Second-Weirdest Plein Air

Since I don't feel like re-writing this story again I'm just going to repost what I wrote over on WetCanvas:

Today I went on my annual painting pilgrimage to the rose garden at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Because I really needed some nice painting-in-nature-solitude today, I decided not to paint in the rose garden- there were too many people.

After searching around for a bit, I found a lovely perfect shady tree to stand under, with a lovely composition to paint. And no people or school groups around. I'm sorry if that sounds really grumpy and antisocial but outdoor solitude is so hard to come by, sometimes I don't mind people around but I wanted to be alone today.

Here is a picture of the view:

 Isn't it nice? Aren't those flower bushes pretty?

I started setting up my gear. FIVE MINUTES after I began setting up, a lady with a suitcase and folding chair came over and settled down. I was annoyed. Then I thought "Well, maybe she is another painter too." I grudgingly admitted it was a lovely painting spot so I could understand why she would want to paint there. And I decided that even though it was annoying, another painter around was ok.

Oh, but she was NOT another painter after all.....

She sat herself down under my tree with her back to me and proceeded to open her suitcase which was full of....corn. She was shucking corn. She came to sit under my tree to shuck corn. In the middle of Brooklyn.

This stuff only happens to me.

Well, I moved. I can't paint under such irritating circumstances. And I'm sorry to be such a grump but WHO DOES THAT? WHY did she have to come over to my spot?

Anyhow, I painted this tree. 6x8 oil on panel, about an hour and a half.

Today

Here is what I did today:

• Stayed up last nite until midnight painting my kitchen.
• Woke up at 6:30
• Clipped my cat's claws
• Got Daya to the bus stop on time
• Went to the store for the cleaning supplies I forgot to get yesterday
• Continued painting my kitchen
• My friend came over and kept me company
• I was almost finished painting, and I ran out of paint
• Went to Home Depot (again)
• Went to Trader Joe's 
• Went home, continued painting
• Went out to lunch
• Went to the post office
• Went to Bed Bath and Beyond (again)
• Went to Costco
• Went home to get my debit card because they don't take credit cards at Costco
• Went back to Costco
• Went back home and put my frozen stuff away
• Went to get Daya from afterschool
• Went to the ballet studio for ballet picture night
• Went home, made Daya dinner
• Continued to paint the kitchen, all done now except the window sill
• Took a shower
• Hung new curtains
• Put Daya to bed
• Wrote this blog post.

I am going to go crash. Tomorrow I will be at work, which will be a blessed relief from my day off!!

Skeevy

Today I went to the baked potato truck for lunch.  The guy who runs makes a pretty good baked potato  but...he's weird and inappropriate.  My friend ordered her potato, but when I ordered mine he gave me the option for a sweet potato.  Which sounded pretty good until he said sweet potatoes are like female Viagra.  That's just so skeevy I have to share it with everyone.

Actually the sweet potato with spinach and cottage cheeze still does sound good,  I have to weigh that against dealing with the skeevy Russian dude...hmmm.

It really is a pretty good potato.

Jupiter

This painting is a wedding present for my friend/co-worker who is getting married.  She is obsessed with her dog.  I have been working on it for about a month, it took a lot of planning.  The background is a pattern from Victorian wallpaper.  I hope my friend likes it!

I really like Winsor Newton Renaissance Gold paint. It has a lovely sheen.

This painting is difficult to photograph well, unfortunately it's overcast today. I may have to try again with sunlight.

Jupiter
12x16 oil on panel

New Year Again

It's 2013.  How in the hell did that happen?  Last year was not a very good year.  I hope this one picks up a bit.

MY 2013 INTENTIONS:

1. Drink a lot of tea.
2. Paint more than I did last year.
3. Meditate more often.

Also, I ended up with another cat about a month ago and I still haven't announced it properly.

And if you emailed me and I haven't written back yet I'm really sorry I'm just terribly behind on everything.

Happy Painting!

Fwingle Zibs!!

(I did not make this video someone named ellenprutske did. :) ) My friend and I are trying to find the Simlish lyrics because this is just SO. GOOD. Happy holidays!

Best Holiday Greetings

Natural Pigments just sent out the best ever holiday email.  It's so good I have to re-post it here.

I'm dreaming of a Lead White Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the highlights glisten,
And the paintings hasten
To dry in time for the art show.

I'm dreaming of a lead white Christmas
With every portrait that I paint
May your paint be stringy and bright
And may all your Christmases be lead white.

May your Holidays and New Year be flaky lead white!

Well...um...I guess that doesn't sound so great to most people but a lot of oil painters would appreciate it!

Turtle Pond

 Turtle Pond 6x8 oil on panel, about an hour and a half

I was standing on the dock behind Belvedere Castle. I really wanted to paint the castle, as a week ago I got all set up then the rain started- way earlier than the hourly forecast said it would-  of course I didn't have my umbrella. I would have stayed except the paint wouldn't adhere to my panel, I was so mad. So last Friday I went back to the same spot but the angle of the sun made the castle impossible...so I painted Turtle Pond instead.

I think I dropped something in the pond by accident but I'm not sure what...I thought it was one of my solvent jar lids- the ones that Ben Haggett packs with his boxes...turns out it wasn't, thankfully- whatever it was sank so fast I couldn't tell what it was....nothing seems to be missing so hopefully it was just an old crusty oil paint-laden paper towel.

Newtown CT

What can I possibly say about what happened in Newtown today?  It is just beyond inhuman and unimaginable.

Newtown CT is my hometown, I haven't been there for years but even so it is definitely one of my most favorite places on the planet. It is a wonderful beautiful peaceful pre-Revolutionary war New England town. Nothing ever happens there, and I am in such shock and grief about what happened today. Every time I hear about one of these tragic shootings I am sad but today I am really grieving, it's hit a very personal nerve. Especially since I have a daughter in second grade.  It's too close to home because, well, it is home. Newtown doesn't deserve to go down in history for something so infamous and offensive to humanity.

I just can't stop thinking about all those families who lost children.

Clive

Here is my portrait swap for this year. This is Clive, he lives in New Zealand.

9x12 pastel on panel

painting and cat

Carey says my blog is too sad and maybe she is right. But I am very sad so it is fitting.

I went out painting today in central park, up at the pool around 103rd street, away from all the tourists.  Here is a little 6x8 I did in just over an hour.

The more I paint the more I realize that painting is really a test of how good one's focus is. I am glad I painted small because I only had about an hour of good focus in me today.

I forgot my rigger and my trees at still a little too fat (WHEN will I get over that) but for an hour's work I'm ok with the painting.

The Pool 6x8 oil on panel

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I am still ridiculously sad about my cat.  I still look down and expect to see a kitty, I have to remind myself I can't go and lug the cat to sit or sleep with me.  I have to stop myself from calling out hello to the cat when I get home. It's too empty here.

So last weekend I started filling out applications to the cat rescues to get pre-approved so I can have a new hope cat pulled from the NYC Urgent Cats kill list. I sent my application to Anjellicle Cat rescue, and filled out the NYC Urgent Cats Pre-screener which is sent out to many rescues.  A rescue, K9Kastle, contacted me immediately. I applied with them and was approved. I told them I was looking for a long-haired tortie, young, preferably between 1 and 3 years old who would be ok as a single cat. And...they have one!

I wasn't expecting to find a cat so soon. I go to see her on Sunday, and I'm 99% sure I will take her home.

It's bittersweet- I am so sad about Sigynn and I miss her so badly, but I am really excited to have found another kitty. I hope that having a cat around will lessen the sense of loss- I will miss Sigynn for a long time but it really will be wonderful to have a kitty around again.

Goodbye Umber

I said goodbye to Umber today.  But at least he's still alive. Since Ali died, Umber has been really lonely.  My friend Branwen's rat, Mr. Cocoa, died a couple of weeks ago and his snuggle-buddy, Sunshine is all alone and very lonely. Rats are like people in that they require companionship of their own kind.  So Umber moved in with his girlfriend in New Jersey.

Umber was the second-coolest rat I ever had.  He was by far the friendliest, most social rat I ever knew.  He was also immune to stress, including the time he fell into my daughter's bath.  He liked to go out and participated in two medieval faires, trick or treating, trips to the playground, Ali's vet visits, and visits to my friend's home.  He is a great traveling rat and loves everyone pretty much instantly, especially if they scratch his head.

Here is Umber winning a cheese-stick war with Branwen.

I have no pets now.  It's really weird and my apartment feels oddly empty.  I can't believe I lost all of my pets in a single year.

Umber will be missed terribly but I know it ws the right decision and the best thing for him.

What's More Important?

...My life and safety or your photo with the naked cowboy?

Last night I was crossing 7th ave and 46th street. there is a little narrow island in the middle of 7th ave which is a very busy street. I got stuck there with a huge gaggle of tourists and the Naked Cowboy. The tourists wanted to take a picture with the Naked Cowboy, so they were trying to get me to move....INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC. Think speeding buses and trucks.

If you are a tourist in NYC (or anywhere) please do not ask anyone to endanger their safety so you can get a photo with a half naked man who will still be there when the light changes.

He's not worth killing someone for

Goodbye Sigynn

My beautiful, wonderful, evil, lovable, self-important, furry purry cat is gone, it will be one week tomorrow and I am still a wreck. Sigynn was with me for almost 15 years.

Sigynn
199?? - November 8th 2012

Also known as:
Catsy
Kitsy
Seenee
Seenee-Neenee
CarpetCat
Puke
Smeegan
Relaxicat
Pretty
Kitt-ten
Queen of Fur
Furcat
BabyCat

Goodbye Alizarin

8 June 2010- 29 September 2012

My rat Alizarin passed on tonight. She was really old.  I had a feeling earlier today that she was dying...she was acting slow (although still eating!) and she felt colder than usual.  Ali couldn't have had a better passing...she went peacefully, painlessly, at home in her hammock with her friend there to soothe her, after a really long and happy life.  I will miss her; she was my special Siamese Beauty Queen.  I had always wanted a Siamese rat, and I adopted her a couple of years ago at Ratfest.

Ali was extremely hyper, addicted to her wheel and chocolate, she was the only rat that bit me more than once, deliberately, although that stopped when she settled in and got comfy in her forever home.

I hope she is there at the Rainbow Bridge with Quinacridone who passed on in March.

Now Umber is all alone, poor guy. :(

Here is a picture of Ali being lazy in her hammock.

Pigeon Risk Time Starts at Midnight!

I should have started PRT a month early this year.  Next year I probably will.

In the Cemetery

Well, I finally found a place where I can paint in peace and quiet- the local cemetery! I will never know why I didn't think of this sooner.

I did 2 paintings in 3 1/2 hours.

6x8 oil on panel
After I finished this painting I went to check out the grave up close, it was specially marked as someone from the civil war!

8x10 oil on panel

This angel marks the grave site of four children- with the rest of the family surrounding. The children were between the ages of 9 months to 4 years, from the 1870s and 1880s.

Oasis 1

I started this little sketch while waiting for ballet class to be over, and decided to finish it.  It's just a little practice so I can get used to Inspire Pro on my iPad.

Inspire Pro and Sensu Brush

Gapstow Bridge

6x8 oil on panel, 2 hours

Goodbye Quinacridone

Today I had my rat Quinacridone euthanized.  She would have been 2 years old on April 6th.

Quin was the Extremely Stupid Miracle Rat. Of all the pet rats I have had...probably close to 30, she cost more than all of them combined.  And she also had more medical issues than all of my other rats. And she was hands down the dumbest rat I ever had.  But she did have a very sweet personality.

In October Quin started picking fights with Umber.  He bit her eye and we ended up at the emergency vet at 12:30am- of course over the weekend. I thought I would put her down then, but she just got some meds and a referral to the local exotics vet.  We went there the next morning.  I couldnt get an appointment without major cost- she seemed fine so I waited.  She continued to be fine despite a horrific looking scab over her eye, which I was sure was gone.  A week later the scab fell off and she was fine!  The eye was fine- though blind- but she was perfectly normal otherwise.

In November she developed a really bizarre skin condition- little scabs everywhere, blood, she looked horrible.  Back to the vet...she got meds which did not work.  I couldnt put any more money into her since at that time my cat was being treated for diabetes.  Quin looked horrendous until about mid-January, and the skin problem disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.  She was fine.

This week she developed an issue with her tooth- it was knocked off alignment and wasn't being filed down properly- it started growing into her upper lip.  This is pretty common and easily treated by clipping the tooth- but I think it dislocated because of her habit of clinging onto the cage bars at dinnertime (and not realizing she has to let go to get the food).  I made the decision to say goodbye today.  She had a long and happy life.

Quin's favorite food was chocolate, or anything sweet.  I made sure the last thing she ate was her "candy".

Quin was very pretty- she was a blue point siamese rat. Her looks and sweet disposition made up for her lack of intelligence.

Florida Plein Air

I was in Florida all last week, went with a friend and took the kids to Disney.  We had a great time.  It was very warm, which meant swimming pools......of course I brought my paint box.

I am changing up my plein air colors- cobalts are my new thing.  I have cobalt blue and cobalt turquoise (and cobalt green), but always used French Ultramarine as my main blue.  I think that might be changing to cobalt...kind of a shame, since cobalt is both expensive and toxic.  But it's so pretty!

This first painting is the pool fountain at night.  I like the colors ok but the brushwork is not so great.  I literally could not see what I was doing- my reading lamp was useless. A good light for my paint box is now a necessity. Looking at the painting in the light the next morning was a bit of a surprise, as I really had no idea what it looked like.

6x8 oil on panel

This second painting was also by the pool.  By far, this was the most comfortable and relaxing painting spot I have been in!

6x8 oil on panel

Palettes for both were quinacridone red (PR209!! not PV19) Cadmium yellow light, cobalt blue, cobalt turquoise, cobalt violet, titanium white

It was worth a try......

webuyanycat.com has valued my cat at £2.74.

Snowcamp!

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to go to Snowcamp, a winter painting workshop with Stapleton Kearns.  I had a good time and learned a lot. The days were 13 hours long.

Here is the group:

I learned some really important things, such as:

MOXIE IS DISGUSTING.


The scenery was gorgeous.

Stape did demos.....pictured is the SMALL brush he used.....

.....and took us through paint handling exercises.  Here is my Magritte tribute:

We painted.

And it was pretty cold.

The cold was fine with me though, because I had this in my room:

Stape talked a lot about OBSERVATION AND INSTALLATION.

I have now observed that a jacuzzi is an absolute necessity, so I would like someone to come over and install one in my apartment immediately.  It would really help me to maintain my UNITY OF EFFECT.  I pay the landlord on time every month; it's absolutely baffling to me as to why this has not happened already.

 Here is the inn we stayed at, from the back.

I stayed an extra night because of travel arrangements. I knew one person was checking in that evening, but what a surprise when I went downstairs at 7:30pm to find that all the staff had gone home and I was literally the ONLY PERSON IN THE INN!  They do not serve dinner on Monday nights so no one was there.

It was a little creepy and I almost died from culture shock.  The front desk was wide open, the computer was left unlocked, and the front door was also, of course, unlocked.  All the keys to all the rooms were just out in the open.  This would never ever ever in a gazillion years happen in NYC.

I called my friend in NYC and talked to my daughter for a while.  Then a family who was also staying there came back!  Special thanks go to My Lovely and Fabulous Oily Girlfriend Sandra who kept me company via texting all the way from Australia!  Special thanks also to My Other Lovely and Fabulous Oily Girlfriend Carey who kept me company during my travels.  Big hugs and zebra kisses to both of you.

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While I was adding layers my cat was getting hers taken off:

Good news!  Kitty is officially no longer diabetic and is off insulin!  She remains on Prozac and her appetite pill.

Between the cat and Snowcamp...I am really, really broke.  It was worth it though.

Pavonia (after Leighton)

I started this painting last spring sometime and finished today...it was the only unfinished painting left in my queue.  This is as far as I am taking it. Working with old master paintings is always such an enriching experience.

14x18 oil on canvas.  click for larger view.

2012!

Happy New Year!

As always, it's time to set new intentions.  Here are mine for this year:

1. Drink a lot of tea. (already off to a good start!)
2. Paint portraits.

That's it!

Here is a pretty color chart of my new Rublev paints.  I love them muchly.

George The Pencil Pirate

This year I participated again in the annual portrait swap over at wetcanvas.

When George sent me his picture, my first thought was "he has stubble!"
My second thought was "He is wearing glasses, too!"

I spent a few minutes feeling sorry for myself. Not because George doesn't have a nice face, he does for sure, but stubble AND glasses...I thought I was in trouble.

Then George did that knockout portrait of me in ONE weekend. I didn't think I was in trouble anymore, I knew I was toast. There was just no possible way I could follow that act.

So I had to come up with something that could have a redeeming quality if it ended up being frisbee status. In one of the reference pictures George sent me (not the one I painted), well, I thought he looked kind of like a pirate. It got me thinking. Also, George likes colored pencils a lot. I thought maybe if I did something clever it would conceal my faulty portrait skillz, and I wouldn't mind so much if everyone laughed at my painting.

Here is George the Pencil Pirate.

11x14 Oil on Panel (click image for a larger view)

Detail

Roopa

Tonight I challenged myself to paint a portrait in exactly 1 hour.

Maimeri Natural Earth Pigments
8x10 oil on panel

2011 Swap Paintings

This year I participated in another painting swap.  I did a series and used some really cool metallic and interference paints paints to enhance the colors ad add a little zing.

All are 5x7 on panel

 

And here is the very fun paint: