Plein Air #50 for 2024

It seems I have conquered the winter cold; it's not even a challenge anymore from the mid 20s up through all of the 30s.

And anything above freezing is downright balmy.

I would like to test this out in the teens.

My new wool underlayers make a massive difference.

I should have done this years ago but they were very expensive........ I still should have done it years ago.

Between my heavy wool base layer and my boot covers, which I throw heaters in, I'm not getting cold at all out there. I am covered in 100% wool up to my neck, and I have new thick wool fishing gloves too.

(no it doesn't itch, and for what I paid it had better not...)

I even stopped taking Toilet Rug out; I don't need it anymore (I don't think) and that's good because I like to keep my gear weight and bulk down.

Anyhow, I went to Roosevelt Island because I'm still avoiding the holiday crowds, and it is an easy trip for me... 20 mins. Here is a walkway in Four Freedoms State Park, which is on the south tip of the island.

8x10 oil

People would come by and take my picture without asking and then walk down the path allll the way down right in front of me, despite the fact there are THREE other empty paths right next to where I was standing.... and all of them led to the same place.

Anyhow.

I normally wouldn't have set up in such an obnoxious spot but it wasn't crowded at all and.... again, there are three other paths down so...... I wasn't really in anyone's way.  Not today.

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This is my 50th plein air painting for 2024.

That's a good number and I'm happy with it.

That is a lot of practice and problem solving, and it doesn't matter that not all my paintings are good.

I have tried a lot of new things this year, subject matter and technique.

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Here are some cool pictures from around Roosevelt Island.

Christmas

This holiday season is so... meh.

I havent put up a tree or anything.

Daya isn't into the holidays and refuses to do.... anything festive at all.

Nothing.

She's been a real bummer since she came home and I don't like it.

She's acting like she did in high school, once again.

I only have to put up with it until Jan 12, and I'm sad and disappointed she has reverted back.

She has zero self-awareness of how she comes across and she doesn't want any.

Sharon invited me over to her place and it was a really nice time.

Daya walked over with me and stayed for 5 minutes.

We had good conversation and we baked gingerbread cats, which I do every year.

This batch came out particularly well.

Then we played stupid but fun games, and there was an orange cat avatar, so I was Pebbles.

I'm glad to have spent the day with my friend, otherwise it probably would have just been a complete bummer of a day.

I'm ready for the holidays to be over, and I'm ready for Daya to go back to the dorms.

Snow Plein Air & Solstice

We got snow!

So of course I had to go out and paint.

However, it's also Saturday in the middle of holiday mayhem here... so I wanted to avoid that.

I haven't been to Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for a while so I went there.

Here is a quick painting in the Cherry Esplanade, 8x10 oil

It was quiet in the gardens, only a few people were there which was perfect.

Today is also the solstice, the longest night.

Normally I'd go to St Patricks and light candles, but it's Saturday which means insane crowds and I can't face it.

So this year I just lit a candle at home.

Floating Cartilage, Removed

Today Daya had surgery to remove three floating chunks of cartilage from her arm.

She DID NOT LIKE the IV.

It took them three tries to get it in.

Everything went well.

She was not allowed to keep the cartilage bits; they were sent off to pathology and then designated as medical waste.

Here are the cartilage bits that have been floating around in her elbow:

The dr said those were the biggest bits of floating cartilage he has ever seen!

Daya is doing well... a few hours after we went home she went out on a three hour walk, despite the nerve block in her arm- complete numbness- despite the cold and snow, and despite still having anesthesia in her system.

She's fine.

Quick Sky Study

There is an artist I like who does wonderful skies, her name is Melanie Thompson.

Here is her Instagram

Anyhow she does these fantastic skies and I wanted to do a master copy so I spent a little time with one of her paintings.

I can't post this painting anywhere but here, and I can't sell it... that's unethical.

And to be honest that kind of deflated the painting process..... so I think I'll stick to master copies not from current living artists.

8x10 oil on paper

after Melanie Thompson

Cheeze Wheel Pasta & Juilliard Again

Today Janae and I got our traditional Cheeze Wheel Pasta again, OMG it is SO SO SO GOOD......

....I feel like we just got cheeze wheel pasta like maybe three weeks ago.

Seriously what the heck with time......

And then we went to see Daya on stage at Juilliard.

She is just amazing.

I am absolutely in awe of her.

I cannot believe I have a kid at Juilliard.

How did that even happen?

Cloisters Plein Air Milestone

I painted up at The Cloisters in December 2020.

That painting took me 6 1/2 hours over 3 sessions to complete.

I think I had just started doing architecture, or it was new to me.

Anyhow, for a while I have been wanting to go back and re-do this painting to see what happens and look at my growth. So I stood in the exact same spot, same time of year, same cold, same sky even... and did a painting...

8x10 oil

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I am very, VERY happy with this painting.

And... astoundingly, it only took 2 hours, almost exactly! I was shocked!

I was not looking to finish in any particular timeframe, I was not rushing, and I thought it would be a 3 or 3 1/2 hour painting... but 2 hours... I was shocked.

I don't know, maybe someone Very Skilled will look at this and pick out drawing issues (I do see a few) but overall I know this is a good painting. We can always nitpick....... The drawing is (mostly) solid and my value structures are great.

It is a MUCH better painting than the one I did 4 years ago.

It's nice to see that progress.

It is very likely that the 2 hour timeframe is because I have painted this scene before and I spent a LOT of time studying it in great detail. That visual memory kicked in even 4 years later, and it's the same experience I had when I painted Times Square the second time.

Here is the initial drawing which took..... 13 minutes.

And the scene shot:

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This year I upgraded my winter gear to 100% heavy duty merino wool underlayers- feet, hands, and body.

Today I wore it for the first time. It makes a HUGE difference, wow! Wool really does hold in your heat like nothing else.  Wool plus my boot-coats with extra heaters--- temps started in the high 20s and went up to 33 (1c) when I was finished and I was not cold even one bit.

Pistachio Hot Chocolate

I went to see Daya on stage tonight and SHE WAS AMAZING!! I loved her dance.

The head pieces looked weird but aside from that it was perfect.  She had a solo and killed it.

Grace came into the city beforehand and we floated around Columbus Circle.

I LOVE hanging out with Grace.

There is some ongoing event with Broadway performers.

And a gingerbread house display...

Before heading over to Juilliard to meet Sharon and see Daya's show, we got hot chocolate at the holiday market.

I got pistachio because I always have a Pistachio Problem.

Grace got tiramisu, tried mine and liked it better, so we went back and she somehow got them to put pistachio syrup in her chocolate too!

Happy holidays from Juilliard!

Daya was so so so SO good tonight!

I'm going back on Saturday.

We are halfway done....

.... paying for college.

Phew...

I have no idea what will happen for years 3 and 4, but I didn't know for years 1 or 2 beforehand either so hopefully it'll all continue to be ok.

We thought it was a joke

Daya is performing this week and she sent me a picture of her costume, lamenting the head piece.

She thought it was a joke at first.

I thought it was a joke at first.

It is not a joke.

She says the jumpsuit "eats", which means it's great......

But yeah that headpiece....

Apparently, it has to do with the choreographer's sensory preferences, but no one else likes it.

Ugh holiday crowds

I always warn people when they come over they will get Pebble-Love-Bombed.

Pebbles stuck to my guest as much as she could.  Slept with her. Sat on her. Hung out with her.  

I got a Pebble-Break.

We had a nice time and also I am trying to figure myself out a little.

My friend likes yarn so I found a yarn store and we went Saturday morning.

Then braved the terrible crowds for the Bryant Park holiday market and the tree at Rockefeller.

I don't care about yarn even a little bit so I sat in a chair and read while my friend looked around.

Every year I seem to find myself in the holiday markets on a weekend, which is, generally, a terrible idea.

The crowds are so bad.

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It was our first time meeting in person.

My friend was a lovely guest and my energy held up until Saturday evening.

Not my physical energy- my social battery energy. 

I am completely drained, despite having slept well both nights she was here.

I can't tell if it's being out in the crowds (but not my first time doing that) or... and I feel terrible saying this because my friend is lovely and was a great guest.... maybe it's her energy. And I feel awful saying that because I really like her and do want to see her again but maybe it was just a lot on me because she really can't physically (and maybe also mentally) handle the city. And there is also a bad travel-anxiety issue (though she is well-traveled) and unavoidable environmental ptsd triggering.  And it made me nervous a few times. She's old enough that she knows how to self manage but yeah... it made me nervous.

I really do want my guests to be comfortable and have a nice time.

And I also want them to be safe and have a good experience.

I want to be caring and supportive and at the same time I don't want to be in a position of handling someone else's extreme anxiety.

I'm feeling guilty for writing this but I'm also trying to figure out why I am so drained after this short visit, and what these unidentified feelings are that are coming up for me. I'm slow; it takes me a while to sort myself out sometimes. I certainly have my own issues. Why do I feel so awful to have these feelings about someone I like?

Sneaky December

HOW is it December already?

I only realized it is December about 15 minutes before I had to leave for egg tempera class..... and I also had to register!!

I have been in hiding all week.

Last Sunday I came home from egg tempera and felt a little low energy.

Monday morning I felt the oncoming plague, so I went to the store for tissues.

Then I didn't leave my apartment until this morning!

It was just a stupid stuffy cold, but I like to rest and sleep them off.

I am off work today so Zoe (from egg tempera) and I met to go see the Siena exhibit again together.

Zoe knows a lot about art stuff and it's fun walking around with her.

Plus it's really fun walking around with another egg tempera person; there aren't that many of us and it is a unique perspective. 

From a technical perspective, a lot of these paintings are astounding.

We made sure to ridicule this drawing issue:

Who pours like this?

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I have a friend coming in from out of town tonight.... from my Elder Scrolls Online days.

I'm not in the game anymore; I left a while ago because I'm just not into it anymore.

But a friend from there recently moved to CT and we have sporadically kept in touch outside of the game so she is coming to visit until Sunday Morning.