The Met is Still Acting Stupid

Grace and I met up again (with her oldest daughter) and went to the Met.

I renewed my membership online yesterday; usually I do it in-person.

At entry, they told me my card expired which I thought was weird because I renewed and it didn't show up. I showed them the email. They said ok, get a new card at the membership desk.

So we went over there.

The woman there was really rude.
Just... rude, and one of those power-trippy gatekeepers with no social skills who have to be snippy because they are miserable with their own lies.

She probably lives in Staten Island.

Apparently their card printing machine was broken. So she gave me a stupid paper slip.

And then she ... confiscated my old card!

The Met has pretty membership cards and I have a little collection of them.
But she wouldn't give it back. She said I can't have 2.
I said but it doesn't work anyhow so why does it matter?
Plus if I never went to the member desk I'd still have the old card so what does it matter?
The card was pretty and has Van Gogh on it.

She said you renewed on a different account.
I said... I used the renewal email to do it. Why is it a different account?

She said ... I don't know.

In the past when I renewed they have always handed my old card back.

I know it's a dumb thing to get upset over, but she was really rude and I've been a paying member for many years.. she should have much better people skills. And it's a fucking expire card. Wat's the big hairy deal?

ALSO:

1. My Memling is not on display again. Boo.
2. The Met has a new stupid backpack rule that you have to wear it on your front now, because.... you might damage the artwork.

They are so so stupid there.

I love The Met but oh man are they dumb in their arbitrary power trips.

******
Anyhow.
We went thru the Tudors exhibit (again for me.)

And the Maya exhibit.

Hannah and I love this alligator.

The Christmas tree.

Grace and I sketched this statue.

Hannah sketched a different statue.

 

This guy was drawing in the American Wing.

Insta @manofthemet

Unruly Chives

I have been feeling weird lately, I don't know why.  Can't figure it out. I don't know if it's me or just the energy of the world in general but I feel strange, fatigued, and uninspired. There's nothing wrong or anything concerning going on, I just feel really weird and blah. And I don't feel like painting.

I'm sure this funky haze will pass eventually.  I decided to just let it be and be where I am and not worry about it, even though it has been going on for several weeks now. 

But in the absence of painting- both plein air and studio work, I decided to just do some sketchbook work instead.  Small pages that don't require a lot of time, thinking, or commitment but still keep me doing something.  Normally I don't show sketchbook work, but today, wow I messed up and I should have known better and I'm very annoyed with myself.

I started a new book and all I'm doing in it are little plant paintings in watercolor and colored pencil.  Just something small and nice to do. And a couple of days ago I did a little drawing of my crazy chive plant.  I called it Unruly Chives.

Today I felt like taking out my oil pastels and I did a page facing my Unruly Chives, which was a huge mistake.  How could I forget that oil pastels- if you go all the way to the edges of the page- mess everything else up on other pages?

It messed up my (very nice) page of Eastshade Bloomsac, and I was Not Happy abut that.  I salvaged it as best as I could.  I'll probably end up re-doing it on another page. 

I will have to re-do this page. :(

The new unruly chives also messed up the other unruly chives so I just have to leave it and say that's what happens when something is unruly. I want this book to be nice and neat so it bugs me.

Seriously though, how could I forget that about oil pastel?

It's ok as long as it is taped off... as it, like chives, is definitely unruly.

11 Minute MRI

Daya had her second MRI tonight, for her lower back.

The last time she had an MRI it took a while- probably 45 minutes.
And the room was freezing cold.

Online searches said a lower back scan can take 30 mins to an hour.

So I went prepared with no-metal art supplies- my gouache sketchbook and some pastels.
And also a warm hoodie.

The scan took..... 11 minutes.
The room was not cold.
I used all the 11 minutes for this quick sketch.

Right before we left I primed the page with Colourfix primer, and I don't know if it was the speed at which I was working or what, but I wish I had left the paper smooth.

The Last Page!

I met Jackie at the park.
It was SO NICE to see a friend in-person, outdoors.

Of course I brought paint...... this is the last page in my sketchbook, it's finally done!
Painting my friend is a great way to finish the book.

I originally wanted to finish it within a year..... I didn't manage that but I was close.
March 1 2019 to May 30 2020....

I do have another book ready to go.
This has been a real learning journey and I'm ready for a new volume.

AND ALSO I AM GOING TO THE BEACH NEXT SATURDAY!!!

I'm desperate to go to the beach.... I didn't go last Summer... I didn't do anything because of my eyes, I was out of visual commission for all of July and most of August, and still getting my bearings after that for a while.

Yesterday's Painting

I went out painting yesterday, it was really nice out.
This is at the Forest Hills LIRR train station.

I have ONE more page in my sketchbook!!

The Fucking Truck

So during the Reuters East Coast art class/meeting I went outside to paint again.
Thank goodness I had already mostly done the right side of the painting because this huge whonking truck came and parked right in front of me.

Fucking truck. :/

Gouache in sketchbook.
I need to finish the book, only a few pages left.

Start Week 9

Last night I went out to paint.

Gouache in sketchbook.

I feel very sluggish and fog-headed, no, that's not quite the description.....

Mentally strained.

That's more accurate.

This past week went by very quickly.

Start Week 8

Week 8.

The official word from work is that we will be going back to the office in months, not weeks.

I can work from home, but I much prefer going into the office.  I always have.

******
Egg prices are now normal and reasonable.
Thank goodness.

Yesterday in the Reuters East Coast group we did figure drawing again.
Line of Action is offering a 31 day full subscription at a pay-what-you-want price.  This is an awesome deal.

I did a few drawings last night, much smaller than I normally work for figure practice.
These are short-ish, maybe 10-15 mins.

i was losing my concentration by the last pose, and it shows!

Here are some quick drawings from last week, I didn't post them but here they are.

And here are Furball and Isis snuggling.

Gouache and MYB Audition

Daya had an audition at Manhattan Youth Ballet.
I painted while waiting, and had to do some finishing at home, about 15 mins or so, because it was such a short audition.

It was also an experiment to use pastel over gouache instead of inktense pencils.

Gouache and Pufferfish

I was able to finish my puffer painting with no incident.
Took about 2 hours.
Gouache in sketchbook.

The view I had was not good for composition so I rearranged things a bit.

Originally I wanted to paint the dolphin-fish but my eye level was too low.

My puffer pal!

Pretty sky.
I kept expecting the clouds to move!!

Soul-Crushing Anatomy Study Nite

Tonight was another meeting of the Reuters East Coast Art Group.
I didn't feel like carrying painting gear so decided to do some anatomy studies in an environment that made it a little more fun. Colored pencil in sketchbook.

I worked from this book that Simon said to get.
It is actually quite good.

Gouache and Ailey

Waiting at Daya's Alvin Ailey audition today.
Gouache in sketchbook.
6th floor lobby area.

30 Faces- Done

I completely and suddenly lost steam with 30 Faces in 30 Days after Will Weston.

But I wanted to see it through, so I did. Even if I am a day late. I just didn't have the energy last night, between the dishwasher and battling a stuffy-cold.

It felt a lot like homework.

But it was worthwhile and good practice.

I'm glad I finished,

Now I am going to continue with Will Weston stuff.

*******
DISHWASHER UPDATE:
Someone is coming on Sunday to look at it.
I had to wash all the dishes that were in there.

30 Faces in 30 Days- Half Point

I mentioned once buried in a post somewhere that I'm doing 30 Faces in 30 days thru Sktchy Art School this month which is an online thing.
I found it on Instagram.

The Sktchy app has been around for several years now, it's where people upload their selfies which can be used as art reference.

I don't really use it but I saw this challenge on Instagram and felt very pulled to do it.
There are (I think) 5 teachers who share a video with a portrait tip every day along with a reference photo.

For the most part this has been worthwhile.
I'm finding it very difficult to do time-wise, as the time I can usually do it is at night at the end of the day and I'm pretty tired.  This in addition to all the other art stuff I have been doing.

But I am keeping up with it.

Some of the lessons are good reminders, good review, or just taking a different approach and trying something new, no risk.
Some days are just stuff I already know.
Only 2 of them I have found to be essentially worthless and not well-taught.
(I outright disagree with one of them.)
Mostly they are pretty good. Nothing new, just different perspectives and working in ways I normally don't.

Everything is done in one small watercolor sketchbook, it's a 5x7 or thereabouts.
It is getting me to do stuff I wouldn't mess with otherwise.
None of them are long, time spent ranges from 5 minutes to about an hour.
None of this is meant to be "finished" work.

I like a couple of them, most are ok enough, and a few I really don't like and that's ok.
There is value in all of it.

Day 1: Blind Contour Drawing- I haven't done this since college? high school even? And it really is super-valuable.

Day 2: Proportions I like this lesson too, but it only works for a straight-on view.

Day 3: Mapping Light and Shadow

Day 4: Shading in One Direction

Day 5 Vanishing Point (this is the one I disagree with)

Day 6: Finding Motivation in a Word

Day 7: Set a Time Limit

Day 8: Creating a Natural Black

Day 9: Leaving your Drawing Unfinished

Day 10: Negative Space

Day 11: Sculpting with White Space

Day 12: Drawing Teeth (and Loving it)

Day 13: Marking off Proportions

Day 14: Crosshatching with a Limited Palette

Day 15: Creating Contrast with Warm and Cool Colors

Most of the photo references are ones I would never choose.
So actually it's good that I'm working with them.

Almost none of them would be good for painting.

But they are ok enough for drawing.