Freshman Graham Class

Freshman and Sophomores have their dance block in the morning, so I showed up at LaGuardia at 8am to paint Tadej's Freshman Graham class.

Mr Munroe was the musician which is always amazing because he sings.

Look up Andy Munroe on Spotify.

It's a magical atmosphere, perfect for paint!

My friend's daughter is a Freshman so I got to see her dance.

Ms Debbie from Manhattan Youth Ballet- Deborah Wingert- was also there to observe..

It was the right morning to be at LaGuardia!

Today I experimented with full gouache- no pastel today.

And Inktense pencil for small details, it's a real time saver.

Except that.... I'm getting faster.  I'm not trying to, it just happened.

I finished in the same time as yesterday- 10 minutes to spare, that's a long time!

(Yes I look at the time on my phone throughout, I need to know my halfway point.)

The difference MIGHT be that I snapped a quick photo pf the pose, so I didn't have to do live figure sketching. And at this point I know the rooms really well.  Because of that I focused on overlapping figures.  Arranging the figures takes some thinking. I could have added kids standing around in the back but... no time for that.

5x7 gouache

Tadej was wearing a shirt that says SHIFT.

He used it in his class as an answer to a question.

(Ms Foote talked about marshmallow floors yesterday.)

There are roses in front of the school.

I'm going to miss LaGuardia SO MUCH!!

Daya going there for high school has truly been one of the biggest blessings of my (our?) life.

Her teachers- particularly dance- are the most amazing people.  Like you don't even know that type of amazing until you encounter it.

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Mr Steffa (I misspelled his name in the text) teaches gym and is a dean of... idk, something.

He also oversees kids entering the building sometimes, I see him at the entrance a lot.

He and Daya are good pals.

She started bugging him before she even got accepted into the school.

Mr Steffa ALWAYS wears shorts.

It can be -3 outside and he'll be wearing shorts and a LaGuardia hoodie.

When we went for the initial open house, before auditions happened, he was outside managing the very, VERY long line. He asked if anyone had any questions.  Daya yelled out "DO YOU ALWAYS WEAR SHORTS?"

Answer: Yes.

Then Daya got in the school and they have been pals ever since.

I saw Mr Steffa when I volunteered for audition callbacks, and we had a good chat.

Today I also saw him and he gave me a hug and congrats on Juilliard.

He said he had been looking for me all week!

I asked did Daya tell you or avoid you?

He said she avoided him but he staked her out and made her announce aloud in the lobby that she got into JUILLIARD.

I sent Daya a text about Ms Debbie, because she was still at home, probably making breakfast.

Daya did come by to say hello when the class ended.

She said--- you woke up very early just to come to school for Freshman observation and now you are just going home?

I said yes I wanted to paint.

Daya's not one to talk though, she's crashing the Junior Graham class on Thursdays while the rest of her group who isn't in rehearsal does..... she doesn't know, something not dance... but she wants to dance so she goes to class with the Juniors.

Unfortunately I did not get to show Mr Steppa Daya's text because when I left he was teaching.

Next time I see him I'm gonna dig up this picture and show him and we'll have a good laugh.