Avocados again

I am seriously on the way to becoming an avocado hoarder.  I have four of them now.  I think I will pot them all together, instead of one at a time because then all you have is a "telephone pole".  the little tiny one will probably have to go, it looks kind of rotten, but I'm just going to let it continue to soak.  The other ones are all in their little net perches.

Nature's Designs

I'm going to try and photograph interesting designs from food. I peeled an orange and the top looked like those kids' adhesive stickers, so I played around with it a little.  I bought a ready made sandwich on a baguette,  and thought, hm, that looks like a dolphin's snout but I was greedy and ate it before I could photograph it. so when the orange top looked like a flower sticker, I decided to take its picture. .

Instant Theater

I would have to say that my script bombed.  It was too intellectual and the retired college professor messed up my joke "arpeggio" vs. "archipeligo".  Gotta keep it simple. However, I read a script with Alan Magill and it went over well, and it was being taped by a guy from Staten Island who has a cable show and is looking for material to post.  We might make it to "Richmond County" cable TV,  if the Brooklyn Public Library gives permission.

Preview of my script for "Instant Theater", where the audience is the show

We start with the beginning line ("It's official") and end line ("it's a tricky business"), decided upon at the end of the previous theater session, and come up with an original script. Actors volunteer to read, sight unseen.  So here's mine.

LUCKY AND UNLUCKY



ALBIE
It’s official!!! I am officially the unluckiest person on earth.
MINTY
Oh boy, here we go again. What happened now?
ALBIE
Okay, so I was at the Strand today....
MINTY
More books? You need more books?

ALBIE
No, actually, I wanted to buy a calendar and now that it’s way past New Years, they practically give them away, and I figured I’d pick up a beautiful art calendar real cheap, and then I started looking through the bargain books...
MINTY
As usual. How many times do I have to tell you, it’s not a bargain if you don’t need it in the first place.
ALBIE
You just don’t get it, do you. Listen, and I quote: "Spend all you have for loveliness, spend it and never count the cost".
MINTY
Right, it was easy for Sara Teasdale to say, she didn’t have to walk around stacks and stacks of dusty old books.
ALBIE
How do you know Sara Teasdale didn’t have stacks and stacks of LOVELY old books ? Forget about that for now, let me tell you what happened.
　
MINTY
Okay, so what happened as you were plowing through stacks and stacks of loveliness?
ALBIE
You won’t believe what I found....you just won’t believe it.
　
　
　
MINTY
An uncensored, original, signed copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover with intact dust jacket stamped "banned in Boston"?
ALBIE
Are you going to let me finish? No, better than that. Way better!
　
MINTY
The Gutenburg Bible, portable edition?
　
ALBIE
No. Okay, I’ll tell you: Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s "The First Circle."
　
MINTY
.....................................
ALBIE
Speechless, aren’t you?
　
MINTY
Speechless, I mean, Solzhenitsyn. Uh, he wrote uh, The Gulag Arpeggio?
　
ALBIE
Oh my good lord, the Gulag Archipelago. Nobel Prize? Remember?
　
MINTY
Okay, archipelago, same difference. But it sounds like you were lucky, you found some hidden treasure, right?
　
　
ALBIE
Right! Talk about uncensored? This was the uncensored version about his life in a Russian prison camp, and Stalinist repression and torture and stuff like that. So then I hop on the N train to get home, and I’m like, wow, there’s a seat! Lucky, right? Well, you know how it is, just when you think you got a seat, you find out the reason why it’s empty. Like the time I got on the train and half the car was empty, and I’m like, oh great, a seat! And then I find out why. There’s a passed out bum and I can’t smell him because I have a really bad head cold and I’m the only one who isn’t trying to change cars at the next stop.
MINTY
Is that what happened?
　
ALBIE
No, this time there was a Starbucks Grande spilled under a two seater, and a grande puddle of coffee in front of the seat, so naturally I couldn’t sit down. What a freakin’ mess! Some guy was sitting in one of the seats, a Lubavitcher dude. So I knew he was getting off at Atlantic Avenue, and I figured I would make my move then, because there wasn’t as much coffee in front of him. I was praying that no one else would sit in that empty spot. Sure enough, at Atlantic Avenue, I make my move. I start reading The First Circle. A great big book, with a ripped dust jacket, great blurb, author bio and all that. My feet, hovering six inches off the floor to keep out of the mess. And then you won’t believe what happened. I DROPPED THE BOOK. Right into the puddle of coffee.
MINTY
(AD LIB REACTION)
ALBIE
Can you believe it? I had to wipe off the coffee with the book cover, and for the first time in my life, I LITTERED ON THE SUBWAY. I left the cover in the puddle and kept on reading.
That beautiful dust jacket. Gone. Now am I the unluckiest person in the world or what?
MINTY
If I had to choose between the N train and the gulag, I’d say........ it’s a tricky business.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

　

more weekend doodles

I overdosed on Edith Wharton, hence the Victorian head; then there's a seashell, actually, I drew that first, and then Edith.  When I asked the hair stylist for a Gibson Girl updo, all I got was a blank look.

weekend doodles

I have to say, this reminds me of Picasso....

Spring Studio, February 19, 2012

Here are two portraits.  I can see all the things that are wrong with them, but there are some good things too. I used my trusty Prismacolor erasable blue pencil.  I think the brown pencil is some kind of pastel, it's not conte because it's smudgable but not as erasable as Prismacolor  Paper is Canson Mi Teintes gray tints (going from white to beige to gray to dark gray). One side is smooth, like suede, the other side is more toothy.  I didn't spend enough time on the brown drawing. The dome of the head is WAY too big. The subways are being maintained today, so my trip took 1.5 hours to get home.  Another thing that happened was that I finally stood up to an obnoxious artist who has been bugging my ass for months. If anyone ever cares to read this post and wants more details, I can supply them.  He made me very uncomfortable with inappropriate remarks and I let him get away with it.  He's a talented painter but that doesn't give him the right to abuse me.  He's the kind of guy who is too cheap to get his own studio and treats this space as his private studio  There is another artist like that, who comes late, sets up his equipment wherever he wants and doesn't care that the space has to be shared by 20-25 other people. He spent about 10 minutes in the bathroom washing up his stuff when there are others (me) waiting to get in to pee.  At least that's better than the artist who left (acrylic) paint (that doesn't wash out of your clothes) all over the sink so that it could splash and hit anyone else coming in to wash up.  I have to say, that New Yorkers can be the snottiest, most selfish  and cold people on earth.  New Yorkers includes out of towners who come here to work and play.  The cutest thing was when one of the la-di-da out of town female artists was spouting anti-Israel stuff (apropros of what, I don't know) and the model in brown exchanged looks with me, and mouthed, why doesn't she shut the f*** up.  No, he's not Jewish.

Avocado's Progress

just thought you might like to know, I peeled off the hard skin and put them in deeper water, let's see if any others sprout.  It does take a long time.

Heartquake

Moving on

Look, it's not just about avocados.  It's about creativity. Growing plants is creative, check out Day Three of Creation.  So are handmade birthday cards.  I used watercolor paper and typewriter key stickers and other bling from Amazing Savings. The box is also from Amazing Savings with bling stuck on. There's a surprise inside: handmade typewriter letter necklace from Kristi on ebay

Avocados

They make great pets

Avocado pits

As promised, here are some photos of the avocados in progress

Watching Grass Grow

When there's nothing else to do, watch grass grow.  Or in my case, watch avocado pits as they may or may not set forth roots.  I have four of them "cooking" and so far, only one has set forth a nice long root! Yay!  See my unique mehod, the hell with the toothpicks. I have them either sitting in a piece of the net bag for onions, or simply floating in water. I will post the photos later.