Philly

Yesterday we had to go to Philly for Daya's Ailey audition, because we can't make the NYC date.
We woke up at 4am and caught a 7am Amtrak train for a 10am audition.

Daya was not happy with her audition, she said she messed up a lot, but I said to her "You did some things very well too, right?" and she said yes... but overall she was in a bad mood and upset.

Also she has a sprained ankle which is almost-but-not-quite-better... during the audition she had to do the jump she sprained her ankle doing... anyhow we'll see, maybe it isn't as bad as she thought it was. Results are in 2-3 weeks. She REALLY wants to go back to Ailey this summer, and it would be a good thing for her to get in again, so I'm holding a positive mind about it. I guess things will work out the way they need to.

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Carey came to meet me in Philly!!!  I was so happy to see her!!  She stayed overnight on a mini-vacation from her kids, and we went to prison.  Eastern State Penitentiary, which is a museum.  It is a grim but fascinating place.  We also took art supplies- she did a lovely watercolor and I did a rushed pastel, because right when I started Daya called me to say she was done and unhappy.  I didn't take a picture of it, but I'll post it later.

Here are pictures from the prison... it is a fascinatingly creepy place.

It is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the US, but we did not experience any ghost activity.

Prison Mates Forever!

Last-Minute

This morning I was looking at the Drawing NY sessions, which run all the time.  I have been to several, that's where I get my figure drawing fix. Also, I really need to find people so any getting out is a good thing.

If there are any extroverts out there who want to adopt a too-quiet but very friendly introvert, I'm your girl!

So anyhow this morning I was looking around and the one for tonight was on wait list.  I could go tomorrow, but I got to clicking around on calendars and found myself at Simon's (he is with Drawing NY) figure painting class (oils!) I have an account with them and have been meaning to do an Actual Class or Workshop of Some Sort. And Simon is an Excellent Painter.  So without thinking too much about it I put myself in the oils figure painting class for 4 Saturday mornings in January.

Starting tomorrow.

Morning.

Early.

Part of my brain is protesting not being properly consulted about this, but I got a fresh new 18x24 canvas after work and it is toned to be hopefully-mostly-dry for tomorrow.

It has been many years since I was in a figure-painting class (have been focused on plein air).  I want to get feedback, try new methods, and just get out of my head and habits.

If I had the financial resources, I'd absolutely be an atelier junkie.  Yay for classical oil painting!!

Raw Umber toned 18x24, ready or not for tomorrow morning.
I have to pack.
The materials list calls for solvent and Flake White!  Lovely Lead! REAL materials not scared-of-everything-marketing-safety-hype-everything-is-so-dangerous-but-let's-not-consider-your-household-cleaning-chemicals-which-are-FAR-worse-fear-paranoia materials!

Solvent and lead, I'm so in.

High Tea

Jackie said "Come over for tea!" so I said ok, and Royal Kitty waited for us to serve him.

NYE in NYC

I decided Daya and I needed to get out, so she went thrift store shopping in the East Village and got some cool things.

Then we went to the overpriced but still brilliant rice pudding place in Soho. (Rice to Riches)

Then we lit candles at St Patrick's cathedral.
The tree is right there so we saw it with the lights on tonight.

Then we went for sushi, and Daya discovered that the calendars on our phone go back through numbered years to 1583.  Beyond that, they go back indefinitely but the month of December is missing. Now you know.

Then it was time to go home and be nice and boring.
I have no idea why people go to Times Square on New Years, it seems like one of the most miserable experiences a person could do, to me.  Plus it is raining tonight.  Yuck.

And I sincerely hope in this new year that my upstairs neighbors MOVE.

New Years

So it is New Years again.

We're almost done with this stretch of holidays.
.......I can get through this......

2018 was a HARD year.

I'm hoping for a nice 2019.

As usual here are my New Years intentions:
1. Drink a lot of tea
2. Paint some pictures
3. Meditate every (or almost every) day
4. Find some good new people

Things I want to do:
Clean out stuff.
I'm not really a "stuff" person but I need to do another clean-out.

Today I'm going to take Daya into the city and we'll just hang around and do whatever.

Martina

This is Martina, a girl Daya dances with.

I took pictures at the studio picture day and I took this picture of Martina.  The lighting was perfect and she is just gorgeous.  She is in full stage makeup including fake eyelashes which was a challenge.

Even though it is my picture, I did ask her mom if I could paint her.

I painted this in about three sittings over a 24 hour period.

11x14 oil

Here are a couple of progress shots.

Untitled Topiary Cat

I started this as a non-serious painting just to see if I could get past my studio-block, so I started on..... smooth white Mi Tientes..... then I decided I wanted to finish, and I fought with the white paper the whole time. Had to do alcohol washes to get rid of that white.

Smooth paper and I are still developing a friendship, but I cannot be friends with smooth white paper. This painting would have taken less than half the time on a nice dark sandpaper. or any sandpaper. Or dark smooth paper.

i learned a lot about how I do not like to work.

And smooth white paper should stay far away from pastels.

9x12

Danielle

My painter friend Danielle sent me a message on Facebook. She and her husband moved a while back, but kept their East Village apartment.

They decided not to renew the lease, so were clearing out. and she had a lot of canvases she wasn't taking.  So she asked if I wanted them.  I said sure, and I went over to the East Village.

It was lovely to get out and see Danielle, and I helped her with a few things.
The apartment is a six-floor walkup and we went up and down several times.
Very typical East Village.

We also went to Jerrys and I got this new dagger brush.

I miss Danielle since she moved, but she plans to come back within the next year or two.

I schlepped all these home on the train......

Rockettes

I took Daya to see the Rockettes. They are so amazing.
The last time I took her she was three years old, we had amazing seats, and the onliest thing she cared about was..... popcorn.

But this year she liked them.

We went over to the tree at Rockefeller Center but it turns off after... I don't know when.  This is the first time I have seen the tree off!

Christmas

Daya got a few nice things for Christmas.  She got me a nice new mug and a lot of tea.
The cats supervised but they didn't get anything.

We watched Little Women in the evening, which was nice.
Different than what Daya is used to.