Hey - I like what I like. Everything else is sh*t.

It's so true, isn't it? I will be the first to admit that when it comes to music, art, even wine, there is NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWER. I just have an opinion and I like to share it with you. And if you're smart, you'll agree with me completely. :)


Meet Sushi, the corgi. This photo was emailed to me (along with others) from a client wanting a pet portrait. She said, however, she wanted Sushi in more of a nature scene. Laying in some grass or something to that effect. And that ear on the right needed to be fixed. So here's the first layer:

Sushi, the Corgi 8x10" watercolor - 1st layer.

I've put up the photo and the painting so that you are able to see the nature and that fixed ear. I worked on this Tuesday night and plan to do more this weekend.




Last night was the Wednesday at the MFA and the model never showed up. And the MFA put our drawing session in the Chinese art gallery. One of the artists there volunteered to be the model all night. To her defense, she wasn't planning on being a model so I guess I can't complain about the outfit she wore, but.. She had the worst Mom Jeans that I had seen in a long time. It was difficult to see if she had a waist at all. She held the poses nicely but those pants. .. Couldn't get over it. AND the Chinese art gallery was SO dimly lit that it was really hard to get any good values. Owell, this is my sketch from last night. I did a lot, but this was the best of them



So when I leaned over and saw T drawing horses (there were statues of horses in the gallery) and on my other side H was just staring at the model I realized that the 3 of us weren't *feeling* it and decided to get out of there.

Interior at Stoddards in the Ladder District in Boston

We headed downtown on the suggestion of my friend H, who is also a food blogger for www.onenewengland.com. Stoddards was lovely. Expensive (apps are $10ish, entrees in the $20s) for my wallet, so T & I split the fondue plate and each had 2 beers. The food and drink were very good, our waiter was awesome and the interior of this place is BEAUTIFUL. This picture does not do it justice. From what I was told, they re gutted this building so that the original brickwork and interior design is showing. This building is around 1900's (maybe earlier) and has old T railings and Boston Lighting. You can read more reviews here
http://www.yelp.com/biz/stoddards-fine-food-and-ale-boston

Then came home and after a quick wardrobe change ( I had to get out of my work clothes!) met up with J at O'Briens, a local live music venue in Allston. We were there to catch 3 bands, but mostly we were there to check out Jim Healy's acoustic set. He has residency there on Wednesday's in April so if you have nothing to do on the 28th, you should head on down. He's a great singer, who knows how to use that mic to enhance his own, very powerful voice. You can check out his site here: http://jimhealey.net/

We also checked out Birds Make Birds. If you like the Strokes, you'll like this band. They were very tight and good at what they did. The other band, Lovers, Muggers and Thieves SUCKED. Lead singer was drunk, or acted like it. Music was unoriginal and not inspiring and they were really all over the place. At one point she, the singer, apologized for sucking (!) because they "hadn't practiced in a month". J heckled them "NO EXCUSES!" (I love him!). But yea, don't waste your time or precious sleep by staying up late to watch these fools.

Another Wednesday Night at the MFA

Here are some sketches from last night. This model was a spitting image of a Renaissance Madonna. She also held poses for 20 & 15 minutes. I don't like the face on the above drawing. I think she looks too spooked. Like a deer in headlights.....

This one I liked better because of the position, and I think I was pretty successful at getting her proportions right (you can see that I drew the leg where it ought to be in order to get that calf part of the leg correct.) Then T & I went to the Squealin' Pig over in Brigham's Circle on a recommendation from @hiddenboston via Twitter. The food was good, although Tracy said her Reuben could have used more sauerkraut and they were having their Stomp Trivia night and we had the MC's speaker right next to us. So each time he asked a question we had to stop talking ourselves because it was impossible to hear anything.

So I got home about 10:30pm and J was playing guitar. I came in and sat down and started chatting. We were on the sofa and he took his guitar off his lap and placed it between us. Usually I'll just start randomly strumming it to the point of annoyance but this time J worked my fingers into an A Minor and I strummed that for a while. Then me, (of course like a little tot) "Teach me another!!" and then showed me and my fingers a G chord. So I worked on both switching back and forth. Someday............

I'll be rockin' it like PJ Harvey LOL!!!

This weekend I'm going to Hingham to drop off those 2 pieces for the calendar show and making Guiness Cupcakes. I've never done this before, so it could end up to be a total disaster. But I hope not as I've already purchased my edible gold dust for decorating!!

Wednesday Night at the MFA

So, Here in the lovely city of Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts is FREE on Wednesdays!! And I found out from a woman that I work out with (who is also an artist) they have a figure model there 3 Wednesdays out of the month. Did I mention that this was FREE?! So another friend and I went down and had some serious sketching to do!

This is a page from my sketchbook of head studies. If I'm going to become a portrait artist then this is great practice. She moved about every 10-15 minutes. So you have to be fast! But it really loosens your brain/hand up. She was older, in her 50s, and had quite the nose! I haven't done this since art school!

Then she switched outfits and wore a dancer half-shirt thingy and a petticoat. You can tell that I took fashion illustration courses because I always gave her more volume in her hair than she actually had. I will definitely do this again. It's from 6pm to 9pm and it changes location in the museum every week. You just need to ask the Visitors' Center where it is. They provide stools, boards (for backing) paper, pencils (thank dog, because the charcoal one I brought was cracked all the way through and pissing me off as I tried to sharpen it) and erasers.

H and I stayed til about 7:45 and then checked out the Albrect Durer exhibit. I will go back again and take J as well, as it's one of his favorite artists. I love living in Boston :)