Gapstow Bridge & How I Made Central Park Much Better

Janae and I met up to paint in Central Park today.

We ended up at the iconic Gapstow Bridge.

I have painted here many times but not for a while.

Despite my hesitation to be in such a crowded area of the park on a Saturday, it was good vibes all around.

Gapstow Bridge is one of those places I revisit from time to time as my painting evolves.

I have painted there in all seasons, in hot summer and snowy winter.

It was good to be back.

This is plein air number 50 for 2026, my personal yearly goal is met.

I am very happy with this painting.

5x10 oil, 2 1/2 hours

Janae took this pic of me painting.

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There are these weird cut-off metal post things near Gapstow bridge.

They are extremely dangerous.

I tripped twice!

Children run around there!

I really should call 311 about it, and I almost certainly will, on Monday.

In the meantime, I made it better and I hope no one gets oil paint on them.

It's Williamsburg Cadmiums, and they take a while to dry.... the turquoise was a nice added touch for additional visibility.

This is the weirdest use of leftover paint....

The For-Reals Really Last After-Work Painting for 2026

I know it's the third time I'm saying this, but this is for reals the last after-work painting for 2026.

The other day I made a super-janky-boathouse-worthy panel carrier for some 5x10 cradled wood panels I got. (I thought it would be a fun size. It is.)  And honestly, I wanted to test it out.

I made it out of a Dr Bronners refill box, tape, and velcro. 
Because I am very lazy I didn't measure anything.

It's pretty awesome, but I wanted to see if it was ok enough to transport panels without smudging them.

Success, my painting got home and out of my wonky panel carrier just fine!

So I went to the office then after, I went over to Elevated Acre at 55 Water to paint Brooklyn.

This is a 1 hour painting.  I finished around 5:30, and sunset was 6:02.

So, it really had to be fast because of the light. 5x10 is smaller than 8x10 and the size does make a difference.

Super-quick sketch to start, just to establish placements.

I was going to put the ferry in from Pier 11, and would have if I had more time but it's ok.

The light goes so fast right before sunset.

I'm counting this one as 49 for the year, one more to goal which I will meet tomorrow.

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View from the office... it's a 360 view but I always sit on the north side of the tower.

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

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I walked over to 55 Water on no particular route, just general direction.

Since I'm so familiar with the Financial District, this is always fine.

Anyhow, without deliberate intention, I ended up going east on Maiden Lane, which is nearby but not a usual path for me anymore.

And there was 125 Maiden Lane, where I worked when I was pregnant with Daya.

I think??? I was on the 9th floor.

(I also worked in 55 Water occasionally, same company, but at that time I was mainly at 125 Maiden.

There was a time where I had building access to 125 Maiden, 55 Water, and 100 Wall.)

I'm really glad to be back in the Financial District instead of Times Square.

There's a thing I do when I find myself in places like this that I was in during significant and difficult times in my past- my current self tells my past self that everything is going to be ok.

I have several spots like this around the city.

But it's been years since I was in front of 125 Maiden, despite being in the vicinity all the time.

There is something nice about revisiting from a different and much better place in life.

Getting Dusty Again

I was back on Governor's Island today for our annual Downtown Boathouse picnic.

Yesterday was SO COLD, I wore my merino wool unders today and- depite the weather being similar...?? I was too hot!

Oh well.

Since it appears I am incapable of going anywhere without paint, but today was not a day for oils, I brought my new Luchetti sketchbook and some pastels.

Last Sunday on my overnight shift on the hotline I brought my Luchetti Via (the little Luchetti) and some pastels and I did a mini made-up landscape which I haven't posted anywhere yet. I have missed working in pastel but haven't wanted the commitment of a full painting.

The sketchbook is perfect. It's filling a gap I have been looking to fill for a while now.

Both my Luchettis are hot press and this paper seriously will take anything.

This is a one-hour painting, 8x16.

I used those Sennelier pencils I got last year and my travel set of Nupastel.

Next time I'm bringing Unisons, oh yes I am.

I primed the paper with clear gesso which is very nice for pastel- it's a rough surface, different than regular white gesso.

The surface texture was good but I struggled with the white of the paper... I never work on white with pastel.

Those Senn pencils are hard-pastel and are kind of only good for blocking in those under-layers...well, my experience with them, so far. Nupastel is softer and has to go on top of these senns.

I do not consider this part of my personal 50 plein air a year goal... that's for standalone oils only.

When I got home I had this BRILLIANT! IDEA! to mix raw pigment right into the clear gesso for a nice toned-but-still-transparent-ish surface for pastels.

This is freaking brilliant.

I have so much raw pigment because of egg tempera.

It's nice when mediums cross over and help each other.

I think of soft pastel, oil paint, and egg tempera as first cousins.

I have used grated pastel dust in several egg tempera paintings, now egg tempera helps my pastelling!

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The picnic was fun and it was nice to see my friends.

Martin drove the golf cart loaded up with everything back to the ferry when it was time to leave.

Kedrin sat in front with him, we piled so much stuff onto that golf cart.

Aimee and I sat on the back- on our knees on precariously secured bungee-bins and held onto the cart for dear life.  Martin avoided most of the potholes. Sharp turns were another story....

It was more fun than a roller coaster could ever be- and possibly more dangerous- who needs Six Flags when you have the boathouse?

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My friend M still wants to be friends.

I had to... once again.... try to explain with a psychology article why offering unsolicited advice is not a good thing and is NOT helpful...I'm honestly still not sure he really gets it.

He also said no one ever told him this before- so it really might be a new concept to him which explains why he's so fucking dense about it.  So, I have to give him grace and move on.

But I won't tolerate it anymore in our friendship.

In other relationships I just tell people outright I'm not looking for advice or analysis, and it's always fine. No conflict.

I also have to remember I have the benefit of the hotline training and experience (which seriously is HUGE)- being around more people than he is, and the caliber of people I am around is generally very high-quality, intelligent, very educated, and especially on the hotline- very emotionally intelligent. 

While I have stated my requirement, I also will give him grace and the chance to... not do it anymore.

He says he understands I don't like it. (Finally, how many times can you tell a person...)

Fuckin A, it's a good thing this is a text-only relationship.

I couldn't do it in-person.

My Algorithm

I turned off all the deep spy settings on my iPhone a long time ago, so Safari doesn't know what to do with me. YouTube thinks I have a large dog, unmanageable curly hair, and a problem sleeping.

Not sure why it thinks any of those untrue things but ok.

This is all fine by me.

The other day I mentioned this to Kedrin and she was quite cross with me at not only neglecting to mention this imaginary large dog I supposedly own (she is a fanatical dog person), but even worse- I never even named it!

I'm a dreadful person, it's true.

Today I came across an article about how to find your Amazon algorithm, and that it knows deeply weird stuff about you based on your buying habits.  The article hinted that the stuff Amazon knows about you is probably very embarrassing.

Obviously I had to have a look at that.

(You can too- click on your profile/account/

under ordering and shopping preferences, go to About You.)

Amazon says I:

*have a cat (three but ok)

*regularly replenish senior cat supplies (true)

*read across genres but prefer fiction (true)

*swim and do water activities (true)

*workout at home (true but not so much lately)

*go camping and hiking (true)

*wear sunblock regularly (every single day even if I stay home)

*paint in oil and other mediums (obviously)

and my favorite....I:

*prefer professional grade art supplies

Oh yes I sure do prefer professional art supplies!

And that's it.

I'm actually ok with this algorithm because it's what anyone who knows me even a little would know about me.

Amazon doesn't suggest enough "professional-grade art supplies" though, but probably because I generally don't buy them there.

Maybe I would if it bothered to show them to me, like Jerry's does.

(Actually probably not. I love Jerrys Artarama.)

The Crazy Plein Air Workout

David Nakabayashi texted me and said "Join me on the 7am ferry to Governor's Island and let's paint."

(He has an artist residency there right now.)

Oh, I won't turn down a chance to paint with David.

I steal his painting vibes.

His work has been enormously influential in my growth, the osmosis is very real.

That's why it's important to be around people who are more advanced.

(It's also why I like my egg tempera class so much- the balance of slowing down, and also I'm not the best in the room, so it is the right room.)

So, I woke up at 4am and was down at Pier 11 at 6:45.

David chose the spot- I know Governor's Island ok, but he knows it very well.

There's a very high hill overlook area on Governors Island I never knew about- wow, what a view!

We both knocked out two paintings each in less than 3 hours.

It was very windy in the morning but we persevered.

I painted the Statue of Liberty (again).

Start time 8:01am, end time 9:26am.

8x10 oil

The important thing about this painting I learned is dealing with the sky being very boring.

I did move some clouds over (David painted the good clouds to my left) but mostly 3/4 of this painting is empty sky space.

Not too long ago I would have really obsessed over the gradient- and instead I decided to make that boring blank space more interesting through brushwork.

I am realizing how much my painting approach has changed- especially when dealing with subject matter I've painted several times before.

Speed is not the goal- I track the time for personal data purposes, but it's something that comes through experience and repeated problem solving.

We both painted the skyline for painting number 2.

This second painting took.... 1 hour and 20 minutes!

Whoa!

This is a milestone painting for me.

I have painted the skyline a bunch of times before but never like this, and definitely not at this speed.

The World Trade Center is always tough to paint, it's just tricky.

Well, for me at least, and of everything in this painting, I spent the most time on that.

You have to get the shapes just right and of course the light is always changing which makes a big difference in particular on that tower.

And then I just knocked in shapes of color instead of drawing everything.

Indicating, values, and spots of color.

It's a loose painting but still has all the information it needs.

It stretched my head out.

I can see just how far I have come with my plein air work- particularly with the skyline and how to handle the complexity in a simplified way.

My thinking and ability to resolve complexity has improved significantly.

This isn't something I could do in the studio from photos- not at all.

It has to be done repeatedly from life.

I'm so proud of myself for keeping and growing my art through all these difficult years.

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After painting we went back to the house where David's exhibit is on display.

He's so weird!

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Other assorted pictures from today: