I am batshit crazy but I found the tree

I went for a walk after work in The Ramble, and as it turns out this is an absolutely wonderful thing to do on long warm evenings and I will do it again.  It’s so peaceful, and the weekend crowds are gone.  Locals with their dogs go there, and it is quiet.

Yes of course I was looking for my tree.

And……..yeah I found the location, which was the second of 2 spots I was pretty sure of.

It does look completely different.

I matched it up from this photo……

2009

2023

It’s the bench, tree, path, and streetlight that match up:

So ok, spot verified and actually my memory was pretty spot-on, it’s just completely overgrown now where it wasn’t.

It is not a good painting spot.

Also FWIW trying to locate a specific tree from 14 year old photos is a terrible idea, I do not recommend it one bit.

The tree itself… it’s actually a double tree.  I either found it and it’s much bigger, or it is dead. 

Could be either one.

It might be this dead pair……

Oh well.

I guess the matter is resolved and I won’t be revisiting my first plein air.

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Birds!

There are birds!

The Ramble is apparently a great place for bird watching.

I watched some birds and they watched me, too.

I can't find my tree.

I have been on something of an insane mission to go back to my very first painting spot in Central Park and paint it again.

Except that I can't find it.

And not for lack of trying, either.

Today I went to The Ramble - the third time, actually- to locate my spot and paint it.

I have 14 year old pictures to go by.

Mature trees don't change that much in 14 years right????

I know (think??) I was in a clearing in The Ramble right up against one of those side-road fences.

I remember I was extremely scared and hiding.

Aug 18, 2009:

I'm right by the fence and there is a path, then the trees...............

I am unsure if this was the area directly behind me but I think it is, as it is the only other picture with the others, and it also is a "clearing behind me" that matches my memory.

And......crazily enough I'm almost positive I found this clearing last time I looked, but I didn't see it today, unless something changed, like a bench or maybe picnic table was removed.

Oh man I wish I documented this better.

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I walked around mostly in circles in The Ramble for 2 hours.

Yes, it occurred to me that I was doing something crazy.

Does Central Park really change that much in 14 years?

I think it is reasonable to expect that no, it does not.

Is the vegetation that different in May from August?

Anyhow I admitted defeat- at least for today, did not paint, and went home.

__PRESENT

Parade, Rained On

The Dance Parade was today.

Daya used to be in it with her old studio.

Move NYC was in it this year, or at least a few of the Move kids were.

None of my parent friends from Move were going to be there though.

Bummer.

But Sharon's daughter was in it from Daya's old studio, so I hung out with them.

The parade starts at 17th and 6th and goes to Tompkins Square Park, where there are three stages set up and the groups all do a short stage performance after dancing through Manhattan.

Daya could not do the parade part of the parade due to dance rehearsal at MYB, but she had a call time of 3pm for a 3:53 stage performance.

She told me repeatedly that I don't have to go.

Obviously I don't HAVE to.

I don't HAVE to do anything.

But maybe I WANTED to!

The unfortunate thing about the parade was the POURING RAIN.

I m unsure if that was better than the searing heat of previous years or not, but it was not pleasant.

Both are pretty terrible, actually, for a parade.

We walked several blocks with the parade, then Sharon car-jacked the car that was driving ahead of the studio (Krystal's parents from the studio), three of us got in and had a very pleasant VIP parade treatment out of the rain.

Rainy Parade from Car Window

It was so wet.

Tompkins Square Park, where I have painted a few times

At 3pm Daya arrived at the park all the way from Lincoln Center.

The rain got even worse with flood advisories.

About 15 minutes before the performance, Move NYC called it off due to safety issues on the wet stage.

So we left and went to Capezio.

Daya was in a super pissy mood, at least towards me- I have no idea why.

4 pairs of tights on special (buy three get one free) costs $62, in case you were wondering.

I liked this spiky massage ball.  I kind of want one.

My foam rollers are spiky so I probably don't need it, but I still like it.

__PRESENT

Freshman Graham Class

Freshman and Sophomores have their dance block in the morning, so I showed up at LaGuardia at 8am to paint Tadej's Freshman Graham class.

Mr Munroe was the musician which is always amazing because he sings.

Look up Andy Munroe on Spotify.

It's a magical atmosphere, perfect for paint!

My friend's daughter is a Freshman so I got to see her dance.

Ms Debbie from Manhattan Youth Ballet- Deborah Wingert- was also there to observe..

It was the right morning to be at LaGuardia!

Today I experimented with full gouache- no pastel today.

And Inktense pencil for small details, it's a real time saver.

Except that.... I'm getting faster.  I'm not trying to, it just happened.

I finished in the same time as yesterday- 10 minutes to spare, that's a long time!

(Yes I look at the time on my phone throughout, I need to know my halfway point.)

The difference MIGHT be that I snapped a quick photo pf the pose, so I didn't have to do live figure sketching. And at this point I know the rooms really well.  Because of that I focused on overlapping figures.  Arranging the figures takes some thinking. I could have added kids standing around in the back but... no time for that.

5x7 gouache

Tadej was wearing a shirt that says SHIFT.

He used it in his class as an answer to a question.

(Ms Foote talked about marshmallow floors yesterday.)

There are roses in front of the school.

I'm going to miss LaGuardia SO MUCH!!

Daya going there for high school has truly been one of the biggest blessings of my (our?) life.

Her teachers- particularly dance- are the most amazing people.  Like you don't even know that type of amazing until you encounter it.

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Mr Steffa (I misspelled his name in the text) teaches gym and is a dean of... idk, something.

He also oversees kids entering the building sometimes, I see him at the entrance a lot.

He and Daya are good pals.

She started bugging him before she even got accepted into the school.

Mr Steffa ALWAYS wears shorts.

It can be -3 outside and he'll be wearing shorts and a LaGuardia hoodie.

When we went for the initial open house, before auditions happened, he was outside managing the very, VERY long line. He asked if anyone had any questions.  Daya yelled out "DO YOU ALWAYS WEAR SHORTS?"

Answer: Yes.

Then Daya got in the school and they have been pals ever since.

I saw Mr Steffa when I volunteered for audition callbacks, and we had a good chat.

Today I also saw him and he gave me a hug and congrats on Juilliard.

He said he had been looking for me all week!

I asked did Daya tell you or avoid you?

He said she avoided him but he staked her out and made her announce aloud in the lobby that she got into JUILLIARD.

I sent Daya a text about Ms Debbie, because she was still at home, probably making breakfast.

Daya did come by to say hello when the class ended.

She said--- you woke up very early just to come to school for Freshman observation and now you are just going home?

I said yes I wanted to paint.

Daya's not one to talk though, she's crashing the Junior Graham class on Thursdays while the rest of her group who isn't in rehearsal does..... she doesn't know, something not dance... but she wants to dance so she goes to class with the Juniors.

Unfortunately I did not get to show Mr Steppa Daya's text because when I left he was teaching.

Next time I see him I'm gonna dig up this picture and show him and we'll have a good laugh.

Limón Class

Today is the LAST DAY of parent observation!! The last LaGuardia class with Daya I get to attend!

I am not the only sad parent.

Today I went all dusty, all pastel- pans and nupastel.

No Gouache.

I am still deciding which workflow I like better.

5x7, there is clear gesso over the grey- toned background.

I am still not sure whether I prefer the gouache with some pastel, or all pastel.

Maybe the answer is that I don’t have to decide, i can do whatever suits my mood.

Looking at everything all together there aren’t hugely vast differences in the color.

Today I used pans for the underpainting and went over it with Nupastel.

It’s a little scratchy to work like this- this is a downside because I don’t like to make noise and potentially bother others around me. The pans are slightly cumbersome but it’s not terrible, not enough to say don’t travel with them.

I have 2 travel panpastel palettes I keep filled… and i didn’t have my yellow ochre pan which I would have really liked.

I finished this painting EARLY… really shocking.  Usually I’m going until the last minute of the class.

Today I had about 10 minutes of class left.

Tomorrow I am meeting my friend who has a Freshman, and I’m going to paint during Freshman dance observation.

What’s wrong with this sign?

This morning I woke up at stupid o’clock to go into the office at oh-god-thirty to attend a meeting in person.

It’s very early, in case you were wondering.

I don’t know if it’s because I was not awake yet, but there is something wrong with this sign.

Would they make such an error? Is the MTA time-travelling?

According to this link I guess they started October 2022.

I can’t recall having seen this sign posted before today.

In any case, it’s a very confusing thing for someone to process at 6:15am.

*********

In other news, I guess the price of eggs is coming down, because a couple weeks ago Costco was selling the 5 dozen packs for $18.99. (Way back when the 5 dozen used to be about $8.)

Thank goodness!!

Crashing Class to Paint

The journey to LaGuardia High School takes 35-40 minutes.

I gave it an hour to account for any train weirdness.

4 stops later, when I was switching to the E/F, everything was at a standstill.

Not good.

Unauthorized person on the tracks.

That takes a while.

Like a LONG while.

So I switched over to the 7, and that had signal problems.

I was SO UPSET, I did NOT want to miss parent observation!!

I was late but did see most of the Horton class.

But I couldn’t paint, there was no time. Even losing 15 minutes is too much.

So I enjoyed watching Daya’s Horton class, and then she had rehearsal.

Some of the other kids went to ms Foote’s class, so I decided to go there, too, and paint.

I love Ms Foote.

She didn’t mind at all that I went in to paint, and she also thinks I should come back after Daya is gone to paint.

Here is the painting, 5x7 mostly gouache with some pastel…

I was thinking about the size of the figures on the page, it’s zoomed out a little too… but the main thing I did differently was snap a picture of the pose I wanted..

I think I’ll do this from now on when I am allowed to take photos; sometimes I’m not allowed.

This panel was gray-toned but no clear gesso, and i can’t decide if I prefer a smoother surface or not

But it worked out really well and is a good strategy, as much as I don’t like using any kind of photo reference for these things.

Here are some pics of Daya.

Painting Problems

It's parent observation week for the LaGuardia Dance department! 

The LAST ONE for me, I'm so sad!

Although......... maybe they will let me come to paint???

They totally would if I asked, they are very friendly to it.

I like painting dance classes for many reasons-but it sure is a lot of problems to solve.

It's exactly like expenses: one goes away and three more appear.

It's such a difficult environment because of the time and also there is no composition. In that way it is more difficult than plein air.

So today I got to watch one class, so I had an hour and half.

I know how to budget the time now.

The first half of the class is barre.  That's the time I have to paint the room.

Then the barres go away and it's time for floorwork.

That's when I have to get a pose in my sketchbook while the dancers are doing combinations and decide on the figure arrangement.

I am at a point where I need to learn the ballet positions. It would make this part of the process about 70% easier. So that's my next step, and I hope I get to do this again...... I hope this isn't my last week of dance class painting....

5x7 gouache and pastel

I gray-toned an illustration board and gave it a coat of clear gesso, for the pastel.

Once I started laying in the pastel, I switched back to gouache., mostly.  The painting is about 80% gouache.

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I have a kind-of onging problem, difficulty if you will, and today I realized it has to do with scale.

In all my dance class paintings, the room itself is about the same size. I pick a section that I think has good floor-to-wall proportion. It also greatly depends on where I am sitting.

But the size of the figures relative to the room- from my vantage point are quite large.  This is a difficulty when placing several figures in nice size to the page together. In the picture above, look at how large Daya is compared to the room, because she is close. At viewpoint size in my painting, her feet would be near the bottom of the page and her head almost to the top.

Today I shrunk them a little.

I think it kind of works because it pretends I am sitting farther back than I actually am.

But I have to guess the height of the dancers relative to the room.

This is something I need to play around with and is a point of deviation from reality.

I think as long as I am conscious of the eye-level perspective I can work it out, at least in a good-enough way.

Tomorrow and Thursday I am going back and I'll try something slightly more zoomed out AND even smaller figures as if I was farther back.  It's a real composition challenge that has been bothering me for a while now.