Sunday, July 27, 2008

Returning you to our regularly scheduled programming

Click for clarity:



At last Tuesday's drawing class in Fort Lauderdale, I found myself with little patience or focus. I tried new approaches. Broad strokes of color first rather than black lines. To keep plugging along for two hours rather than pack it up and slip out the door is what makes for discipline and discipline is what eventually brings results. The model got himself into some startling positions not recreated here.



Jim and Dan have been together for twenty years. They had a commitment ceremony on Friday night.

Among the 150 guests were were a good number of friends and neighbors from New York, Fort Lauderdale and Provincetown. Here are Ptownies Jim, Paul Bisaccia (the accomplished pianist) and Michael. In the old days, when Michael and I both had three-bedroom homes in Ptown, a typical phone call was "Michael, did you rent out August 20-27 yet, cuz I'm full up and I've got three parties of six that'll pay just about anything for that week. First group is lesbians. They asked about plumbing. Second group is Chelsea boys. Watch out. Third group has dogs and kids. Toss up. Double your rates, and you owe me dinner."


The reception soon spun out of control, with Tom and Michael dismantling the table settings to celebrate Mass with host, chalice and chalice veil.

As a wedding gift, we are gving them a painting of mine titled "Comparing notes on the morning after Halloween". In it, Jim and Dan are the guys sitting in our Provincetown garden (with C standing on the stool). Be careful what you admire because you just might get it as a gift. In this case, I think they really do like it. Anyway, it's going to a stable home.


On Saturday, the boys gathered on Bear Hill in Central Park where we received an account of a weekend on Fire Island, made plans to celebrate an important birthday for Joe in San Francisco next year, and I was prodded for Nickular details.




And then there's the balloon ride in Central Park. I'll post the video later today. So wonderful to be 300 feet up in the air in something that is absolutely silent and slowly turning to give you a 360 view of Manhattan from Central Park. (They have given up taking reservations, so I'd simply recommend getting there early, but not tomorrow morning when Kelly Ripa will be there to take a ride.)

9 comments:

Gavin said...

When JMG posted about the balloon ride, I thought how wonderful. I look forward to the vid!

M. Knoester said...

1) positions: if you're not going to show them, at least tell us about them.

2) presents: I think they'll understand you meant well, but what on earth was C doing on that stool? Does he wander off like that often? ;-)

3) balloons: another reason (besides proving I'm real) I want to get my ass over there, just what I need...

Stash said...

Wish I could've joined you.

Was stuck in transit on the Lex line for 45 minutes (the trip from 86/Lex to Union Square normally takes 10.)

That coupled with the weather made me a bit tired. But at least I got my food shopping done, so all was not lost.

Birdie said...

The bold passionate strokes in your drawings are an interesting contrast to the apparent serenity of the subject. Is it a product of the press for time, or is it a choice of style?

Love the pics, but my favorite is the one of those last two guys. I look forward to your annual installment of the story of how you met.

Tony Adams said...

Dear Subtleknife,

At one point the model propped himself up - upside down - against a post with his legs spayed. His sizable endowment spilling forward and over his upset abdomen as if seeking refuge in his navel. I suspect he may be one of those guys for whom auto-fellatio may not result in disc slippage.

C does indeed tend to wander off and perch on things. It comes from grade school. He says he used to sit in the back of the classroom perched on top of a file cabinet. (The nuns in my grade school would never have permitted such a thing).

Tony Adams said...

Dear Birdie,
Your guess that the bold strokes are a result of time constraints is accurate. Although it annoys me, the limited time of each pose forces me to boil what I see down to the essential element and to summarize the rest quickly. Self-editing is becoming a lost art what with people gabbing endlessly about nothing into their cell phones. Doesn't matter who's on the line. They should be called "self phones".
The attendant in the balloon with us took that pic. We both like it, which is rare.

Tony Adams said...

Dear Subtleknife,
Yes, I know, I meant splayed, not spayed, which is a threat that results in a whole nother pose.

Regarding the wedding gift, in this case, I know that Jim/Dan really like it. They have often admired it at our house, and have dropped enough hints about wanting it, and they have some good memories of the times they spent in that garden.

M. Knoester said...

Yes, I know, I meant splayed, not spayed

That would be auto- okay, let's not go there...

The idea of auto-fellatio interests me. I think I once heard that about 4% of men could do it. Doesn't sound like a lot? That's one in every 25 men you meet!

I wonder whether there are any women (outside of the Chinese State Circus) who could do something similar.

C. does seem reasonably intact, so I suspect he can be trusted to wander.

The mention of the back of the class brings back memories of sitting at the back of Latin class, trying to balance on two chair legs and misjudging the distance to the wall behind me.

Anonymous said...

Birthday? San Francisco? Might I coax you all to come to dinner at Chez Kitchenbeard and allow to make Joseph feel special?