The Crazy Plein Air Workout

David Nakabayashi texted me and said "Join me on the 7am ferry to Governor's Island and let's paint."

(He has an artist residency there right now.)

Oh, I won't turn down a chance to paint with David.

I steal his painting vibes.

His work has been enormously influential in my growth, the osmosis is very real.

That's why it's important to be around people who are more advanced.

(It's also why I like my egg tempera class so much- the balance of slowing down, and also I'm not the best in the room, so it is the right room.)

So, I woke up at 4am and was down at Pier 11 at 6:45.

David chose the spot- I know Governor's Island ok, but he knows it very well.

There's a very high hill overlook area on Governors Island I never knew about- wow, what a view!

We both knocked out two paintings each in less than 3 hours.

It was very windy in the morning but we persevered.

I painted the Statue of Liberty (again).

Start time 8:01am, end time 9:26am.

8x10 oil

The important thing about this painting I learned is dealing with the sky being very boring.

I did move some clouds over (David painted the good clouds to my left) but mostly 3/4 of this painting is empty sky space.

Not too long ago I would have really obsessed over the gradient- and instead I decided to make that boring blank space more interesting through brushwork.

I am realizing how much my painting approach has changed- especially when dealing with subject matter I've painted several times before.

Speed is not the goal- I track the time for personal data purposes, but it's something that comes through experience and repeated problem solving.

We both painted the skyline for painting number 2.

This second painting took.... 1 hour and 20 minutes!

Whoa!

This is a milestone painting for me.

I have painted the skyline a bunch of times before but never like this, and definitely not at this speed.

The World Trade Center is always tough to paint, it's just tricky.

Well, for me at least, and of everything in this painting, I spent the most time on that.

You have to get the shapes just right and of course the light is always changing which makes a big difference in particular on that tower.

And then I just knocked in shapes of color instead of drawing everything.

Indicating, values, and spots of color.

It's a loose painting but still has all the information it needs.

It stretched my head out.

I can see just how far I have come with my plein air work- particularly with the skyline and how to handle the complexity in a simplified way.

My thinking and ability to resolve complexity has improved significantly.

This isn't something I could do in the studio from photos- not at all.

It has to be done repeatedly from life.

I'm so proud of myself for keeping and growing my art through all these difficult years.

**********

After painting we went back to the house where David's exhibit is on display.

He's so weird!

*******

Other assorted pictures from today:

3

Wow, I'm three years on the hotline now!

No one stays on the hotline for three years.... except me.

At the start of my three-year anniversary month last night, I was on shift.

It was very busy.

Trash River

Last night right after work I went down to the boathouse to paddle some laps.

Now I guess I can say I have been there this month.

I haven't been on the water for a while...... the river was trashy and windy and choppy.

The dock is trashy too- probably no one has been there since the storm this past weekend, and the river is still spewing up tons of trash and wood.

I put a couple lights on a Prowler and knocked out 12 laps in exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes- it's about 9 miles in distance. In that water especially, it's quite a workout. It was a tough paddle but my system needed it. And I wanted to make sure I can still do it. I still have the stamina and strength.
And I'm not sore.

Despite having been off the water for a while, and also not being as physically active lately as I normally am, I was fine.  The river suddenly calmed down considerably for my last three laps.

I also felt sorry for all the runners, like I always do, because I get to be on the water and that's so much better than running!

The water is quite warm right now too, as is expected.

I appreciated the helpful signage in true boathouse fashion, though my cool drawing on the whiteboard got erased.

This is the nature of whiteboards, I suppose.

I think there are more than sharps on the dock right now, the north side is really bad.

29/9

September is coming to a close.

What a very strange month this has been.

Time is weird and shifty and everything feels strange, although everything in my life is fine- good even.

My daily routines are rumbling along, calm and steady and stable.

Just the way I like it.

*******

I have not been to the boathouse even once all month- because of the weather.

Except for Labor Day weekend, when I was out of town, it has rained every single weekend.

I'm feeling weirdly isolated, so have been making efforts to go out when available because I'm slightly out of balance. Especially now that after-work painting is done for a while.

There was a fun FiDi scavenger hunt after work last Thursday.

Sometimes I think it's good to be involved with work stuff... going to the office once a week or so isn't really enough for connecting with work colleagues. 

My team was the smallest, three people- because others didn't show up- but we still came in third.

Mostly because I know the area really well.

Kedrin and I went to the Cat Film Festival this past Saturday.

That was fun, too.

The Nor'easter didn't really hit hard anywhere but the coast.  It barely even rained.

******

But right now- and this started maybe a week ago- I entered into a personal season of grief.

I need to do this, it's time.

It's a time to let some deep internal things open up and release.

I have to sit with it and feel the feelings and let them move through me and out.

And it's a lot. It's pretty intense and exhausting.

It's going to take some time, and that's ok.

Since I'm still in the middle of it, I don't really know much more than that.

Everything is ok though.

*******

What I have learned is that when you reach a point in life- as I fortunately have- where everything is really stable, you have good safety and resources, and not too much daily life stress or obligation- your system will start purging and releasing things you just couldn't do before. 

And that makes a lot of sense.

I'm in a period where I have the space and stability to let those places open and stay open.

I have the inner strength and self-care to stay open and raw and just allow it.

It's such a strange feeling, a dissonance, to feel these things when everything is fine.

I have never felt these things before when everything was fine.

I'm also at a point in my life where I am so plugged in to my inner guidance and I'm getting the assistance I need to navigate this.

Because it's really a lot, it's going to take some time.

And that's ok. It's good, actually, and I'm honoring this process.

Things need to be released and cleared out.

There are things I need to make peace with...I'm not sure how to do that yet but I'll get there.

I absolutely have to release density and let something that was deeply important to me go.

It's tied to other stuff, I have discovered.

I need to deal with it.

I have known for a while this was coming but I just couldn't do it before now.

I'm deeply grateful that I have the life setup, peace, space, privacy, and guidance to help me with this.

It's my intention to come out of this changed, lighter. 

Able to proceed with things that have been blocked or unavailable for far too long.

New understandings.

Sometimes I want to see the changes of growth immediately, but that almost never happens.

Looking backwards through time though, I can see it and I'm very proud of myself.

********

We are living in an extraordinarily difficult time and it isn't over yet.

It is a time to know when to engage, when to pull back, and to hold steadfast to positive stable energy.

The lights are coming on and when that happens, you see all the stuff that was hidden before.

That's what is happening. It is very difficult to go through.

It's going as fast as it can, and that also is difficult.

To anyone who somehow happens upon this post, I wish you the strength to keep holding on, good self- care, and inner peace in the midst of deep disruption, instability, and chaos.

Remember there are really amazing people in this world who are doing good things.

I'm fortunate enough to know some of them.

It's not over yet, we have a ways to go, but it won't last forever.

Alizarin, Pretending

A few paintings ago at the wildlife refuge, I noticed my Michael Harding Alizarin was missing.

Not only is this a very nice and spendy tube of paint, it’s also very useful and I needed it.

I had to use a quinacridone red instead-  which isn't the same thing but I made it work. 

And I thought the tube surely must be home somewhere and i have to look. 

I did not look and again realized during that sky painting last night that I really am missing my MH alizarin. Puzzling. 

So i looked thru my bag of paint, tube by tube. Not there. 

There is a secondary bag of plein air paint in my studio, and i looked there too- tube by tube. 

Nothing. I looked on my messy drawing table. Nothing. 

The last time I know i had and used this tube was for the asters from BBG a week and a half ago.

Surely I did not….leave a tube of paint behind…..? That’s not like me at all, I’m always so careful and I practice “leave no trace”….. But where else could it be?

I was about to make a last- ditch effort and call BBG and see if maybe it ended up in the lost and found. 

More than anything, i was baffled at the disappearance.

Kind of like i am STILL baffled over that time years ago whem I lost my painting hat at BBG while painting Inari’s shrine. 

Is Inari messing with me again?

Well, before making this weird phone call I looked one last time- the 4th time- and there it was with the rest of my standard plein air palette, pretending to be white.

Whoa no wonder, I just thought it was my MH white every time i looked!

This pretending situation has now been fixed. Somehow I never saw or found that painted strip that sometimes comes off the tubes. 

Quick Sky

I wanted to paint tonight, and figured I'd have enough time if I stayed more local, so I walked over to Flushing Meadows.

The part of it that is walkable is a 25 minute walk, but it's a nice walk.

I did feel a lot of time pressure during this painting, but even I was surprised it only took an hour.

Lately I have been using some convenience mixes, and this in particular saves a lot of time- I can mix quickly. Also, I have not been using straight-up white as much anymore, and usually not until the end of the painting. I'm using variants of light greys and shifting the color. That way, I'm not going too light too quickly.

8x10 oil

I think I'm at a point where I need to do some quick studio practice to refine some things.

Well, that can start happening pretty soon.  It's getting dark early....

Luchetti & Franca & David

back in August when I painted Little Island at Francis' event, he had a raffle.

There were 2 Luchetti sketchbooks in the raffle.

I did not win them, or anything.

But I had never heard of Luchetti before and I was very intrigued.

It's a new company, and they are primarily designed for watercolor people, which I am not.

But their hot press version is good for mixed media.

If primed with GAC 100, it's fine for oil.

And the paper is thick enough that it would work for egg tempera.

I needed a Luchetti sketchbook.

Then the Via, the small travel-size one went on pre-order, and I got that too.
They are gorgeous books and I will love working in them.

I do have plans for these books... there are studio studies I want to do, but informally.

It is my goal to use these 2 books during the dark cold season for practice.

***********

Today I had nice brunch plans with Franca.

Then I dragged her to Blick, because I needed the GAC 100.

After Blick we went to Rizzoli so Franca could get her mom some books in Italian.

Her mom likes romance books.

I found a book called Lezioni di Chimica- Lessons in Chemistry- that I thought Franca's mom needed but Franca vetoed it. 

She got this book about being abandoned instead!'

(The Days of Abandonment)

*********

After visiting with Franca I went to Brooklyn because my painter friend David Nakabayashi was having an open studio and sale prices to clear space.

It was good to see David, it's been a while.

His wife Jenni and the dog Cholla were there too.

We're still talking about painting Times Square again.  

Also, right now David has an artist residency on Governor's Island, so we talked about painting there too.  I always like painting with David.

I got to visit one of my favorite friends, Transmission Elk.

And I adopted 2 paintings for a steep friend discount.

David's paintings are amazing. Now I have three- he gave me one years ago from an event we painted at together... an oil painting he did with a Sumi-e brush which is just ridiculous... but he made it work.

I think these 2 paintings were from a show he had a while back at Viridian Gallery.

They are unsold from 2021... well until now.

David Nakabayashi

Castle Williams & Angst

Today I wanted to paint and go to the boathouse after... I haven't been to the boathouse even once... ALL MONTH! It's been because of travelling and weather.

And I didn't make it to the boathouse today, either, because this painting on Governor's Island took forever.

8x10 oil

This painting took way too long and I got lost and confused in it. 

Start time 10:55am, end time 3:35pm. That's too long.

And I messed up the bottom at the end of the painting session.

People were being very annoying too, I had my airpods in which usually deters people but somehow everyone kept asking me for directions. Like they came right over, got ignored, and then just stood and waited until I stopped painting, paused my audio book, took out my airpods, and said something to them. And they KNEW they were disturbing me. They just didn't care. This happened 4-5 times. Not only that, but there was a parks volunteer answering questions nearby! And they still had to bug me!

And then there was the couple that parked themselves right behind me TWICE.

I was not standing in a "nice" area, so it was definitely deliberate.

Not only that, but there were other nearby much nicer places they could have gone.

I don't like the feeling of people camped out behind me watching me.

It's eerie and distracting and I can feel it.

My looks at them didn't work.

Would you like someone camped out behind you - watching you?

I hate it.

I always account for this when I set up, but wow they were persistent and I truly didn't expect anyone to sit where they were. It wasn't a nice place to sit at all. They were sitting in dirt.

I even moved my setup to take my panel out of their line of sight, but it put the panel in shadow and I had trouble seeing.

They eventually left and I moved back, right in front of them as they were leaving.

They saw.

And then a little while later they came back and did it again!

But this time I got smart and moved my whole entire setup back.

This is not about being self-conscious, I'm not.

It's about the energy, and when people are sitting watching I can really feel it.

It's extremely invasive and I can't get into my zone properly. 

I do keep a physical gear- barrier around me so people don't come too close- because they will- and even then I have to tell people to stay back. 

Well, I guess I wasn't in a people-y mood today.

If you see someone focused and working, just leave them alone!

Have a little respect!

*********

Three paintings I have done lately have been real struggles.

And they have taken a lot longer than they should.

I'm wondering why.

I don't know if it's because I'm growing and am feeling uncoordinated, or if- despite my motivation to paint which is currently excellent- my artistic engines need a short rest. I can't tell.

I always have a yearly goal of 50 plein air paintings for the year, and this is #43.

7 more to go, and I can do it, I can get to 50, but I have to prioritize it.

I lost a lot of time earlier this year because of the weather.

Now sunset is early.

The season is changing, I feel weird today in general.

It's also my long-disappeared sister's 50th birthday.

I don't know if she's even still alive or not.

Last After-Work Painting for 2026 Probably

Today was a bit of a crappy day- nothing serious, mostly something work-related that is an ongoing problem that is getting worse, but there's nothing I can do about it except to keep going.

But everything is, in a broad general sense, ok. I just had a slightly crappy day.

So, I figured I'd use the leftover paint from yesterday and get one more painting in after work.

Likely the last one for the year. Sunset was at 7:01pm, it's getting earlier and earlier.

There were some really great clouds at the wildlife refuge and I decided to make them my focus.

8x10 oil

It was so difficult and I had to remind myself of that.

Goal-wise the end result of this painting is a fail.

Almost the entire time I was painting I thought it was a wipe.

This is the third painting I consider to be a fail this year, and I was thinking about that while painting and I decided that's a good thing.

The reason I think this painting is a fail is because I did not get the design of the sky correct and established at the start. Not for lack of trying... it just wasn't coming together.

Clouds are difficult, the sky doesn't stay still, and especially right before sunset things just change a lot, quickly.

So- my values are correct but my design is not, but I really did learn SO much.

My layering is good, I'm working in a new way with values, and there is a stage in the beginning block-in that I need to specifically practice.

Like the aster painting- which I consider is about 80% "there", this painting paved a starting point for how to proceed.

I'm STILL post-mortem analysing the aster painting.  I know how to bring it farther next time, and what needs to be done, and a change on a beginning approach.

So, this cloud painting is in that category too.

I think it's about 40% there and again, I see the way forward.

Conceptually I know what I need to do next time, but executing it will require some practice.

So, it's about growth.

I have had a lot of painting growth this year and the difficulties I'm experiencing stem from that.

It's just a matter of coordination which is gained through practice.

I'll have to do some studio practice on this, and I also know exactly how to proceed with that.

It would be good to take these now-dark evenings to practice in preparation for more evening cloud paintings next year.

Jamaica Bay, Again

My after-work painting days for 2026 are numbered... sunset was at 7:02pm.

But that's still enough time to do a painting down at Jamaica Bay.

Here is tonight's effort.

I saw the composition as I was walking down the path to the water- but barely on the trail.

And the painting just kind of popped out at me.

They have been doing that a lot lately, which is kind of cool.

8x10 oil

Hour and a half... tight value control on this one.