Reminder: Mother's day is this Sunday.

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My mom always encourages me to be the person I am. So Yesterday I made her a fun card with crazy birds on it to show her how much I appreciate that. It's hard to tell from the image, but the pink bird on the far left is hiding on the back when it's folded. I'm mailing it this morning, so I'll have to tell her to not read my blog for a few days. Thanks for everything mom. I think this card would also work nicely without the "mom" so it could be given to anyone you feel let's you be yourself.

"...to preserve life in the act of living." Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Martine's Legs, 1968

Henri Cartier-Bresson, In a Train, Romania, 1975

This weekend has been equal parts cold and beautiful. I walked around the East Village today and sat under a flowering tree, it rained petals down on my head. A lady was painting a pretty picture of Stuyvesant Park. I watched her as I blew hot air on my hands, shoving them back into my spring jacket. Because of the chill in the air it was peaceful with only birds and squirrels in mass attendance.

Last weekend I was in Bryant Park, after hitting up the newly hung Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the MOMA. It was warm, full to the brim with people, people all sitting around in their metal chairs, staring into the bright green of the closed off lawn that is still seeding and is just waiting to be lied on. Old Italian men and their apprentices were playing a pick up game of Bocce and the metal balls glimmered in the bright daylight as they rolled to a stop in the dust. And the park was a world of long shadows as the sun sank behind the green canopy of trees and the tall surrounding city. I was thinking about Bresson's still moments. The moments he caught and preserved forever in black and white prints that are now hanging in a white room for passing people to stare at and question. Question the faces, their still laughter, their lives and what became of them. "It is through living we discover ourselves, at the same time as we discover the world around us" I had read on the wall that afternoon (Bresson, 1952). If I could have taken home any of the prints from the show In a train and Martine's Legs would go nicely together.

An onslaught of art in a sea of hipsters.

Mike + Doug Starn, Structure of Thought 18, 2001-2007, 72"x60", archival inkjet prints with varnish

Today I ventured to the last day of the Armory show. My senses were bombarded. With the art, the people, the heat. I walked in circles seeing so many contrasting sights at each turn that I did not know what to focus on. It was thrilling and I think I'll go again next year.

One of the pieces that caught my eye in the whirlwind of the day was a giant inkjet print with wax, encaustic, and varnish by Mike + Doug Starn. They are the artist twins that are responsible for the upcoming Met roof installation, Big Bambù, that opens in April. I did not connect the two until I looked them up when I returned to Brooklyn. I in fact was not even aware they were the artists of the piece I was enamored with, and had neglected to write down, until I did some digging and put two and two together. This work was so different from the towering bamboo structures I was aware of. Lesson: always use your moleskin. The piece in the show must have been similar or an edition of the one above? Again, moleskin a useful tool. Also on the artists' website, starnstudio.com, I found out I need to take a trip south on the 1 train to see their installation, See it split, see it change, that encompasses the entire South Ferry Station. Trees underground in the subway? A happy thought indeed. And if I had been more aware of their work before today, I could have taken advantage of the fact that 20x200.com (affordable art for people who can't afford it, such as artists) was selling editions of their work, Structure of thought6-b and 6-a (designed to be layered together), and owned my very own mini Mike+Doug Starn...before they sold out. Drat. What can I say, I love to look up at the trees. And in this city we all need that from time to time.

I also wish I could have taken home a Chagall drawing I was eyeing today. I only like some of his work, but the work of his I like, I really like. And this colored in, loose line drawing of a circus would fit perfectly in the home I live in in my mind.

(my entire neighborhood must have been in attendance, nice tights)

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.