Connecticut, Hammock, Friendship, and Oil Paint

Cathy asked me if I could visit her this weekend.  Her husband is away at Dragon Con and she could use the company.

Well, it has been WAY too long since I saw her, so off to CT I went.

I went through Grand Central.

I love Grand Central, always have.

I also remember when the ceiling was black from all the old cigarette smoke.

There used to be one little patch of cleaned ceiling, just to prove the constellations were real I guess.

I said to Cathy "I'm going to bring my hammock and sleep in your back yard."

Cathy said 'You're really weird!"

Hahaha I know!

Cathy didn't think I could actually do it, but I sure did and it was AMAZING.

I got an under-quilt for the hammock and wanted to do a gear test.

Plus, sleeping outdoors in that hammock is literally the most physically comfortable thing ever.

I hung my kayak light for some indoor-hammock lighting.

Of course I brought oil paint!

6x8 oil

More hammock pics

I took Gypsy for a walk... the woods on one side have been cleared for houses, and it's pretty devastating. 

Those woods were so wonderful and now they are gone and it hurts.

Dizzy is like 17 now, she was my cat for 2 weeks many years ago.

This is Fluffy, who is ridiculously friendly.

Look what Cathy got me.... this is so wonderful and lovely.

The book inside is The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter.

I'm going to read it on the hotline between calls.

We saw Jaws in the theater, which was cool.

Jaws is still a great film.

We also went to Essex and Mystic.

We got the best garlic salt ever and a few other things.

We both liked these flowers.

I had such a nice time with Cathy, and it was so good to see her and spend time together.

This stupid thing is finally done

Last year Andrew and I won the boathouse regatta.

Andrew did the paddling, I was his pirate strategy coach.

We won by cheating, which is what you're supposed to do.

The winner of the regatta makes next year's trophy.

Andrew had a Vision and we have been collaborating.

This thing is HUGE and has been in my apartment since January or something like that.

My job was to paint the background, and Andrew is doing I don't know what to it... it'll likely be dreadfully tacky but that's what makes it fun.

Yesterday Martin texted me and said we want to have the regatta on Labor Day.

Huh, that's short notice!

Good thing I had just finished this thing over the weekend!

So I brought it down to the boathouse...hopefully Andrew will show up and do whatever dreadful thing he has planned....

Pebbles helped.

Kind-of.

Early Water, Late Water

I booked a desk in the office today, and decided to wake up at stupid-o'clock to go on the water.

It's worth it as always.

the river was in quite a mood today... it was VERY rough and choppy.

It was still very peaceful being out there though.

Then I went to the office, got a lot of work done, then came back to the boathouse and went on the water again!

The water was still really rough and choppy...not sure why, we don't have a storm coming in or anything.

I had signed up to teach the 102 class...which I regretted because I wasn't feeling like doing it.

But it turned out to be a great class! There were only 2 people and one was a repeat participant.

It ended up being really fun and I felt so good afterwards!

Early morning Hudson River views:

Afternoon Hudson River views...

I took a Disco out instead of a Prowler.

(I also did my self-rescue in the Disco)

The Disco is a very light boat and is VERY tippy!

It was fun being in a tippy boat in all those waves!

I did get soaking wet though.

The water is SO WARM!! Much warmer than the air temp!

Pier 25:

Duolingo has the craziest phrases sometimes!

The first day of third year at Juilliard

Classes at Juilliard started today.

It's Daya's third year and she is making plans for next year.

Unfortunately, shhe got a jury summons in the mail today.

I think being a full-time college student should be an automatic exemption but it isn't.

And that's very wrong.

The courthouse she has to go to is very far from school.

She got a deferment til end of November.

So stupid!!

Relaxing early on the river

This weekend we did 2 special group accommodations for Juilliard Orientation before the public program today and yesterday.

I met Daya's roommate today! That was fun!

Here are some early morning water pics, I never get tired of being on the river.

I got about 5 laps in, then ran out of time.

We had good clouds.

After the boathouse I went for a walk uptown... this car was spotted in Soho!

It's obviously a business vehicle but it's still quite the paint job!

Hike & Hammock & Williamsburg Paint

I took all the summer Fridays off work...what a great idea that was,

Usually I do this from October on, but summer is much better to work 4 day weeks.

Today I took the train up to Tuxedo and walked to the hiking trails in Harriman State ark that are over there. I have wanted to explore this for a while and today was a good day to do it.

Of course I brought paint.....and my hammock!

I think the hammock is now officially part of my woods plein air setup!

I hiked and hung my hammock and had lunch....

Oh my god I love the hammock.....

The train schedule back to the city is the dumbest schedule in existence:

The next train back after the 4:07 is 10:40pm!!!

I could NOT miss the 4:07!

Seriously, what kind of dumb schedule is this?????

So around 1-something I thought I should probably do a painting as I headed back.

This little 6x8 was definitely stress-rushed.....

I brought my new Williamsburg Quinacridone Red (PV 19)...I'm not sure how I feel about it being the only red in a very limited palette. It's a great color but somehow lacks variation, or maybe I need to learn to use it better...? In part, it isn't as opaque as the cadmiums I am used to, and it is a bit cooler as well.

This comp would make a good painting.

I was stressing about getting back, but at least I knew the way out this time.

When I got back to the Tuxedo station I had about a 15 minute wait for the train, which is better than missing it.

I'll have to do this again.... the time constraint is very unfortunate but it's better than not being able to go.

A Peaceful Evening at Rockaway

My seascapes need a lot of work and I wanted to try something different today, just waves.

The beach was very peaceful... the temp dropped a bit and the only people on the beach were a few locals and a lot of cool dogs.

I'll keep going after work until there is no evening light.

8x10 oil

*********

My stupid injury is significantly better, phew, honestly I was slightly scared.

On Wednesday I'll try self-rescuing.

Another Roosevelt Island Painting

This morning my friend Sharon asked if I wanted to take a walk and hang out on Roosevelt Island.

Well, of course I wanted to do that!

Sharon and I have been friends for many years and she is great company.  

The view is looking at Manhattan in the low 80s.

I got a lot on a little 6x8 panel... the painting took an hour and 10 minutes, longer than I thought.