snailchicken

After that really technical portrait of Daya, I decided to do some small medieval-inspired animals.

I figured they would be relaxing and easy, and a break from the exhausting technical work a portrait requires (for me at least).

I also wanted to take the opportunity to experiment with a few different things.

Like leafing.

I have been scared of leafing for..... um, decades.

Because I never actually looked at the cheap easy way to do it.

Actual gold leafing is very technical and very expensive.  It requires special equipment and is, frankly, terrifying.  So I have stuck with metallic pigments and mostly been pretty happy with them.

But Janae has been doing wonderful leaf work on her paintings, and she's not doing anything fancy.

So I took the plunge.

I went to Blick and got a metal leafing kit for $17.

All you have to do is apply the adhesive, let it dry, stick the leaf on, and put on the sealer.

It is a little bit tricky but.... oh man I'm so slow and dumb; I should have done this YEARS ago.

Snailchicken, 5x7 egg tempera and metal leaf

Skiing Is Not for Me (Probably)

My friend called me earlier this week and invited me to go skiing as a last- minute thing for someone's birthday, and someone else had cancelled.

I have never been skiing and think it's good to try new things and have an adventure, so I said yes.

There is an indoor skiing place in NJ and.... well, the day was an adventure and I have no regrets but I wouldn't go there again.  They book in time slots but don't scan people up the lifts, so people just stay all day and it's dangerously overcrowded. And they ran out of equipment.

It's also not good for people who have never skied before. Even the employees said it was bad.

My boots were too big which is definitely not ideal.

All that being said, I was glad for the new experience.

The biggest problem I had was that I can't get up if (when) I fall.

I find this to be really disturbing because while I am not a gym rat and don't consider myself to be athletic, I do work out and I am in reasonably functional physical shape. For YEARS before covid, I regularly attended a fairly advanced yoga class.  I kayak, I use my stationary bike, I swim, I just started a jump rope workout program (Crossrope)... so I have reasonable expectations of basic physical activity.

And I discovered that- even though I CAN do sit-ups, I can't do standard crunches.  This never even occurred to me, but after talking to a friend about it, I most likely lost the ability to do them after my c section.  Since I can do planks and sit-ups, and have the yoga history, it never even occurred to me.  

But I can't do them.  

This tells me I need to start really working on my core.

It's a horrible feeling to be essentially helpless in a physically compromised way.

So, at least for now, skiing is out for me.

We went to a coffee shop afterwards.... these odd pastries at the bottom of the case look interesting.

I did not get one but was curious what they are.

They are Italian- Roman in origin actually, and are called maritozzi.

__PRESENT

Onion Vase at the Met

One of my boathouse friends wants to get back into art, and I'm really good at helping people with that.
Se, we went to the Met together tonight to sketch.  We both brought charcoal.

I haven't worked in charcoal forever!

Isn't this onion vase wonderful?

I'm pretty sure this old vessel was the basis for Shrek's character design....

Van Gogh says hi!

Snow in Sheep Meadow & More Gear

FINALLY we have snow on a day where I can go out and paint!

Today I decided on Sheep Meadow, because it's easy to get to and there will be a nice flat plane of snow.

8x10 oil, about 2 1/2 hours painting time

It was pretty cold... 

Balto

Sheep Meadow is closed in the winter but that's ok.

I finally got to wear my balaclava!

Temp went up 2 degrees...

My feet are still painful from the cold by the end of painting, despite 2 heaters in my subzero boots, electric socks, and 4 layers. And standing the rubber-bottom toilet rug.

What I need are individual winter coats for my boots.... AND THEY EXIST!

I found these and ordered them- I think they are exactly what I need.

The other gear addition I am ordering is anti-fog ski goggles.

I have a problem with my reading glasses fogging up in the balaclava, so I'm completely losing my close-up vision which sucks. The goggles will make me look even more ridiculous and also awesome and will shield me even more from the wind and cold.

I cannot wait to go out subzero painting again soon, I hope the weather cooperates!!

__PRESENT

Midweek Sundries

1. Pebbles is still fine.

2. We got snow!

Not very much but I'll take it!

3. I am working on a series of very experimental panels in egg tempera of medieval animals.

And I am using my embarrassingly large pastel collection with the ADORABLE Derwent grater to make pigment powder to temper.

It's working well.

This is my favorite Sennelier turquoise green, the solved pastel mystery from a few years ago.

4. I was at the office later than I usually am for an evening event and got to catch the sunset over the Statue of Liberty. 

__PRESENT

The Pebble-Scare

 It's ALWAYS Pebbles...
On Saturday when I got home from the Boathouse party she was fine.

Sunday morning she didn't come out for breakfast... and I found her in Daya's room looking like this.

Her third eyelids were showing and she was acting lethargic.

Third eyelids showing is a bad sign, according to everything on the internet.

Nothing says what it is a bad sign of.

Anyhow, I had my egg tempera class and also a hotline shift right after, so I wouldn't be home til late.

Daya would be home.

I called the vet to see if we would get an appointment on Tuesday, since it is a holiday on Monday.

The thing with Pebbles is she's a really little cat and needs to gain some weight, which I have never been able to get her to do.

If she's dehydrated and needs fluids and stops eating, she'll go downhill fast.

We were very close to going to the emergency vet.

Daya is not sure if Pebbles ate or not because someone else might have broken into the bathroom... but in the evening her eyes were back to normal.

This morning I decided to see how she was, if she started eating, and re-evaluate the emergency vet trip.

She seemed ok....!

She was walking around, eyes looked ok, and she ate a little.

I called the vet and.... they are open today!!!

I left a message for the dr to call back but no one did... and she has an appointment on Feb 20 anyhow.

So.... as of now, Pebbles seems to be perfectly fine, I have no idea what happened but she's eating and drinking and being annoying.

That was really stressful!!

Boathouse Party!

Every January there is a boathouse volunteer party.

It's so nice to see everyone, and weird to see everyone in normal clothes!

My boathouse plein air painting opened the annual video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNGQJGJ4t5k

And I took some pictures. 

I really miss the boathouse in the off-season.

It's amazing really, I never thought there would be a time in my life where I would miss the summer so much, as it has always been my least favorite season.

We put 25,017 people on the water this past season!!

100% volunteer-run!

I have completed my third year there now.

__PRESENT