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Poodle Portrait by Art, the dog.

I made this little drawing a few years ago for a Read Your Dog contest on Facebook.

Yea, it won a prize ;) This week I decided to make it a painting. 

Red Studio by Matisse is a favorite of mine, so I gave Art a red space from which to work.

The timing seems right, since Matisse's Cut-Outs exhibit just opened 

at MOMA this week. I look forward to seeing it!

Monday, I picked up my new glasses by Soda Monster at Community Optical :)

I love them. They're navy with orange on the inside and most importantly, light weight.

I had the best experience going to Alex Musayev at Community Optical. 

I even ended up choosing the very glasses he was wearing!

I tried on a lot, when I finally narrowed it down to two (see below)

it still took me a while to decide. These are a nice looking CK design, 

but  in the end, I wasn't sure I could pull off the neon yellow sides.

This is such a comfortable neighborhood spot, I can't say enough about it.

Dr Jade R Gormady is great, customers are friendly 

and Alex couldn't be nicer or more helpful. 

My NEW cards arrived! I love the quality and have found a pen that writes on the glossy backs.

However, I still need to call Moo bc the consensus is that they printed the address field 

on the wrong side. 

My 1st trip to the New York Historical Society was to see the Ludwig Bemelmans exhibit.

It's hard to believe I've lived here for over 20 years and never visited. It's a wonderful place!

Above, Kristine Lombardi, Melissa Iwai and Yuko Katakawa pose with the Madeline wall decal.

I wish I could have taken some photos inside the show. Bemelmans' paintings are much more

interesting and rich in person. I've always been a fan of his loose painterly style 

and as charming as the Madeline books are, they don't do justice to the real thing. 

The original oil painted cover for Madeline and the Bad Hat was on view.

Below, was one of my favorites in person, but in the actual book

elements were cleaned up, some of the looser lines "fixed", taking away some of

the charm and inventiveness, in my opinion.

Melissa also noticed where the image was cropped and that a man on bridge 

had been deleted, which probably made sense, but note to self -

buy original work when you can, if you can!

It was fun to read personal letters to and from the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy and 

to see images of large panel murals he painted for restaurants and

for Christina Onasis' playroom, on her dad's yacht, no less! 

WNYC did a nice piece on Madeline turning 75 this summer.

And there's more if you're interested, 

Bemelmans' grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano wrote 

a terrific book years ago, Bemelmans - The Life and Art of Madeline's Creator

Overnight New York blog wrote an interesting piece here-

Madeline and the Ritz - How Hotels Influenced the Life and Art of Ludwig Bemelmans

His series of casual drawings on graph paper were totally new to me. 

Above is called Adieu to the Old Ritz

I have had the opportunity to go to Bemelmans Bar a couple of times. 

It's worth going for the cocktails and live music, but mostly I went for the art :)

I took a chance and bought a new to me, "beloved" sofa on Craigslist.

I got lucky with the price and location. I purchased this CB2 piece from a very 

nice couple who live only about 3 blocks from me. 

It seemed a bit further when Michael Thibodeau, Leslie Wolf and I walked it to my apt.

Most importantly, it fit through my doorway and Lena the cat seems to like it.

I can't thank these guys enough for helping me out! 

As for this fine piece by Earl R Smith they gave me, I really don't know what to say.

 I can thank Leslie for the ticket to Tuesday night's screening of Listen Up, Phillip at BAM.

Jason Schwartzman and director, Alex Ross Perry did a Q&A afterwards. 

 Jason is as cute and charismatic in person as you might expect :)

He plays a self absorbed, malcontented, though successful writer beautifully in the movie. 

I think he's one of the few actors who can pull off such a tricky role. 

I appreciate a story that doesn't give you what you're expecting and it's very funny 

in parts, but loses some steam about midway, for me, at least. 

Still, I enjoy screenings and love Q&A 

even though audience questions tend to be terrible and I can never 

come up with anything much better, myself. 

Luna lighting at Broadway Stages, not an accurate representation of LiteSource 

There's a NEW Awesome lighting app in town! LiteSource - dreamed up

by clever lady, Margaret Heidenry and built by genius, Mark Smith! 

It requires iOS8 or later, so I need to upgrade to try it myself. 

If you're like me, you've often felt frustrated by the inability to take a 

great night shot with your phone, whether of your friends, a beautiful building, 

romantic scene, nocturnal creature ... 

Well, now you can! I really can't believe this hadn't come about sooner.

 Check it out here.

and finally, I am behind in my pen sketches for #inktober and the 

#drawlloween topics I was drawing and posting on Instagram. 

These are a few from my sketchbook. Feel free to follow along,

join in and do your own or just see if I get back on track here.

ahhh beginnings...

Frederick Douglass statue at NYHS - photo courtesy Melissa Iwai

Til We Meet Again

xo, A