Henri in CT

I spent the weekend with Cathy in CT, right in the hurricane tropical storm that..... wasn't.

But I didn't bring paint with me because of it.

There was a rat rescue event and I got to see DRU AND BRANWEN! YAY! I was so happy to see them, it's been too long.

Cathy has more foster kittens.

Dizzy

The not-so-stormy-storm.

Cathy wanted me to paint a cat on her wall so I did.

Marble

August Strikes

 You know that minor toe injury Daya has?

It's not so minor.
It's a..... ok, here's what the PT guy said:

She has a grade 2 strain of the flexor hallucis longus (fhl) which is a tendon that connects the muscle that flexes the big toe to the bone. She also has a bone bruise on the big toe as well.
I explained that the tendon should not be stressed for 2 weeks and will take 4-6 weeks to fully heal.
I gave her a few exercises to strengthen it as well as taping to help her walk without compensating.
I would recommend she return in 2 weeks so we can work in her mobility reassess her tendon and progress her exercises.

********

So Daya can't dance.
She's supposed to be back full-force in what is a really important intensive and she can't dance.

She has another intensive that I already paid for in 2 weeks, she can't do that one either and I still haven't heard back if I can get a refund.

I am...... really upset.
That doesn't even describe how I feel.

Kind of gutted, actually.

The timing could not be worse.

If this injury happened in a month, or, really any other time it wouldn't be such a big deal.

She still goes in to Move NYC every day.  But she's out of the show and this just really, really sucks.

Wednesday Drawing is Back!

Wednesday drawing is back! I'm so happy!
Not having it really knocked me off my routine.

We are listening to Frankenstein.

1 mins

7 mins

20 mins

Here is the 1 hour pose, I was so tired by this point.

Times Square Plein Air

Times Square, 8x10 oil

About 4 hours, 100% on-location.

I am super happy with this painting, I consider it to be a personal best due to the level of difficulty and the environment.

Here is the second painting I did after, 6x8 oil, about an hour and a half:
David Paints Times Square

***********
There is a reason I have never painted in Times Square.
First and foremost, because it's Times Square.
It is INSANE.

Also having worked in the office there for 14 years (15 if you count covid??) made it a place to get away from, not seek out!

I took a day off work and went painting with David Nakabayashi, who I have mentioned before.
He said, "Let's go to Times Square!"
I said "....ok!"

When out painting, bathrooms are a thing... as in not having them.
People often ask.... what do you do?

My answer is that I dehydrate,
I'm a very hydrated person in general, but when I'm out and I know there will not be facilities, I plan ahead.

So I woke up at 4:30am so I could caffeinate properly with my morning tea, which I require in order to be a functional human.

David and I met at 7am.
We were both on time!

The plan was to paint from the top of the TKTS steps.... but they were closed due to bullet damage from a gunfight last night!! Apparently there is structural damage and the steps can't take the weight of people up there until it is fixed.

So we painted in the area in front of the steps instead.
It was INSANE.
Not too bad early in the morning but as the morning progressed, the insanity came out.

David said 'Whose idea was this?"
I said "Yours.  I hope it is ok if I hate you a little bit."

We both took pictures.

Natalia who runs the official Times Square NYC Instagram saw us painting from her office and came over to interview us! She posted a video on their instagram and featured us!

My instagram has been blowing up a bit....

The Ceiling, Fixed

 As of today, the plywood covering the scary hole in my bathroom ceiling is getting repaired!

This will be painted!
The super left for a few mins, I think he's letting the plaster dry.

My poor bathroom!

Lincoln Center

I have been wanting to paint Lincoln Center for a long time.

I was floundering around at home having no plan and absolutely no idea what to do with myself, and I was going crazy.

I haven't been out painting for... two weeks!!.... so I made myself go.

When I was setting up two security guards started walking over.

I knew they were coming for me.
I never worry about setting up anywhere because it's never a problem.

So the guards came over.  One said "you can't have that tripod here."
His companion said "She's painting!"

I thanked him for knowing that, and he said my apron told a story.

So if you are a photographer you cannot use a tripod but if you are a painter it is ok.

They kept coming back to see the progress and I put one of them in.

The guy on the fountain also came over and I told him he's in the painting.  

He was so excited about it and we exchanged instagrams.

8x10 oil

I need to work on my wide-angle view.
My composition is good with shapes etc but i'm still zoomed in farther than I meant to.

Friday #2

So, this morning was at CityMD for Daya, and this afternoon was me sitting around at the eye dr for way longer than usual.

I got dilated.

I have been having a lot of pain in my left eye more often than I like, and all of it has been post-surgery.

It's bad enough that I have to take advil several times a week because my eye aches so much.

Dr said everything looks good but the reason I have pain is that my muscles are trying to focus.
But they can't because my implant is fixed-focus. But the muscles keep trying and as a result are straining.

This is even with my multi-focus contact lens, which I greatly prefer for any computer work.

So he prescribed a drop that I can take as needed- it might or might not work.
It is an eye muscle relaxer and ..... will also dilate my pupils and make me light sensitive.
It will also make me look funny so I will never use it if I need to go out.

Also- I learned that eye color and muscle mass in eyes is a thing- people with darker eyes are harder to dilate than people with light- colored eyes. My dr said sometimes he has to do 2 rounds of dilation drops in his Black patients.

************

After the eye dr I went down to the boathouse for a maybe-kayak trip.

We did not go on a trip but I did get officially certified in self-rescue, in case my kayak tips over.

I can get back in.

And I have now officially sawm in the Hudson River.

Now that I have officially taken that plunge (the river is kinda gross still) I'll probably be jumping in a lot because it really feels nice in this intense heat.

I'm now a next-level New Yorker!

Swimming in the Hudson!

I never get tired of the view.

Minor Injury

We can add "toe" to the xray list.

Tape, ice, elevate, she should be ok by Monday.

I'm here!

I'm passing a slumpy uneventful (so far) August.

It's hot, I am lazy and unmotivated, I'm not painting, work is very busy.

Daya started her intensive with Move NYC today and I think she's in for quite the journey with them.

Oh, and Pebbles goes to the vet tomorrow.

Visitor

I had a visitor today:

This cat is GORGEOUS- long hair tail, blue eyes, just stunning.

And it should NOT be on the fire escape.

I didn't know at first where it came from. So I gave it a treat.

The cat ate the treat, hissed at me, then tried to come into my apartment.

Then I saw it ran into the window next door.

My neighbors left their screen open and weren't home.

Great way to lose your cat!

I called the super and with his knowledge I closed their screen.
He is going to talk to them about not letting their gorgeous cat out.

August OMG

 New month, its August...

Carey said she thinks July was actually August this year so we'll be ok.

I hope she is right.

Not only have I been (and still am) insanely busy at work, I'm also in a summer slump.
There is no Wednesday drawing right now either, and I really miss it.

******
Daya starts the first of 5 weeks straight of dance, 6 days a week tomorrow.
Manhattan youth Ballet for 1 week, 3 weeks of Move NYC, then another week of MYB.

I am very glad about this and honestly I feel like it s the end of this long stretch of her covid lockdown.

I know she's been out dancing but this feels different-- now there is officially no more remote class and this 5 weeks brings us into September, and school is opening full-time in-person thank God.

So basically her loooooong stretches of time home are over.

I am still working from home.

*****
I do feel very fog-headed and overwhelmed.
I didn't even paint this weekend!
Saturday was just a day at home and today was shopping and food prep for this upcoming week.

I hope this month goes by smoothly without incident.

Friday

Today is Friday, and here is Pebbles in the sink:

There was a kayak trip at the boathouse, but I ended up staying in the bay area because the wind was insane.

Everyone else came back early and the group didn't get very far.

View of NJ from Pier 26:

Avoiding a Ceiling Collapse

Last night there was brown stuff on my wall and on my top roll of extra toilet paper.
Although very weird, I thought a cat puked or something. I couldn't figure it out.

I cleaned it up.

Then today.... it was back...... no smell, not a cat, but a water leak from upstairs.
From the upstairs toilet, to be exact, but not the dirty water.

But still.

My ceiling was squishy.

You do not EVER want a squishy ceiling.

The super came immediately and made this scary gross wet hole in my ceiling.

He said it's good I called so fast, a few more days and my ceiling would have collapsed.

He patched it up temporarily with plywood. 
We have to wait for it to dry to make sure the issue is fixed, and then he'll re-build the ceiling.

SO GROSS.

Uuuuhmmmmm.....

I have been BURIED  and I do mean BURIED at work.

I often edit podcasts..... and this particular one I thought would be fast and straightforward but...... no......

one of our speakers said uuuuhhhmmmmmm about every 4th word.

The below image is about 2 minutes of audio.

Every line is where I cut out the uuuhhhmmmmms....

And there were 4 sections just like this.

It was brutal, tedious, and took forever.

If you are ever recording spoken audio, PLEASE be mindful of your uuhhhhmms and tongue clicks, because some poor soul has to take every single one of them out.

Conservatory Water

Here is a painting done at Conservatory Water in Central Park.

A passerby said something really nice- that my painting made the real-life scene look fake! Lots of cool people stopped by, and one extremely rude lady, which happens almost-never.

Grace came by near the end and it was good to see her again.