Weird stuff at the Met

Janae and I met up for a picnic in Central Park and a trip to the Met afterwards.

We went to visit my favorite tree in The Ramble, who is looking pretty good.

The Squirrel of Judgement was not shy.

We went to see the costume show Sleeping Beauties, which is closing.

It was very crowded.

This would have been a really fun exhibit to see with Grace.

There was some weird stuff but also some cool stuff.

Lamp Dress

Crap at the Whitney

My amazing friend Grace was in the city with her daughter and we went to the Whitney, which is mostly crap and I'm not afraid to say so.

But their rooftop patios are nice.

And anywhere is fun with Grace, especially if there is crap on the walls we can make fun of.

First we went to Blick for Grace's daughter though.

I did not get anything but we found these sharpeners for my favorite clutch pencils, and Grace got me one. :)
It's the green thing in this photo.

(These pencils require a special sharpener (the blue barrel thing below) which is very cool but not always convenient.)

Then we walked to the Whitney.

It was free friday admission.

On the 8th floor there are a bunch of different citrus trees growing, which is kind of cool even though they all look the same and one was dead.

I'm not even a math person and this bothers me.

I sent it to Daya because I knew it would bug her too and it did.

Actually they are Plovers & Dorm Update

Dorm Update

SUNDAY

She: Mom I want to treat being in the dorms here like I'm far away, not right by home.

Me: ok, that's fine.

TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY

She: Mom can you bring......

(Daya was on stage Wednesday and I went in-person.  With a bag of stuff for her.)

FRIDAY

She: I'm gonna stop home tomorrow to wax and visit the cats.

I'm glad Daya is on campus, she's having a great time and loves it. It's so so SO good for her, and I'm glad she also has easy access to home if she wants or needs anything, even if it is to wax, eat edamame from the freezer, and pet cats.

*************

I went to the beach again last night to walk and float around and explore, and get out of my apartment.

Instead of staying on the bus the whole way, I transferred to the A train for a change, which goes right over the water.

Then I walked the shoreline down from around Beach 112th down to Beach 90, where my friend lives.

We met up, sat in a lifeguard chair, and chatted and it was so nice to see her.

The baby seagulls are actually plovers... and they look exactly like mini seagulls.  I love them.

High tide was at 5:51 last night, right when I got there.

Temp outside said 80 degrees but it felt a lot colder than that.   

The water however, was VERY warm.  (I didn't swim, just walked the shore and got wet.)

It was so nice.

I love the water, being on the beach is so soothing.

I liked this surreal alien view from around Beach 114th st.

It's kind of fun to say this is, actually, NYC.

High tide is fun.

I took way too many pictures which aren't all here, and I'd like to do some wave studies in-studio.

I think it would help my plein air to do some water in-studio.

View from the lifeguard chair... I would totally paint up here.

My friend who lives on the beach is also an artist but hasn't painted for a while.  Her son is a piano wizard and went to LaGuardia, same years as Daya. That's how we met.  Now he's up at Purchase. She's also a single mom and has been through a lot. I'm glad we have kept in touch.

I might have to drag her up the lifeguard chair with paint... which she'll totally do with some moral support.

__PRESENT

Rockaway Gulls, Sunset, and RIDUCULOUS BABY SEAGULLS

I went to the beach after work to paint and watch the sunset.

It's nice to be able to do that.

The trip to Far Rockaway is very easy but it is also a little long, it's an hour of travel time on the select bus. Maybe 45 mins depending on traffic. I don't mind it, I'm used to about an hour of getting to most places because of walking and train issues etc.

I was at Beach 98, it's nice there.

I did a painting, and the main thing I was thinking about was getting the colors of the water correct (I feel like I didn't quite do the water justice) and composition intervals, with no interval being the same. Think horizontal stripes, that's the basic design. This painting took about an hour and 45 minutes.

Some really nice people came over to say hi and... be nice.

8x10 oil

After I was done painting I took a walk on the shoreline and enjoyed the gulls and the sunset.

I liked the seagulls.

There were BABY SEAGULLS! They were running around in a cluster and were ridiculously adorable.