54 Minute Alley Pond Painting

My friend Sharon invited me to go with her and her husband to walk around Alley Pond, just to get out a little today.

Both her teenager and my teenager stayed home to lounge around and do nothing.  Its very funny, they both seem to have read the same "How to Act like a Teenager" handbook.

I wanted to do a quick little painting, but because I was with others I had to be considerate of the time.  They are very tolerant of my painting habit, which I appreciate, and Matthew wanted to watch.  I provided commentary to make it less boring.

I said the painting would take under an hour, and it took exactly 54 minutes.
Matthew did not get bored!

One of the swans bit a kid who tried to pet it, so that was entertaining!

6x8 oil

If I was on my own I probably would have spent an hour and a half, but honestly this was a really good exercise to be very efficient and make quick decisions.

Lower Manhattan from Pier 34

Yesterday I had planned to paint the skyline again from Pier 34 but no painting happened due to weather...

So I went today.

I have done this painting before, but I wanted to re-do it on a long skinny panorama panel instead of 8x10, and also last time I had a technical issue with my ground not being dry.

This is an 8x16 panel which is a fun size.

I had to build a panel carrier for it since it won't fit in my box.

That was a pain to carry around but it worked! 

I just had to remember not to leave it anywhere, like on the train! 

The sun was hot, I started late and I was really tired and started to lose focus before I finished.

This painting took 3 hours.

I missed my goal of getting the whole Freedom Tower up to the top in!

The boathouse and kayakers are in the painting, it was a busy day over there.

A man who had been kayaking came over and asked me to put him in the painting, and make him purple because he was wearing purple.  I did and he was very happy.

David was painting the skyline too from Pier 45!

While I was painting I was wondering how he would handle it, and I got to see!

I am trying to get better at clouds, I am making no progress with that...... oh well.

(David's clouds are excellent.)

I really should go out just to do small cloud studies.

I did not have time to go to the boathouse after and see everyone, because I HAD to go to Blick before they closed and also to The Strand to return the huge heavy book that of course I had to carry around all day.

I did not get anything else at The Strand, just a paper cut  and my refund which all went to Blick.

Kandinsky, Vibrating Creatures, and Visconti x 2

This morning I was pretty wiped out from yesterday.  Afternoon t-storms in the forecast put my painting plans on pause, so I was floundering around having no idea what to do with myself.

Then Kedrin asked if I wanted to go see Kandinsky at The Guggenheim.
Since I get in free (and her too) so I said sure, but.... Kandinsky isn't my favorite- can we still be friends?

Kedrin said there is a lot of Kandinsky she also dislikes and as it turns out we like and dislike the same Kandinskys.  This has solidified our friendship.

So we met up at The Guggenheim.  I have not been there for... probably more than 10 years.

My Kandinsky Perspective has expanded and I did see some work I really liked, especially his earlier stuff.  Kedrin also showed me paintings she was hoping would be there but were not, and those were really nice too.

I did not include a picture of a rather hideous yellow painting.  Kedrin said to me, how could this be better? and I said he should have used turquoise instead of yellow! She said EXACTLY! and we both had a very good laugh.

Kedrin enlightened me about early Kandinsky work and I enlightened her on the bathrooms in the Guggenheim, which you have to experience when you are there because they are so weird.

I make a lot of mistakes and should have gotten these markers.

We both had to go to Blick after the Guggenheim but discovered Blick would be closed by the time we could get there. We took the bus down 5th ave.

I could have gotten off the bus to go home at 59th st, Kedrin could too, but neither one of us felt like getting up. 

Our solution to this was to stay on the bus and take it all the way down to The Strand.

Madison Square Park from the bus

I haven't been in The Strand for a long time, mostly because I already have a bad book problem that is slightly out of control.

We had a good story time with this book, which is all about aliens analyzing Vibrating Creatures- cats!

It was excellent.

I had to laugh because both these signs have applied to me.
(Not today though, The Guggenheim doesn't give stickers.)

Futile Sign

I thought the shelf label here was particularly accurate.

***********

You know you have a book problem when a significant amount of books at the Strand you find interesting are already in your library. This is why I don't go to The Strand, it's sometimes better to Just Say No. Kedrin is a terrible enabler though, because she has the same problem.

I did get 2 books- one a really lovely botanical illustration book (like I really need another one but I do) and a facsimile of The Visconti Hours. There is a lovely Medieval Beasts book that is only $12 and Kedrin really thinks I need it. I do need it but was already spending more than I wanted to.

The Visconti Hours was more spendy than I wanted and also heavy because it is a big hardcover. I was hesitant about it but it did attach itself to me and..........

When I got home and put it in my library, I discovered I already have it.

Of course I already have it.

I can return a hardcover for full refund within 3 days, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Kedrin scolded me for not spending enough time with my Visconti Hours and also reminded me I can get the beast book.