Oil Paint, Fire Sorcery, and Mansion-Cabins

A few boathouse friends and I went camping.

Err, cabining.

We rented a cabin. It's one of those bunkhouse deals where different groups of people might all be staying together. But no one else was there except us, so we had a 7-bedroom 3-bathroom mansion all to ourselves!

I still slept outside.

It was a gear test, and very successful.

It rained the first night and I was warm and dry in my hammock.  Sleeping outside in the rain was very peaceful and cleansing. The second night was much colder, and was at the bottom of my comfortable temp range for my gear but it was still ok. As I suspected, I was fine in anything above freezing.  Temp Sunday morning was 35 when I woke up. I didn't put up my rain tarp, but the wind sleeve worked just fine and that is a good thing to know.

I love my hammock!

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I painted 2 paintings, both are 6x8 oil

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Aimee and I turned into fire sorceresses.

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We ate so much good food. In true boathouse style, we take our food seriously.

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We went for a wonderful hike.

Bear poop.

Don't piss off Anthia!

I climbed the fire watch tower.

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My pack weighed 38.6 lbs.

If not for the hammock and oil paint, I could have fit everything into a regular backpack!

Good Tuesday, Crap Tuesday

Good Tuesday:

The painting from Riverside Park sold!

Wow, that was nice.

It more than paid for all that nice new paint used in the painting!

Crap Tuesday:

I got another Grand Jury Summons.

AGAIN.

FUCK.

I can't defer it anymore.

Back in October they told me they were moving me to trial instead.

21 days MINIMUM is just way too much time to take anyone off work, but they don't give a shit, especially if your employer pays for it, which of course mine does.

So yeah they'll want me and I want NOTHING to do with this.

It's absolutely an imposition.

It absolutely upends my life.

Trial would have been ok because it's generally not that long, maybe three days, and that's ok.

But pulling someone out of their life for MINIMUM 21 days is excessive and unreasonable and I resent it intensely. Actually, I'm flat-out angry about it. It's a hardship for me, but not the kind they care about.

Our president doesn't follow the law, and I resent that I have to in this case.

I do not want to be boxed in with a bunch of people, I do not want to be stuck in court from 9-5, I will not be able to get to the hotline on time or do much of anything after work- including painting.

It's a later schedule than what I am used to, and I'm also not used to other people telling me how to schedule my day.

It's the length of time.

It's just too long.

I'm REALLY busy at work, too.

And they gave me 2 weeks' notice.

Also, my mental capacity is kind-of not great right now and I don't need a pile of new information that I don't care about.

I was grumping about it to my shift partner on the hotline, and they said maybe you'll meet someone interesting. They would LOVE to get 21 days away from their job!

Not me. And I already know a lot of interesting people!

I know I need to shift to a more positive mindset about it but freaking GRAND JURY, it's too much of my time and I'd really like them to leave me alone and find someone else.

Easter with Jackie

Jackie invited me to dinner and a movie at her place for Easter, and I thought that was a good idea.

She made nice food and we had a good time.

Jackie's cat Max:

This is a fun movie, and we did not wait for 11 minutes and 26 seconds to take a bathroom break.

Jackie and I have that kind of friendship that is just a fact of life.

We're stuck with each other.

October of this year will mark 20 years.

We have both been through a LOT.

Not My Cats & Major Repairs

I'm cat-sitting for Sharon until the 9th.

Here are her bonkers cats, Harry and Nala:

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I signed up as keyholder for the boat repair shift today.

Even though I had no idea what to actually do....

Well, I learned what to do and we got the three Prowlers that live on the dock back in good condition.

They prob haven't been repaired since 2018 (that's what someone said) and they were looking awful.

We replaced all the deck lines and bungees.

They also need a power wash but the water outside isn't on yet.

But they look great and are now properly functional, and don't look like sad neglected abused creatures.

We also removed the metal tetanus plate on the back of Hector's boat.

Mark showed up and we made sure to showcase our many OSHA violations.

(He is an OSHA inspector for the city.)

We got to play with fun things, including the propane torch, the drill, and the hot knife.

Bitz & The Drill

Ethan & The Propane Torch

Jackie & The Hot Knife

There is a LOT of work to do before the season opens, which is May 23.

We still have other boats to repair, including all the Drifters used in the public program.  Mostly they just need new bungees and deck lines.

I will power wash the dock later this month, when the water comes on and we probably won't get freezing temps anymore. It's gross down there and has to be done before we put the boats out.

I'm glad April is moving along at a good pace.

Pilings at Riverside Park

I brought more groceries to Daya tonight, and then I went to Riverside Park to paint.

It's so nice over there...weather was supposed to be warm, almost 70...then out of nowhere a cold wind arrived. I was miserable for most of the painting. Last night I was too hot, tonight I was too cold!

8x10 oil

A man made quite the effort to catch up to me as I was leaving the park!

He said I was painting his favorite view....and he collects paintings... so I gave him a card.

(ALWAYS have your cards with you!)

Maybe he'll like the painting, maybe buy it, which would pay for all the new paint I bought.....

So, last year Jerry's started carrying a new brand, Tusc & Pine.

It's another good quality artist-grade oil paint.

Their marketing was very effective, because last year I got the Luminous set.

It's THAT pretty.

I'm not allowed to buy oil paint this year, unless it's a refill.

But Jerry's marketing struck again, and there is now also a set of warm and cool greys.

It arrived today.

All these are convenience mixes.

They really are nice.

I brought them outdoors.

Having given this brand a proper test run, I have to give it a high rating.

It spits oil, which is a very good sign of quality.  I like it.

I won't get anymore, because I'll stick to my Williamsburgs, Vasaris and Gamblins, but these really are nice colors and I'll definitely use them. 

Although it was weird to skip a lot of the color mixing, except adding black or white, it did save quite a lot of time- and it also made me think differently.  Which was the whole point to begin with- thinking differently.

If I put something new on my palette, I'll definitely use it and it's a nice way to move in new directions.

Judged in The Ramble

The weather FINALLY decided to be nice!

After work, I went to Central Park to paint. 

It's time to really start doing that.

Central Park is always crowded in nice weather, but it's much worse on the weekends.

I didn't mean to, but I ended up in The Ramble.

I wandered around looking for a painting, and I found it... I also found the Squirrel of Judgement, who was extremely judgmental.

Daya was texting me as I walked around.

I sent her the Squirrel so she could also feel judged.

Then I found the painting and settled into my spot.

8x10 oil

Daya wanted me to put an easter egg in the painting- I asked what... and she decided on a squirrel with a tiny top hat, since I was unwilling to put Cartman from South Park in, and it wasn't a pigeon kind of place.

Here is the Squirrel of Judgement:

I finished the painting right around sunset, so I got to walk back through the park at dusk.

It was so pretty.... the pictures don't do it justice at all.

View from Bow Bridge, looking east.

This picture just doesn't capture the magic of dusk in Central Park.... you have to go in person.

The lights in the buildings were all glowy. 

It would make a nice painting and I'll probably have to do it.

Reedy Plants

I have been taking egg tempera in the mornings this month.  

The afternoon got very crowded.

While it's tough to get there early- the morning class is 8:45-12:30- but I usually arrive around 9:15. 

I have to say it's nice to get out of class and have a lot of day left.

Doug doesn't care how long I stay- if it isn't too crowded and I feel like it, I stay for part of the afternoon session as well.

But today, as I was painting and enjoying class, I felt weirder and weirder, like I should be outside painting instead! It's true that I haven't been out enough yet this year, but that's because of Other Factors- mostly weather, but schedule stuff too.

Yesterday morning I was going to go paint before Daya's show and dinner with Janae.... and when I woke up the weather said 32/feels like 17.

Nope.

That's a full winter gear mission and I'm not up for it.

Then Aimee texted me and we spent the morning planning a trip in June.

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So anyhow I was in class feeling weird.

I left class around 1, stopped home for about 10 minutes to pack and re-pack, and went down to the wildlife reservation.  Temp was ok until the end, then it was COLD.

I'm ready for milder weather.

Here are some nice reedy plants.

They come with challenges, I might paint them again but this was a fun painting to do.

8x10 oil

I brought some Gamblin Radiants out today.

While it is true I have wayyy too much oil paint, I also know that I do actually use it.

Sometimes it's "eventually" but it does happen.

It was good to be out, even briefly.

We have a huge week of rain in the forecast which is a bummer, but maybe the weather people will be wrong!