Sargent & Yumiko

There is an incredible show of Sargent charcoal portraits up at the Morgan library, and i finally got a chance to go.
It was, of course, astounding.
I spent a long time at the exhibit, seeing them up close was amazing.
The personalities of his subjects is really intense, far more so in person than any photograph.

I photographed the whole show and did not buy the book.











  
















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While I went to the Sargent show, Daya was at home competing in the Ultimate Couch Surfing Championships.

There is almost nothing that could interrupt that.
However, when I was walking up Madison Ave I passed a dancewear shop called On Stage...leotard heaven for dancers.... I called Daya, and she immediately got up off the couch, got dressed, got on the train, and met me there.

Daya is obsessed with leotards.  It is truly bizarre.

The timing was good, she arrived right when I was done at the Sargent show.
Daya got one new leotard at an excellent price.

There is a brand of leotards called Yumiko that is very big in the designer dance world.
Daya wants some for her birthday and is obsessed with them.  She has been looking at them online.

Then she mentioned they have a flagship store here in NYC, so we went.
She tried on leotards and basked in Yumiko vibes.  It is very nice in there.  Excellent design, very Japanese.

We did not buy anything.

********

AND THEN..... Daya made us dinner!

On her own!

Salmon tacos with avocado, cheese,  tomatoes, and fresh spinach.

It was perfect.

                            

Pebbles Says Hi

Putting Brakes on Teenagers

I was at school until almost 8:30pm for PA meetings.

The dance department has a skeleton very like my skeleton-friend in figure drawing!

So we talked about summer intensives.
I got a Very Large List of programs in and around NYC.
Two of the programs are automatically open to AND ARE FREE for Laguardia students.

I want Daya to go to one of them, it is a week in August.

Ms Mathesius had some great info about intensives, scholarships, thank you etiquette, and something else I was extremely happy to hear: limit the kids to three dance classes a day. (And they get 2 at school, totaling three hours. And Wednesdays another hour in pointe.)  She also said that, oddly, the Freshman academic load is the hardest.

Daya and I spoke many times last year and over the summer and more this year about dance outside of school.  The plan was if she went anywhere other than Laguardia, I would put her in Ailey's year round program. If she went to Laguardia I would not support her in attending ANY full year-round program.  The studio had a very good setup for her but....................

Last week Daya brought up wanting to go to Ailey's year round program next year.  I said NO.
It's too much.  She has asked several times to go to the year round program at Steps.  I said NO.
When registering for the ABT summer audition she asked if she could check the box to be considered for their year-round program.  I said NO.

She got really mad in the way teenage girls do.

It is true that a few of the kids at Laguardia go to year-round programs after school but especially for Freshman it is not recommended or endorsed by the dance department.  Ms. Mathesius said after three classes there are diminishing returns.  It isn't the more you do the better you get- it's too hard on their bodies, they are exhausted and more prone to injury. (I said those things too but Daya won't hear it from me because I'm not a dancer and therefore know nothing.)

She said if your child is fighting you on this (mine does and several people in the room laughed in that knowing way) send Ms Mathesius an email and she will set the child straight.  I will totally do this next time it comes up.  Ms. Mathesius is a force of nature; a person would have to be very brave or very stupid to pick a fight with her.

I had a whole talk about this with Daya a few times, I told her someone has to put her brakes on and I'll do it when she can't do it for herself.  She was in agreement.  Now she is not, all based on the argument that other kids are doing it.  She thinks more is better.  It is not after a certain point.

Yeah, guess what they are exhausted, falling asleep in class..... her perception of reality is different from actual reality.  She would dance herself into the ground if I didn't step in to set limits.

Eye Stuffs

Today I had an eye dr appointment for multifocal contacts.
Vision test is good, I'm where I was before the cataract started interfering with my vision.

But I'm having so much trouble!!
I just can't adjust to no close-up vision!

My doctor gave me some soft lenses... I know nothing about them, but I learned how to put them in and take them out..... I think they are much more difficult than hard lenses.

Soft contacts are like little bits of jellyfish!!

So he gave me soft daily multifocals, 2.50 magnification, he said there's nothing stronger, (I want stronger) and they help a little but everything is still so blurry close up!

I still need reading glasses for work..... ugh!!

Really what I want is to go back to June when I could do mostly everything without reading glasses, although to be fair I could see much better with the readers.  It isn't that I didn't necessarily need them, but I could function without them.

I need to see a different doctor for RGP lenses, and I might be able to do better in them than a soft lens.

That's fine with me, I'm an RGP girl anyhow.
I HOPE they come in a little stronger magnification......
The soft ones help a little but I have to read through a blur.  I can kind-of manage it but it is not pleasant!!

I'm tired of eye stuff.

First Arabesque

Well, it's that time of year already- summer intensive audition calendars are coming out.
Some of them require pictures.
I told Daya she has to take care of that on her own.

This is her first arabesque picture, she is very proud of it.

Friday with Sid & Pinot Noir

Sid came to visit me!
We went painting in Central Park because that's what we do.

I brought some lovely pinot noir in mason jars, this is Beth's fault.
Weather was chilly but beautiful.  Foliage this year is good.


Belvedere Castle

Sid & vino

Me & vino

Our paintings

My painting:
8x10 oil

Halloween

We didn't really have plans for halloween.
Then last-minute Daya and a friend at school needed a large number of scrunchies to both dress up as VSCO girls. (look it up if you don't know)

(I asked Daya if she had any VSCO Girl pics of herself and she said no, which I thought was highly ironic, but she didn't seem to get it.....)

THEN in geometry Daya found 2 kids from instrumental and they ended up going trick-or-treating!
I said bring me kitkats, since I do require the standard parental cut.

Daya cleaned up.

I was really happy she had a good time with new friends, such a change from last year!

Life, the Universe and Everything

Everyone knows the answer to the meaning of life is 42.

Some say Douglas Adams came to this conclusion by a precise mathematical means.

He has also been quoted as saying, “The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base 13, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat on my desk, stared in to the garden and thought 42 will do. I typed it out. End of story.”

The latter is more my speed.

“All right,” said the computer, and settled into silence again. The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable.
“You’re really not going to like it,” observed Deep Thought.
“Tell us!”
“All right,” said Deep Thought. “The Answer to the Great Question…”
“Yes..!”
“Of Life, the Universe and Everything…” said Deep Thought.
“Yes…!”
“Is…” said Deep Thought, and paused.
“Yes…!”
“Is…”
“Yes…!!!…?”
“Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

42, here we go.

I want a towel for my birthday.

Yellow Leaves

In the morning I went over to Laguardia to volunteer with hospitality during auditions, then I went to the park to paint. It's nice that they are so close.

The weather was perfect and I found an ok spot behind the carousel.  It's not my best.  And it needs more red, I should have invented more red.

I finished at exactly the right time, as in the last 5 minutes or so a guy came and sat right next to me.
He was too close and I didn't like that.  I don't mind people stopping by, it's nice actually,  but I don't like people settling down with an intention to watch.  I don't want an audience like that.  It's unsettling and feels intrusive.  When someone is watching you like that, you can feel it.  I'm not there to do a demo.

If I had longer to go in the painting I would have re-positioned my tripod.

Central Park is absolutely terrible with pot fumes, really really bad, it wasn't so bad even 2 years ago.  My spot was pretty good when I started but then people started coming around to sit and smoke.  Gross.  And it is illegal to smoke at all in the park.... cigarettes were banned years ago. 

And I don't see or smell cigarettes in the park.  Now it reeks of pot instead- if cigarettes aren't allowed they should enforce that with pot too.  I'm baffled as to how they enforce not smoking something legal and not enforcing smoking something illegal.

But a lot of nice people came by to say hello, too.

8x10 oil

Two Reasons Why Drawings Fail

I like going to the instructed drawing sessions on Friday evenings.

Because I am a geek I take notes in my sketchbook.
Then write them here for an extra layer of art-nerdiness.

First Simon had us do a 10 minute drawing of the model- but skeleton ONLY, from memory.
Ok, so I haven't done a skeleton study since college and, well, that was a.... fun..... way to realize just how much I forgot!

This was a really good exercise though.  Simon said do this from memory, then compare it to an anatomy diagram just to see what you don't know, then you know what you have to (re-) learn.

I think I need to re-learn the whole skeleton....
The book he recommends is Artistic Anatomy which I want to buy and will not because 1) I have several anatomy books already with diagrams and 2) let's be real I would have great intentions and never open it.

******
The rest of the session was a single pose in 2 stages.  It was was excellent but exhausting.

Let's see if I can explain it, because it's a little bit...hard to explain. If you know about making your mind flip into seeing everything as only abstract shapes you'll understand this a lot better.  The beginners in the class had trouble understanding what Simon was talking about, even though he did a demo.  And it is kind of a mind-twist but it is one all visual artists should know how to do.

(Drawing is incredibly mental. It is all about training your mind how to think and see.)

First stage was what Simon calls "inside drawing".  Basically, no linear outlines. You can start anywhere on the model inside the form and just meander around looking at the shapes.  Accuracy NOT important. He really stressed that.  Not something to show, just wander around.

It reminds me of the way Daniel Gerhartz paints... which is extraordinary.  DG doesn't really draw, he just paints the abstract shapes he sees and it all comes together.  Color is his interpretation (and he is a genius) but as long as he gets the shape and value of the abstract shapes correct it all works.  It is a very unusual approach to painting, if you ever get the chance to see him paint definitely do it, it is... extraordinary.

Anyhow this type of drawing is quite exhausting as it requires sustained intense focus. (You will really look forward to those model breaks!) But it is excellent for your abstract artist brain and visual memory.

So we did that until the final 20 minute pose, then Simon did a 180 on us and said now we had to bring our drawing to a finish with the mindset that it will be on display for everyone to see! Think of it as something to show! Well crap!! Wonky proportions oh my gosh!

*******
So here's something important:

Two reasons why drawings fail:
1. Lack of planning
2. Lack of finish

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Well, my drawing was suffering terribly from lack of planning!! Oh well what could I do, we were exploring forms not planning.  Finish though, was something I could do.

This is an important point because it can differentiate a drawing into another level, and is unconsciously how people will evaluate it (and you).  Clean it up. No scraggly lines, clean any mess, make it neat.  This makes a huge difference. 

Also side note that the figure should always be placed in a setting, it doesn't have to be fully developed but it needs some context.  This is something I already do automatically as it was heavily stressed at Pratt.

We did get to see everyone's drawings at the end.  This is the best part of any class!! There was some truly astounding work in the room.  I ALWAYS learn just as much from seeing everyone else's work as I do from drawing.

School of Neverending Stairs

Last night was open house for prospective students. I was there to greet people, answer questions, and give directions.

Daya was upstairs doing, I presume, the same thing.

I said to myself, I'm not going up to 8. I'll stay in the lobby.
BUT I had some fundraising signs I needed to leave at school, and Daya's locker is a good place for that.

So towards the end of the evening, I did the mountain climb.
But... the elevator....? you might ask.

Oh, there are 2. One small and one freight.
As far as I was aware the freight one was not being used and the small one had a line the size of the NYC population.  The kids are not allowed to use the elevators unless they have a medical reason.

There ARE escalators but usually they don't work.
I think four of them worked.

I got all the way to the top, thought I was DONE, only to find the escalators don't actually go to 8, they only go to 7.  So, more stairs.

The entire school is all stairs.
They never end.

Dead Shoes

I'm organizing a joint fundraiser at school between art and dance which involves dead pointe shoes.
If the other kids are even a little like Daya they have a big pile of old dead shoes hanging around.

When Daya gets a NEW pair of shoes I am not allowed to touch them, oh she would kill me if I put them on (as if I want to).  But a dead one?  She forced me. Her shoes are all mostly too big for me as her feet are a lot larger so the one she found that fit is probably 2 years old.  Yuck.

I don't know why anyone wears these things voluntarily, they are so uncomfortable.

Daya strongly disagrees.