Saturday Part 2

I met Kedrin at The Met so we could float around and sketch.

Note: I drank the lavender wine after I got home from the Met, although it was so weak it wouldn't have mattered anyhow!)

We looked at archaic animals in Greece.

The lion Daya used to growl at when she was a toddler.

I visited my grave stele.  She holds time for me. We are old friends.

Kedrin understood exactly what I meant by that with no explanation; she also has art pieces she is friends with who do that for her, too.

I made a wish because I always do in this fountain.

I made formal introductions for Kendrin and my Memling.

This one is for Dru.

We were transported back in time through these Canaletto paintings.
The interesting thing is these were possibly considered "crowded"... and to us there are hardly any people! They sure did dress well though.

And then we went to the Islamic wing to sketch.

The lady in my drawing is Kate.  She had cool turquoise glasses and came over to say hi.
She's also a local who floats around the museum a lot.

I used my Derwent tinted charcoal pencils, and we only had time to sketch for maybe a half hour.
It's impossible to get the patterns in that time..... well, it's just impossible period.

Saturday Part 1

Daya went to New Jersey today for an overnight with a friend.
I met her at Penn Station because she had dance in the morning, and I took her dance bag.

Afterwards I went down to the Union Square Greenmarket to hunt down some duck eggs and whatever other fun things I could find.

I did find duck eggs!

I also came home with a shot of apple pie moonshine, a carrot raisin cookie for Daya, pizza popcorn (also for Daya), maple candy, a chive plant, a new spider plant that I hope the cat doesn't find, a super-strange bottle of lavender wine, and fresh mozz.

I was so excited about my fresh mozz but---- it was SOUR!
I thought something was wrong when I unwrapped it- it was too soft, like ricotta.
Although it didn't smell bad, it was so, so sour!  After a bit of a scavenger hunt on Venmo and trying to find the farmer's email, I did and he refunded me. For $10 it should be a nice bit of cheese!!

The Greenmarket at Union Square isn't a buyer beware situation- you have to be doing pretty well to be in there as a vendor. And I understand these things can happen, and I'm glad I got a refund.

I also need to go back and donate old linens for baby goats!

This lavender wine was really, really weird.
But it was also a very pretty color.

The bottle was small and the wine itself is extremely mild.

I drank the whole bottle without knowing if I like it or not.
It's the kind of thing that you think it should remind you of something but it doesn't, and you keep tasting it to decide if you like it or not but you can't decide, but it isn't strong enough to cause an aversion.

Would I drink it again? Yes.
Would I buy it again? No.

Three Days in One

Today was a weird super-long day that seems like it should have been three days but was only one day.
It started normal.  My normal work-from-home routine of waking up right before I have to log on to work, checking and replying to some emails, tea, bowl of matcha, my spin class...

I actually knew today would be a slow work day. Although I'm working on a few things, including a very intense training script, I wrapped everything up on my end and I'm waiting for others at this point.

My manager was stuck in meetings all morning and since I was caught up and it was so nice outside, and I have been feeling a little cobwebby so I decided to walk to the pool and go for a swim.  It was exactly what I needed.  

After a half hour of laps I literally felt like a brand new person.  For me, it's about being in the water.  I have a physical need to be in water, like every day.  I have been like that for as long as I can remember, definitely since high school. That's why I basically live in my bathtub.  And I need the pool, too.  I haven't gone for a swim since maybe January and that's too long.

So anyhow I went into the locker room feeling brand new and wonderful, and there was an elderly lady getting her things together in front of my locker.  I didn't mind waiting and I told her so, and we just started talking.  She's just like me, she needs the water every day. And we got to talking about how it grounds you and resets your electromagnetic field and how we women are way more in-tune.

She was a lovely lady and we were both glad to meet someone else who understood the water in the same way.

***********
Back at home/work, a few small things popped up and I took care of them.  Then my manager said log off early so I did.

Blick sent me a 20% coupon.
So I resumed my Derwent Stalking.

As it turns out, 1 of the 2 sets I was stalking is at Blick!  It isn't the main one I want which I guess is still not in the US but the tinted charcoal pans are in-stock at Blick AND I had a 20% coupon.
So of course I had to go there.

Derwent Stalking 1 of 2, Acquired:

I do not have all the Derwent paint pan sets and I don't want them all, but I love the ones I do have:

*************
But I also wanted to go sketch at The Met and try out my new setup.
You never really know about a new setup until you go out and try it.

I feel like I have fallen into an alternate universe where The Met is friendly to artists.

I'll take it.

Since apparently artists can now set up on small folding chairs to sketch, I got one.
2 actually, to compare which one works best so I need to return one of them.

I also brought my new Derwent pencil case, which I am aware is completely ridiculous but since I can also now wear a backpack in The Met (my, how things have changed!!) I don't mind carrying it around.

My setup works pretty well, even though I failed the metal detector test.
They let me and all my stuff in anyhow. (My, how things have changed!!)

I need to make one tweak which I will try again tomorrow.

Also, My Memling is back!
I am very happy to be reunited with her.

****
On Friday nights there is live orchestra music all over The Met.
It is WONDERFUL.

Death of Socrates still looks imposing...

I really want this Roman flask, I'm sure the museum won't miss it....

I saw the same guy sketching in the sculpture court this week.
I did go say hi on the way out.
He's the one who inspired me to get my new chair.

**********
This sketch took a little over an hour.
She's got a few issues but I don't care. I focused on the things I was there to focus on.
I used my Derwent drawing pencils and they are a LOT softer than when I have been using lately, so it took a little getting used to.

My physical setup took a little getting used to.

I'm going back tomorrow with Kedrin.

Will Weston Hands and Feet

I took a class, it was the past 2 Saturdays.  Another Will Weston class.
He really is that good of a teacher.

And with any Will Weston class comes.... homework.

Week 1 was hands... 30 of them.  Here are the hands I did, I think I need to practice a lot more.
The other people in the class who are submitting homework are really, really good.......it's kind of intimidating, so that's a good indication I'm in the right place.

I used graphite for the Week 1 hands.

The second week, which had a homework deadline of tonight, was 24 feet.  I did 31.  And I went digital on my iPad, which honestly I should have done with the hands, too.  I don't practice in Procreate enough and I found this to be very useful.

And again I think everyone else's homework was better than mine, so I need to practice more!
But the main reason I took this class was to force me to practice.  I forgot how many hours the hands took.  Too many. It was exhausting.

These feet took 5 hours over 2 days.
I'll get faster with more practice, it's just a matter of actually doing it.

Critique should be in Saturday morning on the feet... the hands crit was last week.

The 8 Year $20 Reward

I had to go back to the Japanese grocery because Daya ate all the seaweed.

Miso soup is just not the same without seaweed, and I always need to have it on-hand because I make fresh miso soup almost every day.

My teenager eats a LOT of seaweed so I bought the biggest bag I could find. (It's huge.)
It might even last more than a week!

Remember that card I finally filled up with store stamps that took 8 years?
I got $20 for it and I wanted that to be something good.... and I found it!

I have never, ever seen ceremonial matcha at the Japanese grocery.
They always have culinary matcha but... I have never seen ceremonial grade.

And I found some! They only had 2 of them, so I might have hidden the other one all the way in the back so no one will see it and I will buy it next month.

I whisk a bowl of matcha every morning.  It has become part of my daily routine, along with my 20 minute spin class every work day.

Culinary matcha is very bitter and grassy to drink straight.  Ceremonial matcha is heaven. It is also very expensive- and I mean I have seen it go for around $70 for a tiny container (like 1 ounce).

I have a couple of nice quality culinary matchas that I will whisk and drink, and one $25 ceremonial one that is pretty fantastic.  The one at the Japanese grocery was... $20.  So I got free ceremonial matcha.

I'm pretty happy with that as a reward for 1) keeping the same damn card for 8 years and 2) finally filling it up!

I have no idea how good this matcha is, and I'm going to wait to open it until the 2 I have going are used up. But it has really good reviews online!

On the Way to the SAT

This morning Daya took the SAT.

She had to be at school early.
She got up early.
She left early.
She should have arrived early.

But she did not... thank goodness she wasn't late, but she got there right on time.

The reason for her extensive delay was....

... a dead guy on the train.

This is how she happened to encounter the dead guy...

Daya has a whole system of taking the trains and transferring.  She is extremely specific about where she likes to be on the train.  A certain car, a certain door.  She has this down to a science. And she has a transfer at Times Square which (in her system) requires her to be at a specific seat and door to be exactly in front of the staircase.  (Non-NYC people, the subway is really not this complex, it's just how my kid rolls.)

So at our neighborhood stop, the train arrived right as she got there and she was in the "wrong" car.
Several stops later, the train held in the station and Daya decided to go to the "right" car.

And in that car, there was a dead guy.

She said he was in a ragdoll position and part of his coat was stuck on something, he was grey and very much not breathing.

She stayed for a while to see if the train would keep going.
Apparently by that time the crew realized there was a dead guy on the train, so everyone had to leave and walk to the next station to resume the commute.

My goodness, what a thing to see!

I have seen people in pretty severe degrees of being messed up on the trains, I guess it's possible some of them were dead but I didn't know it.

I think Daya is ok, she got annoyed for me for asking too much if she's ok.

Man, what an SAT story.

My SAT story is the kid behind me was loudly chewing gum and it made me batshit crazy and I couldn't concentrate.

Gum is apparently allowed during the SAT but earplugs are not.  Which is stunning because many of us are really sensitive to annoying noises, chewing being right at the top of the list and people are generally unaware of their awful gum noises.

Daya's story is worse tho, for sure.

A Derwent Thing & Stalker Update

 So......... first, an update on my Derwent Stalking.... remember how I pre-ordered those 2 sets I have been stalking?

I got 2 emails from Amazon saying the items would not be available after all and I should cancel my orders.

Foiled again! SO SAD!

I will have to keep stalking.

But... while I was Derwent Stalking, I found a Thing.... a wonderful Thing, which was on sale and of course I had to get:

My Staedtler clutch pencils have their own case. :)
Not included here are my 72 sets of Coloursoft and Inktense, but my other 24 sets fit sooo nicely in this perfect Derwent case.  I love it and plan on bringing it to the museum.

My studio is nice and clean and organized:

And some cats because they are everywhere: