noticed more and more little spots that we can stop for a while and enjoy the view. Here are two brush pen and watercolor sketches from this week in my immediate neighborhood:
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Roses and Red Maple, Brush Pen and Watercolor 8x10 in
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Hydrangeas in the Courtyard, Brush Pen and Watercolor 8x10 in

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Two City Parks

10/17/2019

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Summer is my favorite time of year. Of course I love the warm weather and the longer days. Another real bonus is that my day job schedule lightens up. So there's more time to paint outdoors, yay!

When I'm busy painting there's little room in my head for much else. Like housework, or chores, or writing posts on my blog. That means my to-do list can get really backed up. Which brings me to another catch-up post about watercolors I painted during the summer. 

So-o-o-o ... here are two watercolors I did within walking distance of my home in Manhattan. One is in Central Park, and the other in Carl Schurz Park. Both paintings have long shadows from the late afternoon sun. To avoid the heat and the sun's white glare on my paper I stood in the shade and wore a big floppy hat. Looking at these paintings brings me right back to those lovely, warm afternoons I spent painting them. Can't wait for next summer!
Picture
Central Park Butterfly Garden, Watercolor on Paper, 8x10 in
According to the Central Park website, there are four butterfly gardens at the north end of the park. They provide a welcome stop-over for Monarchs and other butterflies as they migrate through New York. Yes, we do have nature right here in the city, believe it or not.
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Carl Schurz Park - Peter Pan Sculpture, Watercolor on Paper, 8x10 in
The Peter Pan sculpture in Charles Schurz Park was created by Charles Andrew Hafner in 1928. In a former life it was in a fountain at the old Paramount Theater lobby in Times Square. Apparently the theater was modeled after the Paris Opera House, with painted murals, niche statues, marble columns, red velvet curtains, a Wurlitzer organ and a grand staircase. Wow, what a spectacular palace that must have been! 

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After Hours

10/15/2019

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Most artists around the world make their living at a day job. I'm one of them. So when the work day is over I try my damnedest to get in a few hours of painting. In the warmer months I often stop at the nearest park on my way home to look for a bench with a paintable view. All I need is a 5x7 inch watercolor block, a folding travel brush, a small palette filled with paint, a couple of paper towels and a plastic water jar. And I'm in business. Here are three summer-time sketches I made before the evening commute:
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Madison Square Park, Evening (I), Watercolor on Paper, 5x7 in
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Madison Square Park, Evening (II), Watercolor on Paper, 5x7 in
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Battery Park Sunset, Watercolor on Paper, 5x7 in

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On the Waterfront

10/3/2019

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Picture
Christopher Street - Pier 45, Watercolor on Paper, 8x10 in
Two watercolors I painted at two waterfront parks in Manhattan. I painted them in May and have only now got around to posting them. Looking at these paintings I can still remember the thrilling sense of freedom when winter ends and it's finally warm enough to paint outside. Sort of how kids feel when June comes around and school is out for summer. Yippee!
Picture
Circle Line - Pier 85, Watercolor on Paper, 8x10 in
What I got down on my paper doesn't completely match what I had in mind when I first spotted these two spectacular views on the piers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy with them! But the results are  an approximation and a surprise. I'm still pretty new to watercolor, and In these paintings I concentrated on experiments with washes and dry brush techniques. I didn't know how they would turn out. Of course, an artist who wants to grow never stops experimenting and learning. After all, we're always inventing ways to interpret a three dimensional world in a two dimensional medium. Not only that, but we've only got a finite number of pigments to describe all the infinite and dazzling colors of nature. So we're always reaching. And then reaching for more. And so it goes. 

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Quebec City Sketches

9/30/2019

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This past August I took a short, lovely trip to Quebec City. It's a place full of hills and vistas, and exquisite old buildings with more turrets than a Disney castle. In other words, a perfect place for sketching.

I was traveling solo and wanted to round up some sketching buddies to share my adventures with. So I did a search on the Urban Sketchers website for the Quebec City chapter. I thought surely there must one, since it's such a charming, sketchable city. But I was wrong. Hmmmm. So I searched for artist meet-ups instead, and this time I struck gold. Turns out that artist Denise Bujold runs a wonderful series of events called "Artistes dans le Parcs". Each month artists meet at the parks in Quebec City for sketching, painting and companionship. And I couldn't wait to meet them!

They did not disappoint. There was a friendly crowd at the Parc Nautique de Cap-Rouge on the day I joined them. Denise and the other artists welcomed me warmly even though my French is horrible. Fortunately their English is a thousand times better than my French!

At the park I painted a watercolor on the bank of the St. Lawrence River. It was a challenge to catch it before the ebbing tide turned the bank back into a flowering marsh. 
Picture
Parc Nautique de Cap-Rouge, Quebec City, Watercolor on Paper, 8x10 in
Larry Marshall and Yvan Breton were also at the event, and graciously invited me to go out sketching with them the next day. How wonderful it was to be with two inspiring local artists who knew their way around and could point out great places to sketch. It began to rain just as we settled down to draw at the old lower city, or Basse-Ville, but Yvan knew about a covered entrance to a building where we could draw the picturesque Université Laval while we waited it out. 

Eventually it came time to say good bye to my new friends. But being with them and seeing their wonderful sketches renewed my interest in drawing. And so I continued to sketch on my own in their beautiful city. 
Picture
View from Basse-Ville, Quebec City, Colored Pencil Sketch
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View from Rue des Remparts, Quebec City, Colored Pencil Sketch
Picture
Church on Rue St Jean, Quebec City, Colored Pencil Sketch

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Self Portrait Project

1/30/2019

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What to do when you're learning how to paint watercolor portraits, but there's no model around? Actually there's always a model handy if you've got a mirror. And that's how the Self Portrait Project was born.

I bought an inexpensive 60 page sketchbook and dedicated it to painting self portraits. The only way to become really good at something is to practice. Like all the time. So I've decided to paint one a day, or as often as life permits. 

To me self portraits are more challenging than painting someone else, because it's hard to hold the pose and concentrate on painting at the same time. It's easy to get mixed up, so that your nose is pointing one way and your chin is pointing in the other. And as much as I admire Picasso, I'm not trying to paint like him.

Anyway, I love a challenge, so here goes. At the end of this project maybe painting portraits will be a piece of cake. These are my first four efforts in the sketch book, in reverse chronological order. I'm beginning to get more comfortable with the process, and that gives me hope. 
Picture
Self Portrait, Watercolor with White Gouache, 8x10 in
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Self Portrait, Watercolor, 8x10 in
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Self Portrait, Watercolor, 8x10 in
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Self Portrait, Watercolor, 8x10 in

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Happy New Year!

1/2/2019

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Picture
Italian Cherry Swirls, Watercolor with White Gouache on Paper, 5x7 in
It's been quite a year. Learning to use watercolor turned out to be quite an ambitious project! But it's been exciting and stimulating too. And there's still so much to learn.

Thanks to all my friends for following along with me this past year as I wandered down my artistic path. All your encouragement and support helped to keep me going. I hope your own path is full of joy and meaning for you, and I wish you a sweet and wonderful new year. 

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Cheese Plate

12/7/2018

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Picture
Cheese Plate, Watercolor with White Gouache on Paper, 8x10 in
Our Thanksgiving turkey was browning in the oven, and the guests were getting hungry. So I placed an appetizer on the table, and my sister said "Wow, that's beautiful, you should paint that!" 

She was right, of course. So when I got the chance I created a similar set up in my studio. I love the sweet/salty aromas and tastes that the subject evokes. And all the gorgeous colors and textures, and the beautiful cast shadow under the plate. It really was a delicious composition to paint!

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    Julie Painting

    Julie Kessler

    I'm a representational painter enchanted by the unique qualities of watercolor. Sometimes oils, gouache, colored pencils and other media call to me too. I started this blog to share my work and ideas about making art. Sometimes I toss other things into the mix. Such as painters I love, and art books and exhibits that inspire me. Your comments are welcome. I'd love to hear from you! 


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