Day 11 Joy

I didn't get qa chance to post yesterday, so I am doing it today. Joy for day 11 is having good co-workers. It makes such a difference when the people around you are friendly and capable.

Happy Delurking Day!!

Delurking Day is here!!

Day 10 Joy

My joy today is the gratitude I feel for being an artistic person. There are so many people who go through life, just going through the motions of everyday existence with no creativity. And then there are a lot of people who wish they were artistic but think they can't be for some reason. (Which isn't true- anyone can do it!)

Having any form of art in one's life is a great gift- a lifetime journey of development, something that is your unique addition to the beauty of the world. Because there's so much crap everywhere, we need balance.

I can't wait to go out painting on Monday! :)

Day 9 Joy

Today's joy is a wonderful relaxing hot bath with almond-scented bubbles and a large salt rock. And candles, of course.

Day 8 Joy

My joyful experience today is the feeling of sticking to goals and accomplishing what I said I would do.

Day 7 Joy

Today I took Daya to the Museum of Natural History because she asked to go. Near the end of the day, we went to the hall of ocean life. Downstairs is a huge area where a giant model of a whale hangs from the ceiling, and a big movie screen plays images of underwater fish, waves, and the beach. It's really relaxing. Daya and I sat together watching the fish and waves.

And...!!! someone had their dog in the museum! Not a seeing eye dog, a smallish shaggy dog. The family pet. I had no idea you could do that. This wasn't the kind of dog that could be carried around in a bag...it was too big for that.

I love the museum of Nat History. We go a lot, and I renewed my membership just so I don't have to wait in the admission line. Sounds sad I know, but it really is worth it.

Day 6 Joy

Today's joy is the scent of lavender.

Day 5 Joy

There are any things to feel joyful about today. First was an early snowfall (it didn't stick). Then the postman delivered a book I have been eagerly awating, just in time for my morning commute. It is a signed copy of Eyvind Earle's autobiography! With illustrations!!

Then I got free lunch again, at a nice restaurant.

But best of all- below freezing temps outside, Daya was asleep before 9pm, and I get to enjoy my homemade-from-scratch Mexican corn tortilla soup.

It is, in a single word, WONDERFUL.

If you were here I'd gladly share.

Day 4 Joy

Today's joy is a warm purring kitty cat.

Day 3 Joy

joy is dark chocolate. :)

Day 2 Joy

I have 2 things for today: unexpected free lunch, and a finished painting.

8x10 oil on panel

Day 1 Joy

Today is Day 1 of Soul Coaching. Part of the program is keeping a daily Joy Journal, because what we focus on expands.

My joy for today is freshly baked whole wheat bread. I made it late last night, and it was perfect for lunch today. (And tomorrow!) This is a bread I will make often- it is 100% whole wheat, yet is very light and moist. Plus, it fragrances my whole apartment while it bakes, and makes me feel healthy.

Jan 2010

Well, 2010 is finally here. I wish you all a peaceful and joy-filled year.

My intentions are mostly artistic, and once again I intend to drink a lot of tea. :D

Last year I started the year off with Denise Linn's Soul Coaching program, and I'm doing it again this year, officially starting tomorrow but I did the prep work today.
I got so much out of Soul Coaching last year, and am really looking forward to the positive changes and insights it brings this year.

There are two journals kept during the 28 days of the program- a process journal and a joy journal. The joy journal I have decided to keep here.

The Vasari Paint Angel visited and brought some very nice paint...I had to try it out, so set up a little still life and did a quickie painting, maybe 2 1/2 hours. The candle was a little tough, since I am used to working with (mostly) single pigment paints and the paint set I got were all blends of greys.

8 x 10
oil on panel

Bronx Peacock

This guy lives in the Bronx Zoo and acts like he owns the world.

12 x 16
Oil on Canvas

Le Chat Blanc and More Plein Air

Here is a plein air from last Friday in Central Park. Standing in front of a waterfall for three hours is a profoundly enjoyable experience. Plein air painting is difficult- completely different from painting in the studio. I feel like I'm still very much finding my way with it and trying to figure out what the heck I am doing, but the journey sure is fun.

9 x 12 oil on panel



This is Le chat Blanc, a cat painted for the Fort Collins Cat rescue, to be sold at silent auction to raise funds for shelter kitties.

More Xanthophyll

Another nice day at the park looking at yellow leaves.
9 x 12
Oil on panel

Subway

Like everything about NYC, the subway is a love-hate relationship. But overall, it is a very easy means of transportation. Navigating the subway system is far easier than navigating the streets with a car, IMHO. Everything is labeled, there are only two directions, and there are maps everywhere. So I generally don't understand why visitors take cabs because they aren't sure of the subway.

Except the other day, I paused to re-think that perspective. I went uptown to go paint in the park. To get there , I had to take the A/C uptown.



The train came and I got on it. Except this was the train that arrived. And it really wasn't an E train rerouted on another track. It was a substitute C train pretending to be an E train.



Except when inside the train, passengers were advised it was a Coney Island bound F train that was currently in Brooklyn.



So, way to go MTA.

I am a local so I didn't get lost. The crazy train took me all the way up to the park where I had a peaceful afternoon painting.

Xanthophyll: An Autumn plein Air
9x12 Oil on Panel

Alumna

I went to Pratt today, for the first time in years. The last time I was over there was three years ago, and I didn't go on the campus. A lot has changed. It was surreal and a little disorienting, but also nice to see how they have fixed up the campus since I graduated. Ten years ago. I feel old.

The walkways are actually paved now! The library is air conditioned! But the pratt book/art supply store is all the way across the street from the main campus in a whole new building. I don't see how that is possibly convenient, especially if you have a 9am drawing class and you need more newsprint.

Starting Ballet

Daya started ballet class, so I did a little portrait.

12 x 16
Oil on Canvas

Lady Maxwell is finished

There are no words to accurately say how sick I am of this painting. Thank goodness it's done. I'm so tired of it I don't even want to hang it up.

Lady Maxwell (after Bouguereau)
16 x 20
Oil on panel

Gnarly Carrots

A quick study, about an hour and a half. Tomorrow the carrots and onion get cooked with lentils.

8x10
oil on panel

Lady M Grisaille

This is from the August project over in the oils forum at Wet Canvas. When I started I chose to do a grisaille (tonal underpainting) and glaze the color over.

The underpainting took more than 30 hours and I am sick of looking at it. All that work and she looks strung out on too much absinthe. Hopefully when I start the color layers I'll get my interest back and it won't be the awful greueling work it turned into.

By the way you can blame Lady M for my lack of participation in Cactus Monday.

Lady Maxwell (after William Bouguereau)
16x20
Oil on panel

Deux Soeurs

Deux Soeurs (Two sisters)
A little study after Bouguereau...the September MIO over at WetCanvas.
8x10
Oil on Panel

Back Home

I got home late Wednesday night after visiting my father for a week. Had a really nice time. His house is in a very woodsy area, so I packed my pochade box and went out painting. I got 2 paintings done but the second needs some touch up work and I haven't photographed it yet.

I added a cat peeking out from behind a tree to this one, but don't have a photo of the changes.

Woods in North Carolina
9x12
Oil on panel

Plein Air PRT

The other day I went out paiting after work in Central Park. It was wonderful except for some very aggressive mosquitoes. I can get used to this painting outside thing. So much to learn.

I LOVE my pochade box. Even though it takes up half my suitcase I'm bringing it with me to North Carolina this week.

Pochade Box PRT

It finally arrived! I am so excited. This box is BEAUTIFUL and perfect for pleine aire painting. It holds three 9x12 panels (wet or dry) and can be used as a laptop box or mounted on a tripod.

I've had a big urge to go painting outside and although I do have a French easel, it's way too heavy and cumbersome to walk around with. Then I thought of getting a half-box French easel but although they are smaller it would still be heavy. So I set my sights on a pochade box.

Late one night when I should have been sleeping, I found my pochade box on eBay. This was a real find- it's handmade by a man in CA whose wife is a professional painter. (Her work is amazing!) He stopped making boxes a few years ago. I don't know if this was an extra from a few years ago or not, or if he'll make more, but either way I knew it was mine.

This year I still have quite a few vacation days left...I know how I'll spend a lot of them.

First Paint Set PRT

Of course she loves it. :)



Does anyone know how to get those stickers off the floor???

Cactus Monday: Bath Edition (PRT)

Happy Cactus Monday!

I am teaching Daya how to mix colors, and together we made this cactus:


Daya is proud of the cactus:


Here are some of Daya's recent drawings.
This one is very cute:


This one apparently is a picture of me! Daya is very specific on that point. :O


I think Daya is progressing extremely well with her drawings, and I am very proud of her. :)

HCM!!

Friday Night Trauma PRT

The exterminator is coming by tomorrow morning, so I thought it would be good to straighten the place up a bit. Because I have been painting every night this week and well...when I do that I don't do much of anything around the house.

Earlier this evening I cleaned the bathroom and the bathtub. So imagine my suprise when I went to empty the trash pail in the bathroom and there was a big hairball in the bathtub. Hmm...odd.

On slightly closer inspection it turned out not to be a hairball. It was a huge BUG. With LEGS. I swear, this thing came directly out of Satan's asshole.

It scared me.

I turned the lights out, closed the door, and called my friend Cathy in Connecticut (who is also scared of bugs but has lots more experience with them because she lives in the country) to tell her I was scared and get advice on what to do. She said kill it. And you know who your friends are when they stay on the phone while you kill a bug. Based on my very vague description it was either a June Bug or a water bug. I don't actually know what a June Bug is but Cathy says they are harmless.

Well, when I went in to make the bug go away I discovered it had left on its own- hopefully through the open window and far away from my apartment because I couldn't find it anywhere. I am very glad I didn't have to kill the bug. But it had better not come back.

Now, this is EXACTLY what I mean about Pigeon Risk being a nice buffer for Bad August Things. If I was in August the bug would not have gone away on its own.

Princess Charlotte

After Franz Winterhalter
14 x 18" (35.6 x 45.7 cm)
Oil on Canvas

What's Scary About the Museum?

Apparently, this guy on the second floor:



Yes, I can see why.

Daya wants to go back this weekend though, and I think that's a good idea. We'll just stay away from the second floor. She likes the animals and the dinosauurs, and of course the Discovery Room where kids can do fun things like dig up dinosaur bones and play with cool stuff. I am hoping Matt and Dru can come with us.

The Fork Lift Story

We built a small tv studio at work and all the deliveries get addressed to me. Which is genereally uneventful, except for today. We ordered some large signs for the backdrop, and this morning I got a call from the delivery man saying they arrived. He said he was a few blocks away and would bring the signs by. Oh, and they required a fork lift because they were in a 10 foot long wooden box that weighed 600 lbs.

On his way over he got hit by a taxi. He was ok, just delayed for a bit.

Finally, he arrived with the truck containing a massive wooden crate. As it turns out, our building does not have a fork lift. So today, I got to walk around the street asking people if I might borrow one. Not something one gets to ask every day. The most incredible thing about it, though, was success! The theater next door to us was kind enough to take our crate into the building with their lovely bright pink fork lift.

So, if you ever need to borrow a fork lift for a monstrous box with your name on it at work I suggest you get a theater for your next door neighbor staffed with friendly stage hands.

Cactus Monday: Museum Edition

I took Daya to the museum of natural history today. After begging all week to go, she decided halfway through the day that she was terrified- and I do mean terrified- of the entire museum.

We have had better days.

Here is a cactus we found with the zebras. Happy Cactus Monday!



Actually I am glad I encountered the cactus, because I really wanted to post something for today but artwork wasn't happening. Why not? Well, I joined in the Masters In Oil project over in the oil painting forum at Wet Canvas. As a result, I've been spending a lot of quality time with Princess Charlotte. All I want to do is paint, and I love feeling like that. This is not yet finished but I hope to have it done this week. 12 x 16 oil on canvas after Franz Winterhalter.



I wish I wasn't so tired tonight, otherwise I'd continue painting. Maybe tomorrow.