Maybe I chose the wrong day to go uptown?

I am off work today so of course I went painting.

last-minute I decided to go up to Ft Tryon Park by the Cloisters and paint my favorite yellow tree.

I did take my work phone because we had a team meeting, and I don't like missing them.

I left early enough I figured I would be either walking in the park or already painting.

So up to Ft Tryon I went.

Got on the uptown B train at Rockefeller. *****

The train did not move.

Then it went out of service.

Ok, quick re-think: I went downtown one stop to 42nd street to catch the 1 to Columbus Circle.

Went to the AC/ DB platform to get the A.

That never arrived either.

Oh, ok apparently there was a police investigation at 72nd street.  C trains were running so I got on one up to 145th st, mostly because I was tired of being at Columbus Circle.

Someone on the C train said there was a shooting at 68th street and they ran into 72nd st on the train there. Then another guy on the platform at 145 was lamenting he would never get to work, he had walked up from 125th st. He told me yes there was a shooting, he'd never be able to get to work.  He took a picture of the status monitor and went home.

I dialed into my work meeting from a bench at 145th st.

This event knocked out 5 train lines (they rerouted the downtown E) for over an hour.

It landed in the NY Times.

**** that evacuated train at 72nd st was a B train, probably the one right before I got on at 34th st.

While I certainly would have gotten off at 59th street, I'm still SO GLAD it wasn't my train that got evacuated!

FINALLY the A train arrived and I got up to the park.

And took another work call.

*******

My favorite yellow tree isn't yellow yet; I'll have to go back.

I decided to paint the Palisades instead.

It's freakishly warm out, despite the fall foliage.

75 is too warm for November.

8x10 oil

Ft Tryon is so pretty this time of year.

After painting, I met up with a friend from work for more happy hour oysters....

Even though I'm not really going anywhere, and the incident on the train, and working this morning, today was a lovely vacation day.

Ugh

I had a very bad mental health day yesterday.

Today it's slightly better, but not much.

It's partly election anxiety; I don't know how much but it's impossible to be unaffected.

I'm not watching anything tonight; I'm burned out and can't take any more.

Last night Isis was trying to use the litterbox but couldn't.

She kept peeing a few drops, exiting, grooming her bottom, repeat cycle.

I called the vet.

He said it's probably a stress-induced bladder inflammation and just leave her alone.

The cat is very stressed.  I did manage to get antibiotics down her throat for 10 days, last pill was Sunday morning. She's still not acting right from the stress.

And now she can't pee.

AND I STILL HAVE $650 WORTH OF USELESS EASEL BITS TAKING UP A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF FLOOR SPACE. 

My studio is total chaos because of this and it's absolutely stressing me out.

I'm very upset about it.

Monday afternoon I heard from Jerrys- they said they found a replacement part and are mailing it.

*****

I'm focusing slightly better at work today, but now I have a different kind of interruption, the Pebbles kind.

I call this image "Working with Cat"

Later on I'm also going out for a little while to meet up with Sharon; we haven't seen each other for a while.

I predict we'll end up at Trader Joes....

And FWIW I'm so glad I don't have a hotline shift tonight.

I'm really not up to it. Not today.

Franca's Ladybug

Once a while ago at work I was having a very bad day.

My co-worker gave me a chocolate ladybug.

It made me feel a lot better- the gift, not the chocolate.

I decided it needed to be a painting, and I kept it.

This was probably last year sometime.....

Back in June, I started the painting in egg tempera.

Put it on hold.

Fought with the background.

Put it on hold again.

Went back to egg tempera in October and finally finished it today.

Doug gave some good guidance and the painting is better than it would have been otherwise.

5x7 egg tempera and metal leaf

Voting & Oysters

Daya came home to vote.

It's her first time voting in an election.

Then we went out for happy hours and oysters.

Daya took me out for my birthday!

We have a spot we like, it's now our regular.

It's Docks in midtown- they do a great happy hour.

We had a really, really nice time.

She values our good relationship, as do I.

It's just so nice to be getting along so well.

Sure, I still annoy her sometimes but that's fine, but all that hostility she had is just gone and I'm so happy about it.

She actually apologized for everything she put me through.

Once years ago someone told me that she would, but it would take a long time.

I didn't believe it.

I still can't believe they were right.....

....someone just went and ordered a pinot noir like she's done it a thousand times and took me by surprise.......

oh that scared me..... what am I supposed to do if they checked her........ they said they figured i'm her mom and didn't....... I need to talk to her about this, actually I have already but maybe I need to again....

But anyhow she faked me out so I asked how many times have you done this, she said this was my first time!

I said you like pinot noir?

She said I don't know this is my first one!

I ended up drinking some of it, it was very good pinot noir... she's good with a few sips and then she's done.

I do not worry about her and substance problems.

I DO worry about her being over-confident ordering.....

She's just at that barely-adult-try-new-things phase.

(we all did it)

I got a free birthday creme brulee!

Seriously, our waitress was really cool... and she has a 19 year old daughter.

That under-face lighting is always the most flattering......

Oh anyhow it was a great time, such a nice time with Daya.

Swindler's Cove and GRRRR x 2

Swindler's Cove is a little park right on the Harlem River.

I took the 1 to Dyckman, and from there it's a little bit of a walk but worth it.

I felt really blah and tired today, but I liked this little waterfall.

Rocks are actually quite difficult to paint...I can't say I'm very happy with this painting but as always I did learn from it. Lately I have been busier than usual and there are also a seemingly endless amount of life crap things to deal with- I'm tired and overwhelmed.

8x10 oil, 2 hours

********

GRRR 1

Back in July I got an email at work wanting verification if I do, in fact, need my Adobe Creative Cloud license. Yes I do; I can't work without it.  So I replied yes to the email.

Early October I got another email; saying final warning on the same verification.

Once again I replied yes, I need my license.

On Oct 15 my license got shut off.

Apparently there was a form link buried in a long email with tables of information and I missed it.

The person who got my response could not give me the courtesy of saying fill out the dang form.

So I lost my license.

I was told just put in a new software request, which I did.

My manager approved it then went on vacation for a week.

The help desk said "But you already have a license."

I sent screenshots.

I spoke to people.

I chatted in Teams.

I emailed the escalation team.

While I was in contact with the help desk, someone closed my ticket with the reason they tried to contact me three times and were unsuccessful.

I lost my shit.

Privately, but still.

This is the kind of thing that tanks a person's mental health due to the sheer frustration and insanity of it all. Also, I couldn't work, and I spent 2 vacation days dealing with it.

I had to open another ticket, which my manager approved while he was on vacation.

It took a week but I finally got my license back.

And even though I'm on vacation today, I checked into work and found out that once again, my license was vaporized.

It happened to everyone in the company who has a license though, not just me.

Even all the people who didn't miss there was a form. (a lot of people missed the form)

So when I'm back at work Monday it's unlikely I'll be able to do anything because I doubt I'll have my license back by then. My whole team is down though, and i'm not as worried about it.

*******

GRRR 2

I need a new laundry hamper, so I ordered one off Amazon.

And received this instead:

This is actual deliberate fraud, and makes me very angry.

Amazon said the only thing they can do is issue the return label and they won't give me a refund because the third party seller had to do it.

I asked them how they thought a fraudulent third-party seller was to be trusted to issue the refund?

They said they can't do anything until I do a return.

So I mailed the fucking green crayon and i'm out $42 until I go through a bullshit process.

And if you're laughing just stop because it's not funny and it's one more thing on a pile of life shit I'm dealing with. This is really the kind of thing that pushes people over the edge.

I still have $650 worth of useless easel parts in the way, I really do need that laundry hamper, and I'm so sick of the scammers and fraud that is rampant with no real consequence. And now I have to go to the post office and wait in line tomorrow because that is the only way the return will be accepted.

So if you think its funny you can send me $42 yourself and then go fuck off.

Grilled Cheese Halloween Party

We had a little Halloween/movie nite party at the boathouse.

Instead of the usual pizza, I went to Trader Joes and got stuff for grilled cheese.

I do make excellent grilled cheese and it was very well-received.

I got some nice organic whole wheat grainy bread, 4 kinds of cheeses, and fresh corn tortillas for the quesadilla-minded.

Aimee brought tomato soup.

It was a nice time.

Because we project movies against the wall where the life jacket racks are stored, we moved them outside and everyone thought we were open for paddling.

My Stop & Stare candid:

The New Easel Bummer

Oh Jerrys Artarama, you should know better!

You can do better!

My easel arrived.

UPS, signature required, so of course the UPS guy just left a big 90lb box in my lobby without even ringing my bell, much less asking for a signature.

That's not Jerry's fault tho.

What IS Jerry's fault is not packing this thing properly.

Also, none of the lumber parts are labeled like they are in the instruction video.

Thank goodness I took pictures before opening everything.

I started following the assembly video, in which the parts were nicely labeled.

After I assembled the base, I discovered extremely damaged hardware, and I cannot proceed any further.

WTF, did this get run over by a fork lift?

I am NOT HAPPY.

I went thru everything and inventoried it the best I could.  It seems (??) this is the only problem part.

So I called Jerrys and they asked for an email with pictures, which I sent. They said they have to contact the warehouse and they'll be in touch with me in the next day.

I just want them to send over replacement hardware!

So now I have $650 worth of useless easel bits 

taking up an enormous amount of floor space.

Also, I got rid of the (broken and too-large) table next to my easel and everything is in absolute chaos and disarray and it's really stressing me out.

I'm completely on hold til Jerrys sorts this out because even though I got 2 new utility carts to replace the table, I can't position anything or even use my studio with the old easel.

This fucking sucks, because it's due to a lack of quality control.

I expect more, especially for something this nice and expensive!

***ALSO if you get your birthday gift from Sephora CHECK IT because mine was half stolen, I'm sure by a store employee.

47 & The Giant Pigeon

Today I am 47.

I took the day off to paint the giant pigeon on the High Line, and since it gets so crowded up there, I was positioned and ready to go right a sunrise, 7:23am.

The pigeon took around 4 hours to complete.

8x10 oil

I LOVE the pigeon!

He's hand-painted and lives up at 30th and 10th, but not permanently.

***********

DRUSILLA sent me the best card ever, here i am painting on a snailchicken!!

It's amazing

Painting by Drusilla Kehl

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

My aunt sent me a very unexpected and generous check for my birthday.

I sat with it for a moment, processing.

And then I told myself in a very stern voice that I am not allowed to pay the vet bill with it.

All I ever do is take care of things.

And if there isn't something immediate to take care of, I stash anything extra away because I know something will come up that needs taking care of, which always does happen.

I do small stuff for myself here and there but it's been a long time since I did something just for myself of any significance.

So, I sat there looking at the check and said "You can do anything with this.  You don't have to save it, you don't have to take care of stuff with it. What do you want?"

I replied, "..... I dunno."

And that's not a good thing.

It's not good to be at a place in life where you have forgotten how to want anything and have no idea what you do want.

I mentioned this to Kedrin and she completely understood. She got it.

(This is also something I told Daya in the summer.... we went over her numbers and I told her to take x amount of money and do whatever she wants with it.

Both of us are unbalanced with money in this way; we're not over-spenders, we have anxiety spending too much, particularly on ourselves. She probably learned this from me, unfortunately. She's more of a tight-wad than I am, actually.)

So I said to myself, "Just think about it."

The next morning I realized there is something I really do want and need, although it's more of a want.

It's been so long I actually have forgotten that I need/want a new studio easel.

Part of the reason I haven't been doing much studio work is that my workspace is uncomfortable.

I feel claustrophobic and squeezed in too tight.  My easel is 15 years old, was a cheapie when I got it, doesn't stay upright anymore without constant adjustment, is wobbly, and has had replacement parts, and it's just time for something new and nice.

So I ordered a new easel from Jerrys with a crank system, and it should arrive tomorrow! How exciting!

The Shush Lady

The Shush Lady is a sculpture called Water's Soul... but at the boathouse we call her the Shush Lady.

She didn't photograph well outdoors.

8x10 oil

Here she is under my easel lamp.

I have been planning to paint her since last week, and have thinking a lot about how to approach it.

I arrived in Newport NJ later than I wanted, but I did need the later morning because I had a hotline shift last night and didn't get home until almost 12:30am.

Unfortunately it was 12pm by the time I was set up ready to begin painting, which is the worst time for light.  That mid-day overhead light is not my favorite. And of course it moves.

Anyhow since she is a white statue and i wanted to get that glow, I laid out a 5-value string, sketched her out, did the sky and the background, and then did the statue.

It was 4 hours and 15 mins...... and I'm not happy with her and need to do it again.  Earlier, before the light moves around the statue.

I used too many values.  While I don't think my darkest value is wrong, I also think I could go a little lighter. And maybe start the block in with only 2 values and keep it to 4 total.

But the big problem is making corrections, which is impossible because the light and shadow shapes changed every time i looked at her.

The final layer is different tints of white, which was my intention from the start.

Also I did the sky first- which was a darker value than the entire statue- but maybe I'll change that too next time.

I did have to constantly remind myself that this is an extremely difficult painting to do plein air, and because of that I'm not going to be too self-critical.  But I still want to give it a second attempt.

Set up, 12 pm, good light on the statue

4:15pm, the light is not so nice anymore

I was really tired afterwards and decided to rest and have some dinner before heading back to the city.

I need to ponder the Shush Lady more, there is a lot to think about.

But I did learn a lot today so overall it was a very successful day.

Rat Pumpkin

Every year we have a pumpkin carving party at the boathouse.
I had egg tempera class but I skipped it to go.

I made a rat pumpkin.

Isis really doesn't like getting her antibiotics... but at least I know I can pill her.

I didn't think I could and it's a relief that I can.... even though it's nowhere as easy as the nightly Pebble-Pill.