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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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-28 04:55 pm (UTC)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.