Solstice Sundries

Today is the Winter Solstice.
It is my last day of work for the year, but I have wrapped everything up so it is slow.

I went to pick up my Pizza Rat friend.

He is MINE and I love him so much!

Then I did my yearly tradition of going to light candles at St Patricks.

I lit one for me and one for Daya.

It's pretty in there but the whole half back is still blocked off.

On the way home I was switching trains and an ancient J train pulled in... which is very weird because I'm nowhere near the J line... and a couple of seconds later the rest of the garbage train appeared. That made a lot more sense.

Here is the garbage train, posted for no other reason than it happened.

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Drawing tonight- model was the lovely Katie in an AMAZING dress.

Simon said do Memling do I did.

7 mins

20 mins

And the 1 hour, colored pencil, Memling-inspired.

I don't know why I am using such S L O W mediums like colored pencil in such relatively short poses- 1 hour is not enough time for colored pencil but it's what I had out to work with.

COMMISSION UPDATE AGAIN:

My manager received the painting yesterday and today we had a quick call (work, but the painting came up). He likes seeing it in person but is still lukewarm about it because it isn't a smiley happy baby... and he seems surprised that it has gotten really good response on social media.

So I guess he still doesn't like it, he's honest but nice about it.  And that's ok.
I wish he loved it but it is what it is.

Knickerbocker Suite on Sunday

FIRST:
Here is Furball looking adorable.

She got company.

Rare photo

I never look good in photos. :(

My friend Janet came to the afternoon show and she wanted a picture with one of the pigeons. :)

Ballet Flower & I Screwed Up & Clouds

BALLET FLOWER

This weekend is the weekend I am going to three of Daya's performances in The Knickerbocker Suite at Manhattan Youth Ballet.

It is a wonderful show, very VERY NYC.

Pizza Rat is in the show!!

Daya has 3 roles- she's an Aunt, part of Couple in Love at the beginning (after the rats and cockroaches, who fight over a slice of pizza in the subway), and she has another role as a Flower which is near the end of the show.

She does not dance all roles in any one show.

Some shows she is in Flowers, some shows she is in Couple in Love, same with Aunt.

I SCREWED UP

Since I wanted to see her in both Flowers and Couple in Love, I bought a ticket for today just to see her in Couple in Love.

I purchased the correct show ticket and it was on the calendar correctly, but it was in my head wrong.

I was supposed to go to the 3pm show but it was in my head as the 7pm show.

Looking at the calendar, which was correct, did not help.

Calendar reminders also did not help.

Because my head said 7pm and nothing could break through that. *****

(There is a lesson here.)

Anyhow I went to the 7pm show and they let me stay, they put me to the side in Late Seating and it actually turned out to be a REALLY good seat.  And Daya was an Aunt in the show which I wouldn't have seen otherwise.  So I just missed seeing her in Couple in Love, but I'll catch it on the video.

I'm going to 2 more shows tomorrow.

CLOUDS

Because I thought I had a whole afternoon free I decided to do a little cloud study with leftover paint from Hudson.

This is based on some really cool clouds we had here Thursday evening... I made up the water and don't really like it.

Clouds are deceptively difficult.

Commission, Update

This is the absolute final painting and yes I made yet another tweak last night and the reason it is dry today and shipping tomorrow is Liquin which is a miracle substance that has saved many an artist's life.

Hudson

9x12 oil

So...I learned some things with this one.

The client is my manager at work and this is his grandson.
We have a good relationship and have known each other for like 12 years.

He's a good guy in general.  We get along.

He's still ambivalent about the painting, so is his wife because they are just not seeing the super-frowny-pout in the reference.  Their experience of him as a smiley happy baby is all they can see, and the painting doesn't match that perception.

So, we chatted and it was a good chat.
We are both friendly and professional people.

I told him I had 4 extremely experienced artists critique it, and everyone loves it.

But also that his opinion really matters and I want him to be happy, and I'm sorry I missed the mark.

He said he understands things go through human filters and no one ever has the same perceptions.

He said it's "growing on him".  And who knows, maybe he will like it more in-person.  Paintings ALWAYS look better in-person.

And to be fair he loves everything else about the painting, he did have some really nice things to say about it.

*******

I never charged the deposit on this painting, so I told him if he doesn't want it, it's really ok and I know sometimes these things happen.  Babies in general are a huge risk aside from being really difficult to paint properly. And clients are weird about portraits. And he knows I really vetted this one.

I gave him the option to just pay what the deposit would have been, half, for time and supplies and it's ok, this does happen sometimes, and I'm not upset.  (I was, because it sucks when someone isn't happy with my work and it's only the second time it ever happened and the first wasn't a commission but just sketchbook work that simply never made it to social media. But in these cases professionalism has to take over.)

I also gave him the option if he still wanted the painting that I wouldn't charge shipping and he would pay the agreed-upon price.

He said they definitely still want the painting, so that's what happened.

And he paid me in full.

Because this is a long-term-friendly work relationship, it could be a sticky situation but I think it is a credit to our relationship that we were both able to navigate this difficulty in a friendly professional way and we are both ok.

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I LEARNED:

• I'm not painting babies again for a LONG time if ever.
• I am really going to CHECK WITH THE CLIENT BEFOREHAND ABOUT THE EXPRESSION in the reference.
• I learned how to navigate a difficult situation professionally.

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TOTALLY UNRELATED:

I got my booster shot last night and I feel achy.

Commission, Disliked

I have a commission.

It's my manager's grandson.

It is a baby.
That is always THE WORST.
I think I might not ever do it again.

I had 4 extremely experienced artists critique this painting.

I also traced for major placements, that's how scared I was of the drawing and also I just didn't have time to do a 10-hour drawing before even painting.

They gave minor tweaky feedback, which was all good advice and I made the changes.
But the overall response was very positive.

He doesn't like it.

He doesn't like the expression because the baby is not smiling and he thinks he looks unhappy.
But in the reference this kid has a serious frowny pout going on, which lets be honest is completely adorable.

REFERENCE

I changed the mouth to turn the corners up.
My lovely artist critiquers are all yelling at me to leave it alone, that it really does look fine, and at this point I will.

I actually am happy with the painting, I think I was true to the reference and the issues my client is having are not ones that come from drawing issues- they are because he wants something different than the reference.

But I just can't make a pouting baby be all smiley.
I don't think anyone can.

I don't know what else to do.

Here is the painting, it is 9x12 oil

There is silver in the background.

The mouth is off-reference.

I really, really want my clients to be happy with my work.
This is something that does happen to all of us at some point, and it really sucks.

My client is the only one who doesn't like it.

Tuesday Drawing Bombs

I can't draw when I'm upset.
But I went to drawing tonight anyhow.

Was dealing with commission stuff so didn't even bother with the first few poses.
No long pose tonight, just 20 mins. am off my game but Jo is still a fantastic model.

Scrawly sketches, 20 min poses but  I didn't spend 20 mins on them.

Weekend Holiday Advisory

I strongly advise against coming to NYC for all the holiday stuff on a weekend in the middle of December.
But that's the only time Cathy, Mark, and Patty could come so....

It's just too crowded.
Like, INSANE crowded.

We went to the Bryant Park market, then up to the tree.
It was all very pretty as it always is, but I haaaate crowds like that.

Pictures:

Bryant Park

This is the place with the best hot chocolate.

The Tree

St Patrick's.... I lit a couple of candles.

Grand Central

50 Blocks

I desperately need one of these in my life so I decided to take a nice long walk up to The Museum of the City of New York and hit the gift shop:

The museum is on 5th ave and 103rd street.
I started my walk at 53rd and 5th.

It took 52 minutes, straight up 5th ave.

The Frick said hello.

The Met said hello.

The Guggenheim said hello.

This is a building on 103rd street across from the museum of NYC.... they got an F energy rating!

The Museum of the City of NY says hi.

Unfortunately, they were out of Pizza Rats!! But they are getting more in and they said I should order online and come pick him up, so that's what I did. 

There was another girl there who went exactly for the same reason as me, and it was pretty funny to hear the shop lady ask over the phone "Do we have any more Pizza Rats?"

Anyhow, HE WILL BE MINE.

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I had planned on walking 50 more blocks downtown (it's only 2.5 miles) but it was HOT today, like 61 degrees and I was wearing my winter coat like a weather-dumbass.
I was too hot to do it so I took the bus.

Which means I couldn't title this post 100 Blocks.... oh well.

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On he bus, Janet called.

She was in Herald Square.

Oh, and today is SantaCon.

I sad "I don't want to be stuck in SantaCon!"

Janet said "It's not that bad yet."

I asked if they were drunk yet.

She said no.

So I said fine ok, and I went to Herald Square and got stuck in a bunch of very drunk Santas.

A few Macys windows...

Janet standing in the middle of traffic in the ONE safe stripe.

I have been on the fence about this until I saw it in person at Sephora and it was a yes! :)

After all that walking, I went home and then walked to the pool, swam for a half mile, then walked home.  The physical exercise feels good.

Friday Night Drawing

I went to drawing tonight because I felt like going out, and also I needed physical personal space away from this portrait commission on my easel.

Drawing was at the National Arts Club, and it was so nice to be back... I haven't been in there since before Covid stuff.

The session tonight was an instructed session, which was nice because I always find Simon's perspective very insightful.  It's also really important to get out of normal grooves and just think differently.

In general drawing is all about the mind and thinking. We focused on design and composition and really seeing very abstract forms in the overall picture.  It wasn't really about drawing the figure or anatomy.

Thumbnails first, then the 1 hour pose. Model was the lovely Lola.

Graphite on Strathmore toned tan.

Mouth-Numbing Eye Dr

I'm probably the only person in the world who has managed to come out of the eye dr with a numb mouth.

Every December I see my retina specialist who is amazing and I love her.
But I also get dilated.
And pressure checked.

If you also have to go through these things, you know that you get numbing drops, dilating drops, and dye.

My dr is extremely liberal in putting the drops in, and they dripped down my face, under my mask, and ended up in my mouth!

And that is how the left side of my tongue and lips went numb from the eye doctor.

(NOTE: the drops taste bad but they will numb anything!)
(Also, everything looks good with my eyes.)

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Also: I have a commission (got it Monday) and it is a BABY which is really difficult and it is for Christmas and it also has to ship so that's what I'll be doing for a while.)

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Also Also: Daya wants to perform without a mask. To do that, she has to get covid tested a LOT.
So she asked me if I could meet her after dance and go to the City MD at Columbus Circle, which is open til 11.

So I did and there was a line outside and it was cold and we stood out there for 40 mins then another 45 minutes inside and then the test and it took almost 2 hours.

And we have to go back and get another test Saturday morning.
And probably another one next week and next weekend again.

Wednesday Drawing with Beth

Yesterday I had Parent Teacher meetings so I couldn't go to drawing... but Beth had a live model in her class tonight, and she invited me!

It was really lovely.

The model is Tori Hey, and she is a professional ballerina here in NYC.  She's an amazing model.

20 min poses, graphite

20 mins charcoal, still warming up here....

30 second gestures with my Derwent Paint Pans

Pebbles helped hindered me.