Day 4 under weather. Day 2 snowed in.

(sorry video quality on my computer much better, kinda sad here)

Waking up to this mid day somehow made everything a little bit more bearable. When the snow is this light and feathery it reminds me of home where it is dry and the snow always looks like a dusting of powered sugar. While I watched it dance from bed, I decided it reminded me of apple blossoms falling in the springtime. Don't you think?

Snow is so quiet.

It doesn't make a sound, unlike rain which makes its presence known in a big way. I woke up this morning still feverish (I am under the weather) expecting the patter of rain and opened my eyes, put on my glasses, and looked out my window to see the silent flakes collecting outside my window. Funny, I had a feeling the snow was going to be there before I looked. It made me think about life and what in it is like rain or like snow. What comes pounding in and is obvious and what silently blankets you when you are sleeping? Could also be the fever talking but I thought there was much to be learned from that. And now I'm signing off to watch more snow come down and drink away my fever with some tea.

I Love New York.

I spent today with the city. In fact you could say the entirety of lower Manhattan was my valentine. I gave it some love, with a smile or two at strangers, and it gave me some back. There is love everywhere in the city if you look especially today, it's unavoidable. In fact, in Union Square a nice group of sign toting people were actually giving away hugs for free. I got two. No strings attached. My love affair with the city continued down 14th street. Outside of "Artichoke Pizza" there were couples eating hot pizza and standing in the cold February chill, huddling to stay warm. I sat outside the dog park in Tompkins Square, my face in the sunshine and my boots resting on a snow mound from last week's blizzard. I watched the dogs run around and play with their doting owners. I walked through the farmer's market in search of steak and looked at all the winter potatoes,carrots and onions piled high, their colors mingling. I sat on a bench sipping a cup of hot cider and watched odd and cute couples, parents and kids, and aware singles walk by. And as I stared up at the fast moving clouds behind the bare winter tree tops and watched the fading sunlight I did not feel the day's chill, I in fact felt very warm indeed.

And below is a valentine for my family and friends...I love all of you. Happy Valentine's!

My Self-Portrait is

According to my roommate, "long pause... It is very Dickensian." According to a classmate, it is very "Norman Rockwell." I am not sure what it is but I sure did learn a lot staring at myself for a few days and trying to see myself. I see here and there where it does not resemble me, but when I stare at it, I still get the feeling that it is me staring back. I listened to the entire symphonies of Gustav Mahler, all nine of them, while painting it. Sometimes I was actually painting, sometimes I was wiping out everything I had just spent a good time painting, and sometimes I was just staring back at myself and listening to Mahler. Mahler holds a private meaning for me. But I think in this process, of forcing myself to listen again to his music, it slowly became simply music again; powerful, strange, and beautiful.

(me with my self-portrait, a bit redundant I know, took this for my mom!)

(our class paintings of the models, mine is a profile of Demetri, below the lovely painting of a woman reading)

Our show was a success. I know this by the crowd of people, thick enough that it was difficult to part one's way through and actually see the art. Also, the nice comments I received, from my peers and strangers alike, on my "honorable mention," blue stickered self-portrait. So many of the paintings were beautifully executed and all were so very different. I think one of the most interesting things about a class show is that everyone can have the same model but no one will have the same work. And Lastly I know it was a success because the wine was gone in five minutes.