A Trip to Canada

I have been able to visit Canada a few times in the last couple of years. I took a trip there with my dad and my sister to visit colleges and with my mom when my sister moved to Montreal. On my visits there I was able to get a few quick drawings done. I loved the architecture of Montreal. The decorativeness of it caught my eyes and my hands!

Above is a drawing of the church, Mary Queen Of The World. It was closed at the time so I wasn't able to go in, but I thought the outside was beautiful. I look forward to going back to Montreal and Quebec City to get more drawings done!

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http://www.facebook.com/aloveofdrawing

The Middle Passage

February is Black History Month. I always wonder how I can acknowledge it more with my art. Recently, I have been reading heavily about African-American history. Some of it scares me and makes me feel incredibly sad. When I was younger I remember learning about the middle passage. It created such intense visions in my head and still does to this day. I often wonder what it must have been like for the millions of Africans aboard the ships and the tremendous amount of courage they must have had. I have seen the middle passage depicted in movies and I have read about it but I know it does nothing in comparison to having actually experienced it.

As a child and a teenager I attended wonderful schools. But it always bothered me that I never really learned much about my culture. The history books were about 500 pages long and only 3 pages out of those 500 talked about African -Americans. It was always the same people. Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Please do not get me wrong they were extremely important figures in our society, but there are so many others that I never learned about or that my peers never learned about. I had no idea Africans were involved in the whaling industry, or that we fought in the Civil War. I wish there was a way to incorporate more of this into the educational system. Not just my culture but every culture. I think it's necessary and may decrease the level of ignorance and racism in our society. To be honest I learned most of my history from my parents and my own research.

I decided to do a series of drawings for Black History Month each week. The first one is entitled " The Middle Passage."

Metropolitan Museum Of Art

To continue with my, Around New York, series of drawings here a few drawings I did at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met is one of my favorite museums in New York City. I love the gigantic scale of the ceilings in the main lobby and I love how each room has its own feeling. I often meet at the Met with friends and I love the days when we can walk around the galleries and discover something new.

Check out The 1104 Studio Travel Blog for our unique location drawings!-Danielle