Carbon Fiber

I have a cat siting gig in May, right here in the neighborhood,

It was supposed to be Daya's job, but she cancelled.

I knew about it because it was on the calendar and then it wasn't, and I asked.

She has cat-sat for this person before a couple of times.

He lives 4 blocks away.

I said to her, if you can't do it I probably can, it's so close and I'm around.

She asked, he said YES PLEASE....

And it's a nice bit of unexpected extra dollars so I decided to upgrade my tripod, which I have been wanting to do for a few YEARS now.

My trusty old Dolica from 2016 is still ok but is showing signs of wear and age, like the legs are still loose when tightened. And I want something lighter and more compact, especially for travel.

The carrying case I have been using since 2009 is held together with tape and I dont know how much longer it's going to hold up.....

I went with a Sirui carbon fiber travel video tripod, because it can take over 20lbs.

It was also on spring sale!

It weighs 2lbs, half of what my Dolica weighs.

Although the ball head that comes with the Sirui seems ok, I swapped it out for the one I am currently using.

I like my old one better. It covers more surface area on the box, and the quick release has a ring to unscrew instead of having to get a screwdriver.

ALSO... I want to do more all day hiking and painting, so I made a hybrid paint-hike pack.

The hike last saturday was fine but even with reduced gear I need to streamline for days like that.  

And for hiking you need hiking stuff like first aid gear, water, etc.

So I made a hybrid day pack.  I have the basic hiking essentials, room for food, and a minimal but functional paint set up.  My Belly River box fits but it also takes up most of the space.  That's ok.

It's a 22L pack with a 3 liter water bladder.

I have been testing the pack and it'll work nicely.  

It's not the lightest day pack because of the painting stuff but it's fine, it's still lighter than what I am used to. (The water is actually the heavy part)

Here it is, fully packed:

Just in case......

The Pebble- Update

Today Pebbles had an abdominal ultrasound.

To prepare for the ultrasound, she had to fast from midnight.

I had a hotline shift last night, a particularly brutal one- and got home a little after midnight.

Pebbles would NOT let me sleep.

And then- because she was tired from keeping me up all night, she got to sleep all day while I had to work.

We went to the vet around 5pm.

I was there until almost 7:30.

Pebbles now has a shaved belly.

*******

Pebbles has inflamed bowels, I guess the cat version of IBS.

Vet says she's not in pain but probably has discomfort.

It's treatable but not curable.

The treatment is a pain in the ass for me.....

Basically, she's going on prednisone for a month and I have to bring her back to get her kidneys checked on May 1st.

(Pebble-fact: even for a little cat, Pebbles has tiny mini kidneys)

The prednisone will bring down the inflammation and definitely needs to be short term.

That's not the PITA part of the treatment.

The PITA part of the treatment is that now Pebbles can ONLY eat "novel protein" food.

Meaning she can't eat anything else, like ever, including the prescription kidney diet I have a brand new $60 bag of. Or her favorite thing ever, Temptations Cat Treats, which I have 2 big unopened tubs of.

Of course.

Novel protein food is stuff like duck and rabbit and venison and it's not OTC, it's prescription and it is $6 a can and $90 for a 8.5lb bag of dry.

The reason we are doing this is to introduce a food into her system that is completely unfamiliar to change the immune response.

Here's the other PITA thing: my other 2 cats can't eat any of it ever, because if they have issues in the future the food will no longer be a novel protein for them. (and also because it's stupid expensive)

So now I have to separate cats when I am not home and no one can have food out whenever they want.

********

I had to order more plein air linen panels from Jerrys because a couple weeks ago I realized I painted through almost all of my supply. They were on sale, nice surprise!

While I'll work on a white panel if I don't have any toned ones, of course I prefer a toned surface.

I usually tone them in bulk batches.

So I pulled out an assortment of Rublev natural earths and made some nice toned panels...arent they pretty?

******

Here are Furball and Isis snuggling.

Cheese Portrait #1: Colby Jack

I am doing a short series of Cheese Portraits in egg tempera.

They are from life, so need to be finished in one session.

Today I did Colby Jack.

This is not a good photo and I haven't posted these to socials, because I want to do it as a whole group.

It might get more work too, I don't know yet.

I brought a block of cheese to class and made this thing, because I had no idea what I was doing.

This was actually a very difficult painting, more than I realized when I started it.

That yellow-orange color is hard to work with value-wise, plus the marbling.

It might have been easier in oil because the palette can be pre-mixed and stay open, unlike egg tempera.

And it had to be done alla prima.

I'm still not sure if I quite "got it", but whatever, it's good practice.

It's 4x4, mini.

More cheese next week.

**********

I feel like I am very all-over-the-place artistically.

It's a little overwhelming but at the same time I'm doing it to myself so there must be a reason...

I'm now all over the place with my plein air palette right after deciding to stick to ONE standard palette...

Just in the last few months I have gone from all sorts of plein air to cat fur to topiary cats to 1400s virgins to Beelzebub to anglerfish and now... cheese.

I said to Doug, I am all over the place.

This is worrying; maybe I am lacking consistency.

Doug said it's ok and a good thing and fine, and I'm exploring my world artistically and not something to worry about and to just be myself. And then he told a story about Picasso which was relevant and encouraging even though I hate Picasso.

While I trust Doug and he will give critique, he's also one of the most positive and supportive people I have ever met so maybe he's too positive- leaning?

I don't know.

Maybe I'm just having too many dark thoughts about Life in General, which I'll write about later.

Hike Age Hike Paint Dinner Dance

A couple of boathouse friends and I planned on walking over to New Jersey over the GW Bridge for a hike and lunch in the woods.

Aimee wanted to leave later than me, because I wanted to paint.

So the plan was I leave at stupid-o'clock, paint, meet Bitz and Aimee, and we hang out.

Then I had to meet Sharon for dinner and afterwards go to Daya's Juilliard performance.

Oh, and I absolutely HAD to stop home before going to the show.

I can't believe it; my timing for everything worked out perfectly!

HIKE

I left early and walked over the GW Bridge.

This was my first time doing this- I should have done it years ago!

Entrance is at 180th and Cabrini, beware of cyclists!

There are 2 observation decks on the bridge and there is definitely enough room to paint.

So I'll have to do that this year.

I have never been to the Ft Lee Historic Park before, so exploration was in order.

If you walk the bridge there is a staircase before you exit leading to the Long Trail.

I saw a deer....

Don't jump ....LOL? Who writes LOL after that?

I want to paint this scene.

AGE

I was thinking Thoughts while hiking, and was a bit upset to be honest.

An artist I follow posted some reels about possible upcoming travel workshops to his Instagram, and I watched almost all the way through.

He is late 20s. Many years of academic training.

He's high-end. That whole world is, just like dance.

I think he still lives in his parents' house in NJ.

Extensive traveling experience; he CAN just go to Europe for a few MONTHS to paint.

He talked about a scholarship, but wasn't sure yet about application details.

He said send a message if interested.

I sent a message.

I also mentioned I have to see and am a maybe because I have to put my daughter's college tuition first.

He said "oh I forgot to say it's for young people."

WOW.

Disqualified for age.

That hit me so hard because 1) I might not be in my 20s anymore but I'M NOT OLD and 2) I was one of those "young" people once who never had those kinds of opportunities. Unheard of for my life.

I still have never been to Europe.

I have a lot of thoughts on this and will write them in another post but it felt like a sucker punch.

Like I never had access to opportunities when I was "young" and now I'm considered "too old" for it.

It's very upsetting. (And I'm not feeling great about Life in General these days but later on that too.)

I have worked and worked through a hell of a lot of hard life to keep my art.

I said to him I'M NOT OLD and also there are a lot of us who never had those opportunities when we were in our 20s.

After a little while he responded and said "You're right, I haven't fully thought it out but I'll keep thinking about it."

HIKE

I felt a little better.
Kept hiking.
Wanted to get to the lower part of the park.

What I did not know is that the ONLY way down to the lower part of the park to get by the water is literally to climb down the mountain.

I did it.

Think about an extremely steep, never-ending treacherous zig-zag stone staircase (with missing steps) surrounded by pricker bushes.

And, while I lightened my gear, I was still carrying a fair amount.

It was freaky and scary and i never want to do that again... but at the same time I am glad I accomplished that physical feat!

When I got to the bottom there were yet MORE stairs to go under the road and down again, so I did that.

I figured by that time I was so invested I HAD to take every single stair there was.

This is the mountain:

Phew, I made it!

Time to paint.

6x8 oil

Today I sketched out the comp with vine charcoal, which was very helpful... especially when getting many elements onto a small panel.

I am happy with this little painting, and it was nice to be out again with my Belly River box, which is 15 years old now.

Bitz and Aimee showed up with Reign the Dog.

There were ducks and Reign went right into the river after them... thankfully she didn't catch them!

I like these purple Caput Mortuum rocks.

We started the walk back to NYC around 2:15.

It involved a partial climb back up the damn mountain which sucked.

We made it though.

The walk back to the bridge sucked.

Going back over the bridge was nice though.

I will go back for sure but not to both parts of the park on the same day- ONLY the upper or lower part.

DINNER

I made it home right at 5pm and stayed home for exactly 8 minutes.

Sharon hadn't left yet so we met up and went back into the city together.

Dinner was supposed to be Greek at 6:15.

We went to Columbus Circle.

Sharon said we won't get there by 6:15, let's go somewhere else to not be rushed.

So we walked and didn't find anything and realized we were 4 minutes away from the Greek place so we ended up there after all... AT 6:15!

DANCE

We had a nice dinner and went to Daya's show, which was of course ASTOUNDING.

I was very tired and in need of a hot epsom salt bath when I got home!

Back to the Beach

I have this Painting Goal to paint the sunset.

And I think I can do it, too. especially if I pack convenience colors for the palette.

(And maybe even if I don't)

I really am loving my new Vasaris.

There are some workflow issues with this painting, some things I need to do differently next time and that's fine. I lost a little steam where the water meets the sand, and the wind was picking up.

That's the good thing about painting a lot, just try again next time.

8x10 oil

A lady walking her dog took my picture and we now follow each other on instagram.

Her dog is really cool.

I thought I might do 2 paintings tonight but did not because 1) it was getting cold and 2) the sunset tonight was not good.

I painted around Beach 127th and walked back down the shore to around Beach 102.

Many people were walking their dogs.

This dog dug holes everywhere.

He would not abandon his dog hole when his people called him, which I thought was pretty funny.

I saw his evidence several times walking back.