Watercoloring people on the Subway, Sunbathing, and Picard (along with other television of note)

[shadowkat]

1. Well, I finished another watercolor - this is the one of the man on the train that I saw on the way home one day. He was wearing this brightly colored checkered jacket and dark sunglasses - which I found quite memorable.

The picture is below the cut. Co-worker and I decided that it is kind of hard to capture watercolors well in a photograph. But I'm trying.

I probably shouldn't share them on social media. This desire to share my art with others may well be my undoing. Why do I want to? What is this? The lovely thing about art is it is truly a subjective thing. There is no such thing as good art or bad art. All you are doing is seeing the world through another perspective - when you look at a drawing or painting or piece of any artwork really. And everyone is different - no two artists are the same. I am working to get caught up in the process of creating the art and turning off my inner critic or censer. So, if you hate it? Don't tell me.
Not all art is to everyone's taste. I get that. But I'd rather not know about it right now. Trying to stay unblocked.





For some reason photography fades out and flattens the image. It's much better in person or seen with the naked eye. I'm not exactly sure why. May have something to do with the light?

Also, I need to not compare my art to my coworker's. We are very different artists. I'm more intuitive, she's more technical and swings towards hyper-realism, while I swing towards impressionism. Plus she doesn't tend to do people - so much as botanicals and animals. Very different artists, using very different techniques and materials. Also very different training.

You can't compare artists well. There's no real objective criteria in art. Not when you reach a certain point? (I've taken a lot of art courses over the years - but I tend to do best under the intuitive and abstract or impressionistic teachers, the technical realistic or realism profs irritate me.

Maybe I should stay off social media? The good news is we don't have friends in common on social media - so no one is comparing us, but well us.

2. I keep seeing well...this picture on my FB feed...





I do not know where it is. He won't tell me. Truth is - it's not my kind of vacation. I am not a sunbather. Never have been. My idea of fun is not lying in the hot sun, reading, and drinking cocktails, while staring out at the ocean. I'd rather read in the shade, inside, away from the bugs and the heat, and without any noises. I get antsy and restless and uncomfortable.

No, I like active vacations. Where I'm doing stuff - whether it's exploring a new culture, hiking through a forest, swimming in the ocean, going kayaking or sailing, touring ruins. I could sit on a porch somewhere with a friend. I think the problem with going to resorts as a single person - is it is kind of boring. I got bored sitting on the beach for two hours with friends in Martha's Vineyard.

3. Picard Episode 6 (I think it is episode 6).

We've finally introduced the rest of the STNG team - La Forge, Data, and Troi are now all involved. I actually like La Forge better now than previously. I'm getting bored of Data though - I swear he has been in the entire series. In multiple roles. The one quibble I have with Picard is too much Brent Spiner. A little of him goes a long way. I'd have preferred more of Ryker, who I always thought was a better foil for Picard. Or Troi or Crusher.

STNG did not have enough Troi or Crusher in my opinion or female characters. Voyager is really the only Star Trek series that had a lot of female characters. It and Discovery. (I don't know about Strange New Worlds.) Actually Picard has a lot of them. The later series did.

My difficulty with Picard S3 is the villains are...a bit too villainous for their own good. Season 1 handled villains the best - they were complex and less mustachio twirling. I actually could see the point of view of the villains in S1. Also it wasn't dependent on seeing DS9, which I could never get into - partly because I didn't like most of the characters in DS9, and despised the villains or alien races involved. (I'm sorry Bab 5 covered the same themes but so much better. DS9 was basically a rip off of Bab 5, and Babylon 5 was 100 times better and more innovative in its alien cultures and complex villains. Also much more likable characters. You're not going to change my mind about DS9. People have tried and failed. I'm clearly in the minority on this one. But, different tastes and all that.)

So, if you liked the changling's and the Dominion War in DS9, and felt it was unresolved or had issues with how it was resolved - you will like the plot of this - a lot better than I do. I'm handwaving the plot mechanics, and focusing on the characters. I like everyone but the villains, who are a bit over the top.

Still enjoying it though - mainly because I love the STNG characters, and it helps that they are all around my age.


4. Watched The Boston Strangler on Hulu. Was better than expected.


It focused on the two female reporters, specifically Loretta McLaughlin, who figured out the case - and that there was more than one strangler.
We follow her investigative process, and her work with the other reporter Jean, who she remained life-long friends with - long after she divorced her husband. Often friendships last longer than romantic relationships.

It remains largely unsolved, partly because F Lee Bailey decided to make money off of it - and convinced three people to engineer a confession. Bailey died some time ago in hospice. Navarre, one of the three is serving time in prison. DeSolvo died in prison - he's the one who confessed to all 13 killings, although the evidence only links him to one. The third, who had a pseudonym in the film, and whose real name has never been revealed, not that it matters he's changed it anyhow, disappeared. No one knows what happened to him or where he is now. I figure he's most likely in his nineties or dead now. Maybe somebody killed him. Loretta died in 2018, after a stellar career in journalism.

Reminded me a little bit of Spotlight and She Said. I may hunt down and watch the Pentagon Papers next, I love journalistic process films. They are fun. Actually I love to watch or read anything about artistic or investigative process. It's why I like baking demonstrations, reality shows that focus on making things - such as building/remolding houses, designing houses, designing clothing, throwing and making pottery, doing floral arrangements, stuff like that. What I hate about reality shows - is what other people unfortunately appear to love - which is the back biting, gossiping, sniping, competition, and personal drama. I wish they'd cut that out. The British reality shows have less of it than the US ones, for some reason - or at least the exported British ones do. (We tend to get the better British shows over here - because you don't export the crap. I'm not sure we do either? It's hard to know.)

I won't watch shows about serial killers - I'm not interested in following the serial killer. I'm interested in following the cops hunting down the killer. Or the journalists hunting them down. I don't want to see the killings or rapes. (They show a little of it, but not much.)

Also, finished S1 of Only Murders in the Building finally. It was okay. My attention kept wandering during it. I may like S2 and 3 better.
S1 kind of meandered and was hard to follow.

Comments

[mtbc]

Yes, Britain certainly has some less competition-drama-filled reality shows, I liked the BBC's post-GBBO Best Home Cook for that reason, though perhaps it's saying something that not enough other people did. Similarly, for US shows like Ink Master, it was interesting to learn about tattooing (given my previous ignorance) but the fuss between the contestants was just tedious and I was pleased when the winner of one season was someone who'd largely stayed out of that drama. I've enjoyed Beat Bobby Flay because, while the form of the competitiveness was there, it was also clear that it wasn't taking itself as seriously, at least it felt more fun. Kind of like the original Japanese Iron Chef where they're (politely) not smack-talking each other and such and, honestly, though it presents itself very seriously, I feel as if I'm also detecting an undercurrent of fun.

Now I think about it, I think early seasons of The Great British Bake-Off and Ink Master told us more about the process and I liked them more for that.

While I liked DS9 more than you, definitely agreed about B5, and B5 gave me far more to think about during and afterward, partly because of how it often had something to say about real themes.

Admittedly I am quite happy to laze around amid sun and sea. (-: For me that'd be a good side of if my family ended up leaving the West and living in SE Asia instead. In my teenage years in Cornwall I'd enjoy taking a novel to the beach on a summer day.

Definitely see your point re. sharing your art. I'm happy to simply take it for what it is. Personally I appreciate it because I find it interesting to see how an impressionistic approach can evoke so much. (Other artists I've known tend to go more for direct realism.) I never took much in the way of art classes myself and I've no idea how good you are but thank you for whatever you do choose to share.

[spiffikins]

I have been know to just hang out in a pool, floating facing the wall, with my arms on the desk, kindle in hand, reading for hours on end :D I have not bought a waterproof kindle - but I'm *awfully* tempted - then I could take my kindle to the lake and float in the water and read all day :D

That photo appears to be Hacienda Encantada Resort & Residences in Cabo San Lucas, according to google. One of the reviewers has a nearly identical photo in her review.



I would totally go to there - if only because there would be warm ocean to swim in and go snorkeling :D

I totally agree that it is unreasonable to compare artists.

That is one of the things about the paint nite events that I find difficult. When you have a group of people all painting the *same* picture - it is inevitable that everyone ends up comparing their own efforts to the others and to the teacher's painting - and to the original sample.

It is always fascinating to see how you can have a dozen people paint the same thing - and end up with such different pictures, though.

As a "learning new skills and techniques" - I find it helpful to have a fixed image that I am trying to reproduce - at least to some degree. I am still learning how to use the brushes and paint and make the marks that I want to make, and make the colours that I want to make. But a lot of my most favourite bits of my paintings, end up being marks made accidentally while trying to accomplish something else, LOL

At least when you are painting your own original works - nobody else has painted that person in that train at that moment - so there is nothing to compare against?

I appreciate your loose, impressionist style - it's something I really struggle with!

[shadowkat]

Yep it's Hacienda Encantada Resort & Residences in Cabo San Luca, I finally asked and he told me. I was starting to fantasize trips to it. He posts on it daily on my FB feed. Quite annoying actually. ;-D (In the sense that now I want to go - but not alone, plus no time. Ugh.)

Agree on paint nites. You kind of have to do the same painting - to get the technique down and also have some sense of a goal in mind? It's kind of similar to having everyone in a close doing the same still life or live model. (I drew more naked live models than still life's in my classes. Because I like to draw people.)

But the downside of everyone drawing the same thing - is a tendency to compare? I've been avoiding the paint nite route because that's a weakness of mine - a tendency to get too distracted by what others are doing, and shutting down. Drawing people from memory on the subway - gets me away from that, also not drawing from a set photo or anything helps - because then I have more flexibility and more allowance for the happy accidents. Less struggle for perfectionism? At least for me. I am easily distracted in group setttings for some reason. Although paint nite sounds like fun. Meetup Groups used to have a drawing class where you went somewhere and drew people dressed up in costume in a specific locale - say a musuem, a restaurant, a bar. But I was always nervous to do it. Also, I didn't have my own easle that I could lug with me. And it was at 6 or 7 or 8 at night - which is problematic for my work week. I found excuses, as you can see. LOL! I don't know if they still do it now.

[svgurl]

I like your painting, and the jacket still catches my eye, especially how three dimensional it seems.

While I like beaches in theory, I get bored too just laying there too, since I'm not a swim in the ocean person.

[shadowkat]

I have to admit I'm not crazy about swimming in the ocean either. Yup a fan of beaches in theory and lying about by the pool in theory - it's never as much fun in actuality though for some reason.

I like to do stuff, and be comfortable.

Thank you, in regards to the painting - much appreciated. I think the jacket made it work.