ekwnyc’s blog

This morning, we are having a meeting to discuss the future of the Blog anf Forum tools that Gadoz is developing for us.  What steps will we need to take to get this running?

 

 

 

I finished my 7th Painting today.  This one took about 6 hours and I'm pretty happy with the results.  Again, I followed Mr. Ross -- but I deviated in a lot of areas.  Some by choice, others because of the difference between oils and acrylics. 

My first attempt at the mountains were . . . well, let's say that they didn't quite look like mountains.  And I was going to just live with them but I grabbed some light blue paint (sky color) and erased my pitiful little mountains and tried again.  If anything that's one reason I really like acrylics -- if you make a mistake you can erase and within a few minutes, be giving it a 2nd shot. 

To get the snow effect (and the shadows) on the mountain -- well, it didn't work so well with the acrylics and the painting knife.  But I found that if I left my paint on the palette for about 10 minutes, it started to dry and get thicker and, for this purpose, acted a little bit like oil paint.  In the end I was quite happy with my mountains.

My painting skills are coming along.  I've been on vacation and I'd expected to paint quite a bit.  But it hasn't worked out that way.  While flipping through the channels I came across "The Joy of Painting" with Bob Ross. 

It had been a while since I had watched him -- and I'm happy to say that 12 years after his death and he's still a treat to watch. 

Now, he uses oils and I use acrylics -- so I wasn't sure if I could use his techniques on my paintings but I decided to give it a shot and the results were actually quite good.

I went onto You Tube and found a few of his episodes.  The painting I decided to start off with was one he did of a beautiful waterfall, with a lot of mist and a lovely stream with rocks.  Click here to view the episode.   Bob Ross completed his in 30 minutes --  I finished mine in about 2 hours:

Now I think the idea is to follow along and try the techniques that he demonstrates -- not to try and duplicate his painting stroke by stroke.  And he encourages that -- it's your world, as he says, you put your rocks and your trees and your streams wherever you want.

What was really interesting about this one was that we started off with a completely black canvas and laid the colors on top of that.  There's something about putting the colors on top of the black that makes them really come alive -- I think it's that wherever your brush misses, it creates "depth."

The big problem I encountered was that acrylics dry so fast -- so a lot of the "wet-on-wet" techniques Mr. Ross demonstrates were very difficult to reproduce.  So I went to the art store today and bought a blending medium -- it's a liquid that I can add to the paint I use to slow down the drying process. 

I also bought a Bob Ross' Fan Brush.  It was $8.00 but I had a 50% Off Coupon.  I should be able to improve my trees with this brush.

Tonight, I think I'm going to try his Mountain View with the lake.  Wish me luck!  Hope all is well, Ed.

A friend sent me some of these today -- got a good chuckle out of them.  The site is called Superdickery and it's a collection of old comic book covers and panels that, nowadays, seem to take on a different meaning.

Besides the superheroes you also get some not-so-innocent Archie Comic covers:

Visit the site and have a look around -- it's good for a few laughs.  Hope all is well, Ed.

Took a ride down to the North Channel this afternoon -- Jamaica Bay -- right at the end of Joseph P. Addabbo's Bridge, across from JFK Airport.  There's 2 parking lots there where you can sit and enjoy some beautiful views of Queens and its' surroundings.

A lot of people go there to sit and relax and feed the birds . . . the gulls, the ducks, the pigeons . .  you bring all your old bread and throw it into the wind and watch `em chase after it . . .

I like sitting on the rocks and watching the ducks bob . . . you know, I'm starting to get freakin' old . . . . here I am, getting the chance to finally blog and I'm blogging about bobbing ducks . . .

But check out how nice they look . .

Check out these 2 fishermen . . . they built a small sailboat and set it adrift and were walking along the shore, watching it.  I watched them follow this thing for about 2 miles.

When they got close I took their picture as they watched it closely  . . . I asked them a few questions about it, figuring that they were using wisdom passed down along many generations to analyze currents and choose the best spots to cast their lines . . . but their answer made the best sense:

"Fish ain't biting.  We was bored and so figgered we'd sail a boat.  `Cause we ain't got one."

The big controversy down here is the Guyanese who observe their religion by throwing fruit and coconuts and watermelons and beer bottles and all sorts of other crap into the water.  Check out this couple -- they got out of their car, dropped some crap in the water, splashed water on themselves, and went back to their car.

The shore is littered with this crap -- along with animals that they have slaughtered.  It's washed up against the homes of people who live nearby.  I'm very curious about other religions, and I am very respectful of their eccentricities -- but a religion that encourages littering seems a little odd to me.

I need to find a religion that encourages soft drug use, drinking, wild sex for aging and balding 40+ males,  and gambling.  If you know of one, please let me know now.

Seriously -- look at the crap the folks left behind --

{chuckle}  Check out that spray-painted message . . . . at this beach, there's a nice gazeebo . .

But if you zoom in you'll see one of the many dozen of spray-painted messages from the locals to those religious folk . . .

And they are 100% right.

Anyway -- let's finish on a brighter note --

From that beach you can see the landfill along the Belt Parkway - lovely green, rolling hills of refuse:

One day, I took my Mom and Jo to Red Lobster for lunch . . . it was just after my Dad passed and the two of them were a little down and needed a day out . . . and over lunch they started ordering Pina Coladas . . .

Mom:  Waiter.  Can I have another Pina Colada?

Waiter:  Sure.

Jo:  Me too.

Waiter:  Coming right up.

Mom:  (to  Me)  Two Pina Colandas never hurt anyone.

Me:  (to Mom)  Um . . . but this is your fourth . . .

After lunch, all 3 of us walk outside.  I'm the only sober one.  My Mom looks at the chairs outside of Red Lobster . . .

Mom:  (pointing at the chairs)  Oh, look at the Adirondacks!

Jo: (Looking across the Belt Parkway)  That's not the Adirondacks, that's a landfill.

{chuckle}  I give up.  Since then, we've just started calling the green landfill off the Belt the Adirondacks.   If some people can throw garbage into Jamaica Bay and see God . . . who am I to stop my Mom and my wife from looking at garbage and seeing beauty?

Hope all is well, Ed.

On Jamaica Avenue, in Woodhaven, is a store that you must visit -- if you can.  Because time may be running out.  I grew up a Jamaica Avenue rat -- my bedroom window was right outside the elevated "J" Train.  Down the block and across the street from me was Schmidt's Candy store.

This is where you went for special occasions -- Easter, Christmas, Birthdays -- but it was always special.  Take a look at the outside of this shop -- it hasn't changed in 70 years:

It was a really rough day here.  This morning, we noticed that Agnes hadn't touched her food.  She wasn't even in the box with her kittens.  We peeked in and discovered that they had all passed away during the night.  I felt like I'd been punched in the gut.

Later, we discovered one of the older kittens in the backyard -- Daisy -- and she had also passed away.  Daisy was about 8 months old.  Outdoor life is so fraught with danger for these little ones -- disease, wild animals, cars, and the bitter cold of winter. 

So, we'll cry a bit for the ones we've lost -- but life in the wild is cruel and they don't last more than a year or two outside.  There are many more we've found homes for -- those that'll enjoy many warm evenings with loving families for many years to come.

UPDATE:   I've not written about Lucky yet.  She was a kitten we discovered last year, abandoned by her mother -- her leg was a little deformed and the vet informed us she was blind.  We bottle-fed her and prayed over her and the vet recommended that we put her to sleep.  Normally, I'd go along with what the vet says -- but I was in a stubborn mood that day and we weren't ready to give up on her.  To make a long story short, within a few weeks she was able to see a little bit -- enough to get around -- and now she's an almost normal cat {chuckle}

Here's Lucky shortly after we found her -- she was a disgusting little creature to be quite honest.  I've never seen anyone able to shoot diarrhea quite so far as Lucky . . .  and I've known a fair number of Irishmen.

And here she is a few months later -- with her "brother" Blizzard behind her.  Is that not a precious face?

And here she is just a few weeks ago -- she's almost a year old now and she's doing well.  A little while ago, after I finished posting, I was sitting on my couch watching TV, feeling sorry for myself and she ran up along the back of the couch and attacked my head.  She licked my ear, bit my face, farted, and ran away -- all, I am sure, in an effort to cheer me up.

It worked :-)   Life goes on.

Hope all is well, Ed.

Agnes has given birth again.  Agnes is the cat that tramps around our backyard.  We've lost count how many litters she's had.  We've taken in at least 4 of her kittens (Sandy, Nicky, Lily, and Blizzard) and found homes for 11 more of them.  She's been living on our front porch the last few days -- in a box with a blanket that we set up for her -- and yesterday morning we noticed that she was going into labor. 

And this morning, we took a peek and here they are at about 12 - 14 hours old:

This is the part where you're supposed to say "Awwwwwww."  They all appear to be pretty healthy.

I took these while Agnes was around at the back door, getting fed.  We'll bring her some extra food each night and slip some kitty vitamins in her food to keep her strong so she can provide plenty of milk for the little ones.

We'd like to wait about 6 weeks before we take them in -- so that'll be around the end of April.  But if they start to walk before then and show signs of climbing out of the box, we'll snatch them ahead of time.  I'll try and find homes for them, but as long as I can get them eating on their own the shelter will take them in.  I suspect that I'll be able to place these 3 with loving homes.

But I am making this vow right now. 

No way, no how, under no circumstances are we adopting any more of these little beasts.

That little red one is tempting, though, isn't he?  Hope everyone is well, Ed.

What a nasty little St. Patrick's Day storm we had here in NYC -- it was only a few inches, but what came down was pure ice.  It made shoveling a bitch.

For years, when I was growing up, whenever we'd get one of these storms, my Dad would hand me the shovel and say "Son, take care of it."

Nowadays, I sit and watch the Weather Channel and plead -- "Sun, take care of it."

Here are some storm pics of Jamaica Avenue:

My first few paintings were personal -- and of surrounding familiar to me.  The first painting I ever did was a representation of our house at it appeared in 1906.  The 2nd and 3rd paintings were of my backyard.  I was looking for something challenging and something different.  While scrolling through the photos on my PC I came across one taken by my Uncle Thomas -- this was a picture of Dunoon:

I found this to be a colorful picture with a lot going on -- there's a pier, there's water in the background, mountains in the far background, and -- big surprise -- it looks like it just rained.  I especially liked that string of flags hanging between the lights, flapping in the wind.  Working on a 16 X 20 canvas my initial efforts were not bearing fruit.  I had the angle of the building all wrong.  The canvases only cost $2.00 each, so there was a temptation to scrap it early on and start again.  But I was determined to learn how to paint over my mistakes so I kept at it.  After about two weeks, here's what I came up with:
It's not perfect -- I left out a lot of the details in the background.  I wanted to play with shadows, so I added a little sunlight, so it appears that the storm has just passed.  If you look at the top, you can see the dark clouds are just about out of the picture.  I wanted to show that the wind had been very strong, so I broke the string of flags and have them flying about, wrapping around the light pole and the gate.  I'm real happy with the way the reflections look in the puddles.  If you notice on the street you can see the markings of a bicycle coming from the right, through the puddle, and around the building back towards the bridge.  There are also footprints leading to the gate at the lower left hand corner.   I had  tried painting a bicycle tied to the gate --  four times! -- but it looked crappy each time, so I just painted over it and decided . . . well, I don't need a bicycle in this painting after all :-)

Also,  when I started the painting I started the building too high on the canvas --  I did that because I didn't want to have too much sky.  But that left me with the problem of what to add at the bottom.  In the end, I added these black bars which almost makes it look like a scene from a movie -- you know, like letterboxed.  Again, this looks a lot better in person -- maybe I need a better camera.

Anyway, we're bracing for a late winter storm here in NYC -- expecting anywhere between 6 inches and a foot of snow.  It's been raining all night and it's just switching to snow right now which all adds up to one huge mess.  Hope all is well, Ed.