Plein Air at Nite- Brooklyn Bridge

Last night's workshop was a make-up from the rain last Thursday.
We went down to the Seaport by the Brooklyn Bridge.

This isn't somewhere I would go alone at night so it was nice to go with a group.  Actually once it gets dark early, I might go down there after work, it would be ok in the early evening.

Actually the space is great and I should have been going here for a while already.....
Well, this has been an expansive workshop to say the least, in many ways.

So here is Garin's painting.
The man is a real-deal freaking sick WIZARD.
I can't even.

Look at this painting.

Garin's painting NOT MINE

My sorry sad painting. Garin painted on it so the good parts he did.

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Notes:

• My new easel lamp is awesome.
• MASSING.  Not lines. (Garin's start to his painting.  He is not really linear drawing but blocking in shapes.  Think shapes and mass. Push/pull values.  He says it's like playing chess. (Knowing beforehand what you will do and planning ahead as you lay strokes down.  It can also be that old illustrator trick of checkering, but I think Garin meant it strategically. That's a really advanced mindset you can only have thru a lot of experience.)
• SIMPLIFY.
• BLUR AND SQUINT
• For the lights- keep values dark, colors grey.  Then later go in with chroma and the lights
• Darker color under the light first, then add the light part of the light over (for glowy effect)
• Tilt panel inward a little to get rid of glare
• Don't go too light too soon
• Sky still lighter.
• Keep darks dark.
• SLOW DOWN.
• Garin does have black on his palette. (glad I brought mine!!)
• INDICATE & let the viewer fill it in
• I think a lot of the reason Garin can do the shapes and masses so well is he can draw better than God so it is just completely integrated into the whole thing.
• Chisel brush- building lights.  indicate.

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I am really struggling with the night time stuff, for a lot of reasons.

I get my block-in down then I kind of get lost on how to proceed.

Painting at night is SO VERY EXTREMELY DIFFERENT than daytime.  I'm really struggling with seeing and the values and getting that correct.  It's really different than daytime.
I'm very insecure about my eyesight.  I still have halos around lights, and vision through both eyes is different.
It's taking me time to adjust to lighting between looking at the scene and working under my easel lamp.
There is too much crap in my head and I'm getting in my own way.  I need to chill and relax.
I'm trying to do things according to previous experience instead of what is needed.... for example I know it is always better to use a larger brush and I was, but Garin's was a lot smaller than I expected.
It's like I'm going thru the motions of what I know I'm supposed to be doing instead of.... flowing I guess.

I don't know, I was really struggling.  It feels like I am in the deep end of a pool and I thought I was ok at swimming but it is a LOT harder than I anticipated.  I knew it would be hard but wow.

I do actually think this is a great thing because that was kind of the whole point, to work differently and expand.  It's just such an uncoordinated experience but I really intend to practice and get good, enough to hold my own with the real pros.  I'll get there.

This stuff is hard.  Plein air is hard.  Plein air at night is even harder.
This is the hardest it gets, really. I do remind myself of this. And I haven't done it much at all before.
Garin's been plein airing for 35 years!

Garin gave me a bunch of corrections but he DID say the bottom part of my painting was "brilliant" (!!) and I'll take all the good feedback I can get.  And corrections too. It was also nice when I was feeling crappy that a very nice man came by on a bike and said something nice.  Sometimes we really do need cheerleaders and that was well-timed.

I want to be a wizard, I want to be in the deep end of the painting ability pool and hold up.
It's a whole different level than being around casual painters.  I want that next level.  Badly. And that's going to take a lot of practice.  Much more than I have been able to do really since college. I want to be good just for the sake of being good.

I want to be at Art Students League regularly.
Those are the people I want to surround myself with- the people who are pretty serious about art in general.  I need the osmosis vibes. My head needs to be in that environment.

Now that I have broken out of Dance Jail (well I'm still on parole) I want my life back, and I want to step up the painting.

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ALSO AND THIS IS AMAZING.... Daya's hip stuff is through NYU Langone. I had my surgery there.  Yesterday some of Daya's charges for dr and PT came through and I said Oh Shit.....my-out-of pocket costs for her PT were coming to about $700 over the next 8 weeks.

I do have financial aid approval from my hospital stuff which is good for a year.  Yesterday I found the letter while cleaning out my bag and today I called them to see if I can apply it to Daya.  As it turns out, not only can I apply it to Daya but they missed that my household is 2 instead of 1 on the application so I am approved for 100% aid for all costs insurance does not cover.  My hospital bill was literally double their estimate and that was upsetting, but I paid it already.... and that 100% is as of my surgery so I will get a full refund!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Universe!!