Gouache and Turtle Bay Gardens

I took an art workshop for writing and sketching which was located in the stunning Turtle Bay Gardens.  The woman who ran the workshop has a friend who lives in a garden-access house there. (!!!)

(Yes the house is amazing)

Turtle Bay Gardens is the largest private garden space in Manhattan. Think of gorgeous houses around a back courtyard, with private gardens around a central garden space. 

It has historically been home to people like Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Paul Newman, E.B. White, and Kurt Vonnegut.

(!!!)

So anyhow I got to paint there.

(!!!)

The workshop was about incorporating writing into sketching, which is up my alley as I still can easily veer back into an almost-unhealthy obsession with the Speedball Textbook.
It was a very good workshop and the main thing I got from it, aside from the astounding location, is yet another example of combining stuff that has been sitting around in my studio mostly-unused for years.

Black gesso and white gel pens.

Oh. My. Gosh.
My sketching life is forever altered.
I never thought of doing this because I assumed the gesso would be too rough but it isn't, it is a perfect gel pen surface!
Regular acrylic paint would be too slick.
It feels sooooo nice to write with the gel pen on the black gesso.

We had pre-work on which we added writing in the workshop, and we also did a full sketch in the garden and added writing from pre-selected quotes.

Here is my garden sketch, I only had about 20 mins to do it.
Gouache..

And here is my pre-work with the writing added:

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Here are some garden pictures.
(Lisa you would love it.)

Blind Painters

Well I learned something new today.

Did you know that Degas had worse vision problems than I have for most of his life?
He had some kind of retina disorder, probably hereditary.  It started when he was 36 and progressed through the rest of his long life.  He lost central vision in his early 40s and couldn't paint outdoors dur to extreme light sensitivity.

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By age 39, Degas had bitterly accepted his visual difficulties. He believed blindness was imminent, a particularily daunting prospect for a painter. He wrote, "My eyes are fairly well but all the same I shall remain in the ranks of the infirm until I pass into the ranks of the blind. It is really bitter, is it not? Sometimes I feel a shiver of horror." – letter to James Tissot, 1873, Paris. Degas was able to continue painting, but was forced to limit the time he spent at work. "My eyes are very bad. The oculist… has allowed me to work just a little until I send in my pictures. I do so with much difficulty and the greatest sadness." – letter to Tissot, 1874, Paris.

By his forties, Degas developed a loss of central vision. Painting became even more difficult, as he was forced to paint around this scotoma. Later on, Degas had problems identifying colors and asked his models to identify the colors of his media. His vision became progressively worse, and by 1891, at age 57, he could no longer read. "I see even worse this winter, I do not even read the newspapers a little; it is Zoé, my maid, who reads to me during lunch. Whereas you, in your rue Sadolet in your solitude, have the joy of having your eyes… Ah! Sight! Sight! Sight!… the difficulty of seeing makes me feel numb." – letter to friend, Evariste de Valernes, Paris, 6 July, 1891.

Article Link

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I knew about Monet and Georgia O'Keefe and their eye issues later in life, but Rembrandt had wonky eyes too!!

Famous Artists with Eye Issues

Now, when I tell someone about my eyes and also that I paint, and they can't quite reconcile these two things.... I'll mention my famous artist-friends, especially Degas who had it worse than me.

There is so much available now to maintain a much better quality of life and ability to function.
I am so appreciative I live in a time where so many more possibilities are available.

Gouache and Sundries

I painted another sketchbook page during dance.
My new palette is working nicely for me, and I'm getting away from all the grey.

But I miss my pastels, and I have studio work lined up..... it's just that I have this weird feeling lately of not wanting to be home.

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 CAREY is coming to visit me!!! I'm so excited!!! I'm so happy she wants to visit me!!!!
It will be a short visit which is fine, we'll do lots of arting and have fun in general.

This is also really good motivation for me to clean!

*****
High School Orientation.... what?? It is next week.  What????
I thought it would be in August like it was last year.  Nope, it is next week AND for a day in August, which conflicts with Daya's mandatory team intensive......

Speaking of dance and calendars, dance scheduling makes my head spin.  It is no joke coordinating everything.

Anyhow, my head isn't in the Fall yet, I have to get my kid out of middle school, regents exams,  prom, graduation, through the summer,  through recital, another competition, SAI performance, my eye surgery....... oh my gosh.

I'm not ready for the finer details of high school coordination.  Why does it have to be next week?  My head is just not there yet.

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SAI:  Daya got in.  Of course she got in,  It is 4 weeks of FREE everything!  They get FREE metrocards, FREE breakfast, FREE lunch, FREE field trips, FREE dance class run by ABT.

I suspect Daya will find it to be easier than Ailey was but it's ok.  She's going to meet people and have a great time.  Also, it is FREE. Three other girls from the studio are going too.  I'm glad everyone got in.

The kids had to do a solo (in private) for the SAI audition.  When Daya was dancing hers she heard one of the judges whisper "She's pretty solid all around"...and then she fell down.  PLONK. SPLAT. We both think this is pretty funny. I'm glad we can laugh about it.

We are still waiting on Manhattan Youth Ballet, and we should know by the end of this week.

The Mist

Around last Autumn sometime, I noticed a change in my vision.
I have a trace cataract in my left eye- it has been there for years and has been deemed "clinically insignificant".

But I haven't been seeing properly, and the vision is different in my left and right eyes.
Basically, I'm looking through a fog.

I'm ok in bright light but diffused or low light situations are a real challenge.
In restaurants I can't see the face of the person sitting right across from me.

So I went to the eye doctor and my cataract has rapidly grown over the last several months. This can happen. Cataracts can be unchanging for years, then suddenly get bad very quickly.

My eye doctor said I have two options:  do surgery now or do surgery later, like in a year.

I'm just going to get it over with.  This fog is hard to live with and no matter what, I'll have to go through the same ordeal.

Youth is on my side!! I'm super-young to have this surgery.
My new lens will be a corrective lens inside my eye and I won't need a contact lens.

The crappy and difficult part is that I cannot wear my contact lenses for a month before surgery.
Because I wear hard lenses, the shape of my eye is changed from its natural state.  So my eyes have to go back to "normal", which they have not been since I was 13 years old after my retina surgery.
(I have been in hard contacts since I was 11.)
Dr Young said 'You're really going to hate this; it will drive you crazy." He's right.
I don't see very well out of my glasses.

Surgery is scheduled for Aug 5th.
One month of glasses.
One month.
Short-term.

I can do this.

Gouache and Confiscation

I met a couple of friends from Urban Sketchers for an unofficial outing to the Met.
The Met is magical in the evening, even more than in the daytime.

My friend had her teeny tiny watercolor set confiscated by security at the entrance.

Security also looked in my bag and I entered the museum with no fewer than THREE small watercolor sets.

Isn't that stupid?

We painted in the sculpture court.

We wandered through to the American wing and found Julliard musicians playing lovely music on historical string instruments.

I like this stained glass window.  It is much better in person and doesn't photograph well.

Laguardia Open House

Tonight we went to the open house for accepted students.  Daya is so excited.
I'm glad she will be there, and I'm glad she is in a small department. (Dance is the second smallest after theater tech.)

Since the dance students don't perform at all until Junior/Senior year, they aren't in competition with each other.  I like that.

I heard from staff and other students that the dance kids tend to stick together, and I like that, too.  LaG is a big school, and I'm glad Daya will have a small home inside such a large place.

She will have academic classes with kids from the other studios, which is also good.  But the dance kids are together in class for all 4 years- 3 hours a day 5 days a week- and they are expected to be a family.  I hope it is really like that.  The dance students do seem to be pretty happy.  The demo class they gave was lovely.

As usual I spent too much time wandering around in the art rooms and art gallery.  Daya gets cross with me for being too interested in the art department.  But I can't help it.  There are paintings ALL OVER the school, which I think is just wonderful.  There is some wonderful work, too. And I love that they have the art kids doing full-out oil painting.

I am so very, very proud of Daya!!

Gouache and More Color

Daya was in her room and it was very very quiet... I went in to check and found her fast asleep, guarded by Pebbles.

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An artist friend posted some lovely gouache sketches.  I asked her about her palette, which she shared.  I got one.  It's an empty palette and I filled it myself from tubes.  Isn't it adorable?

During dance I used this new palette for the first time, and I like it a lot!

Since now I have done enough gouaches to look at them as a group, I have been evaluating and critiquing them as a whole.  What I have come to is they are too grey.  I need more color.  So that was my goal last night.

This is so odd because I'm a pastel-person and also a color junkie... but my gouache sketches are so grey!  I don't have this issue in any other medium. 

Anyhow, here is the studio again, with turquoise.

Mirrors

So, I had something happen to me that does happen to artists now and then.
I've listened to some similar stories through the years so I know this is a thing that happens, and it's just life sometimes.

Sometimes we do a portrait of someone and they hate it. This has just happened to me.
And this can be jarring because it was done in a space of wonderful experience.  And also because I see so much beauty in this person, but she cannot see it in herself.  She struggles with extreme negativity in general. And yet I think she is absolutely amazing.

So actually the painting really is fine, but she is seeing herself in it ..... the way she sees herself. I guess on one hand that makes the painting very successful.   On the other hand it feels like artistic failure.

I always want my paintings to bring joy, and I would be wrong to say my friend's reaction doesn't sting a little bit. But only a little, because I understand it, and it will pass.  I don't take it personally, and I know it isn't the painting itself, either.  I know it is 100% about how my friend sees herself, even though I see her very differently.  It could have been any painting. It isn't about me.

Because this is someone I have known for a long time and I care about, I'm not going to post the sketch here and it is no longer on Facebook.  Because I want her to feel comfortable.  I'm sorry she didn't like it, I'm sorry it didn't bring joy, I'm sorry she can't see the beauty others see in her.

Sometimes it's good to find similar stories to relate to.  Here's the one about the hated Winston Churchill portrait.  But honestly, that one really is a terrible portrait!

Gouache and Lincoln Center

I met up with the NYC Urban Sketchers on Saturday to paint Lincoln Center.

This is the Ugly Sculpture in front of Julliard.
It is so.... UGLY!

Daisies

Last night the painting group at work met.  They are instructed sessions with a demo in the beginning, then people work on their own stuff.  There are some very good artists in the room.  As always I LOVE seeing what everyone is working on.

The class is open to everyone here, but was specifically geared as stress reduction for journalists.
It's a wonderful concept.  even though I do my own thing, I love listening to the teacher and I still always learn something, even if it is a new way of saying something, or saying something in a way I never thought of before.

Like clouds have sides.  Which is true, they absolutely do, but I have never thought of them like that.  Perspective, mass, edges, and form yes- but sides...!  Now that will be in my head every time I paint clouds, and they will be better because of it.

People work from photos, but I don't want to do that.  So last night I got some beautiful coral pink daisies and I painted them.

PITA was a pain in the ass and she lost the wood bit that holds the drawer in when she is closed.
I don't know how anyone takes these French easels outside.

I think the painting is 9x12.  Oil of course.
It's a 2 hour study, and I don't care about it beyond that.

I have a large empty drawer at my desk and I left the painting in there to dry.

My desk has a very subtle fragrance of oil paint now..... likely one of those things that I can detect but no one else can (I hope...)... in any case it will be gone by Monday.  It is very faint so I'm not worried about it.  And I'm running my air purifier. (The scent is not toxic, it is just the oil in the paint.)

The Abundance Master

So here's a story....

Last night I walked downtown to yoga after work.  I walked down 7th Ave from Times Square down to the West Village.  It is a nice walk and I do it often when the weather is nice.

Somewhere in the 20s, I stopped at a red light and a man stopped next to me.  An older Black man.  Looked totally normal.  He was talking.  Very conversationally in a pleasant way.  At first I thought he was on the phone with someone but he wasn't.

Anyhow, he grandly gestured across the street to the opposite corner.  He said,

"A house! It takes up the whole block! There is a courtyard inside!"  

He kept talking about the house as if it was there.  He looked at me as if he was talking to me- not specifically, but just because I was there and looking at him, so I was included in his sharing of luxurious visions.

For the record, I'm pretty down with a house that takes up the whole block with a nice courtyard inside.  I liked this conversation very much.  I liked this man.  I did not think he was crazy or creepy.
I thought he was pretty wonderful.

The light changed and we crossed the street.

He kept talking.  Pleasant, happy, excited conversation.  Every single thing he saw he converted to outrageous luxury.  It didn't matter what it was. He had a wonderful smile.  He was so happy, basking in the absolute unquestionable luxury of everything around him.

"The Freedom Tower!  Sitting at the top, watching the yachts!"

That sounded pretty good to me, too.

Unfortunately I couldn't hear a lot of the other stuff he said due to street noise.
But I was thinking, this guy is a genius. He's really "there".  A master of abundance.  He refused to see anything else.  He couldn't see anything else.  And there is something so powerful in that perception.  He has a powerful and important lesson to teach.

But his best interpretation came right before we parted ways, as we passed a construction site:

"A porta-potty!  On ice!  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CARRIBEAN!"

It just goes to show that anything can be looked at in any light.
This guy saw lavish luxury in a porta-potty, which is so amazing and extraordinary I am blown away.

Gouache and Topiary Cats

After parent-teacher conferences we went right to dance, and I painted as I always do on Tuesday nights in the studio.

But I needed a break from reality, I didn't feel like painting the studio, and my mind needed to relax.

So I went to Topiary Cat Land.  Painting from imagination is really, really important and I haven't been doing much of it lately.  Painting from life is vitally important, but then there comes a time to do your own thing.  It is always a back-and-forth.

Working from imagination frees my mind and feels good.

I was hidden away at the table behind the Split Wall, and after class Ms Shauna came over just to see what I was painting, because it is usually the studio.  It took her a minute to figure out my painting.

Dental Insurance and the Great Depression

We have made it through the very last parent-teacher conference for middle school.
As always, everyone loves Daya and she is amazing.

(*I* am the drama teacher's favorite though.)

Daya's social studies teacher told me how Daya explained the Great Depression using an analogy of........ dental insurance.

She explained the Great Depression using dental insurance.  And it totally worked.
(If you are as perplexed as I was, and the teacher.... she explained that preventative stuff is easier to take care of and cover, but when those measures aren't taken things get bad.)

It is a thousand per cent my fault that Daya was talking about dental insurance, because I had to pay a small deductible for her recent cleaning that I didn't realize I had to pay etc etc... and I was telling her how it was fine because I'd rather pay for preventative work than something going wrong.

I also pointed out that not doing preventative dental work can also lead to a Great Depression financially, physically, and mentally!

Appreciating PITA

I'm very open about my stance on French easels.
I basically hate them.

Even though I have 2- my full size Julian from college, and a half-box Julian someone gave me several years ago.

This half-box has been sitting in the darkest dustiest corner of my studio for about 6 years.

But now I'm in the painting group at work, and one of the journalists has an art empire at her desk including her half-box... so that inspired me to bring mine to work.

Her name is PITA and I am now appreciating her and realizing her positive purpose.

When I set her up last night to make sure she was still ok and her twisty bits were still twisty (they are), she bit me.  And she had a problem with her back leg but I fixed it.

This is the second time this year that I have found new purpose for something that has been sitting in my studio unused forever.  This is why I like having All The Supplies because - though it might take years- they sit in the background until they are needed, and their presence somehow makes a path possible.  I don't know how else to say it, but I find this to be very true with my art stuff in particular.

So, even though she bit me, I am really appreciating PITA.

We are friends, but her name is still PITA**.

***All French easels are a pain in the ass.

Laguardia High School Plein Air

Today I went over to Laguardia to do a plein air present for Daya.

I did not know we would be getting 40mph winds.... it started as I started but I was already set up so....

The wind was absolutely brutal and was smacking me from behind the whole time. An illegally parked car right at the bus stop (RED CAR, VA PLATES) messed up my location pictures because of crazy laser-glare coming off the windshield going straight into my camera.. (who the heck parks right IN the bus stop...) I chose my spot deliberately for the view and also because of the bus stop... no one could park in front of me but......

Several people came over to me to inquire about the wind and also complain about it. My gear holds up just fine in the wind but I had to brace myself or wait for gusts to pass while painting.

I met an almost 90-year old musician who remembers when the school first opened in the 1940s, a golden retriever, and lots of other cool people.

As I was doing the lettering on the school-- seriously this actually happened when I was right in the middle of it-- a man came up to me and wanted to tell me how much he loved doing calligraphy!

What lovely synchronicity.

8x10 oil, three hours.

I angled the camera so the car was hidden behind the painting but the light was still bouncing into the lens.