GenX

A particularly cruel scam

~ MaryG ~ 8 Comments

A friend of mine called me today with incredible news. Her novel was going to be made into a movie and she would be going to Glendale, California for a meeting about it on December 19.

I was thrilled for her. I asked how it came about and she mentioned a podcast she’d done about a year ago where she’d answered some pre-written questions about her most recent book—her third semi-autobiographical, self-published novel. Somehow a media company had heard the podcast and became interested in shopping her book to movie studios for possible adaption to film and incredibly, DreamWorks was interested.

My friend is 80 years old and recently lost a kidney to cancer. Her husband has advanced Parkinson’s Disease. She’s led an unusually interesting and challenging life. She worked very hard professionally but kept up writing fiction as a hobby for decades. Having one of her novels turned into a film would be a dream come true. Truly. I cannot think of anything else that would be more meaningful to her at this point in time. She was so excited. Her main concerns were what she would wear to the meeting in California and who could take care of her husband while she was away.

Her daughter called while we were talking, so we hung up.

I was surprised (but not shocked), when she later confirmed (by e-mail) that her daughter had been right. It was a scam.

Imagine the emotions. From the highest high to…well…the way every single scam victim must feel.

Shocked • Embarrassed • Confused
Foolish • Upset • Betrayed
Misled • Angry • Frustrated
Disappointed • Let Down • Hurt

Thankfully, her daughter caught on early and no money had yet been requested or sent.

Here’s how ChatGPT summarizes this particularly cruel scam:

A book-to-film option scam is when scammers target self-published authors by pretending a major studio wants to adapt their book. They pose as agents or producers, build excitement, and then demand money for fake services like screenplay adaptation or representation. It’s a type of advance-fee scam designed to exploit hopeful authors.

Last Watercolor Class

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

Yesterday was the last week of my 8-week class called “Loosen up with Watercolors” at our local (amazing) community arts center.

Against advice from the teacher, I attempted to paint a portrait of someone I know and love: my granddaughter. The reference photo (taken by my daughter) was from last summer when my granddaughter was 9 months old. (She’s walking now!)

I had the idea to use wine bottle webbing in the background for her playpen siding.

I had fun doing this, but I get why the teacher said not to paint family members as a total beginner. You’re too attached to the subject!

I want to learn how to make smooth skin tones, but I was too afraid to experiment on her adorable little face. I will try a stranger again next time, like that random chef from a magazine, which was my first ever watercolor portrait.

I also used those experimental gradients as backgrounds for some giraffe silhouettes. I have always loved giraffes.

I’m definitely glad I took the class. I may sign up for another session. I like the teacher and it gives me some structure to keep at it.

Dark Spain

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments

I read this article about a woman’s harrowing coming-of-age in Franco’s Spain and it triggered memories of a trip to Madrid I took with my parents in 1984 or 85—less than a decade after the end of the authoritarian Franco regime, which had lasted 36 years.

I cannot find a SINGLE photo from that trip, but I know it really happened. (Someday, if I find photos in my parents’ house, I will add them to this post.)

Here’s what I remember:

My father was in the process of selling his small company to a British company and had to go to London on business, so he took my mother and me with him. This was my first trip to Europe, so they wanted to visit one other city while we were over there and they randomly chose post-Franco Madrid. (For some reason, my sister did not come. She stayed home with the family dog who fell into the foundation of an unbuilt house and died while we were away.)

Of London, I remember only some heinously spicy Indian food, other bad food, and cream being poured on everything.

Here’s my very hazy memory of Madrid.

It was dark and dirty. We ate extremely late in the evening in smoke-filled restaurants. My parents spoke no Spanish, but still rented a car and drove up a one-way street the wrong way. A cop pulled us over and somehow it was communicated that he would take cash in lieu of giving my father a ticket.

We went to The Prado Museum and I looked at lots of dark paintings.

“David With The Head of Goliath” by Caravaggio (c1600) has been in The Prado forever. I feel like I remember seeing it there. So gruesome.

We visited Toledo, which is outside of Madrid, and I got a piece of their signature jewelry, which is also dark. They make it with black steel. I no longer have the piece, but it looked something like this.

And that’s it. That’s all I remember. The lack of photos doesn’t help.

Back to the BBC article about that poor young woman whose parents turned her over to the authorities and suffered the cruelest treatment imaginable during the Franco regime. I can’t imagine how she (or her daughter) carried on any type of relationship with her ultra conservative Catholic parents after that. The gall of that 90-year old grandfather saying “we suffered a lot too” is outrageous. I noticed the word “forgiveness” is not used.

Thursday will mark 50 years since Franco’s death. Spain has since seen a revolution in women’s rights – but survivors of the Patronato are still waiting for answers and are now demanding an inquiry.

Alizarin Crimson in nature

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments
Fallen leaves from our Japanese Maple

Alizarin crimson is a deep, cool, and transparent red color with a blue or magenta undertone that has been a staple for painters for generations.

Why is it called Alizarin?

Google’s short answer:

Because alizarin was originally the principal red dye extracted from the madder plant, and the name comes from the old word for madder root dye.

Madder plant with roots (image source: https://www.naturesrainbow.co.uk/2021/04/harvesting-madder-from-a-large-planter/)

Thursday Doors—The Kremlin

~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments

It’s fun for me to search the giant folder of pictures on my computer for “door” and see what comes up. It really jogs the old memory.

This pic came up today.

I knew it was from a slide I took in 1987 on a college trip to Helsinki, Budapest and the Soviet Union, but I didn’t know exactly where.

Guess what? ChatGPT identified it immediately as the Dormition (Assumption) Cathedral in the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia.

The distinctive arched doorway with ornate frescoes above it. The icon of the Virgin and Child surrounded by angels and saints. The Romanesque-style columns and arches framing the door.

This specific doorway is the main western portal of the Dormition Cathedral (built by Aristotele Fioravanti in the 1470s), one of the most important churches in Russia and the site of coronations of Russian tsars.

And I do believe ChatGPT is correct because I found this picture in my files as well:

That’s the Kremlin with the Dormition Cathedral—the second cluster of gold domes from the left. The Moscow River (in the foreground) was frozen solid.

I believe this is also inside the walls of the Kremlin. I think it’s Spasskaya Tower, which overlooks Red Square.

There are two possible reasons I do not have more pictures of the Kremlin. Either it was too darn cold and my camera battery froze or our “Intourist” (Communist Party) tour guide wouldn’t let us take photos.

I have a feeling my camera battery froze because I’m not a total rule follower. (I have been known to sneak a photo in forbidden areas.) However, we were warned so severely to not break any rules while in Russia, I may have been “scared straight” as they say.

Here’s a photo of our Intourist Guide Elena receiving some parting gifts from our Russian History professor on the tour bus. Too bad I only got the back of her head.

See, this is why you take pictures people. I had forgotten all of this. I have been to the Kremlin!

Posted for Dan’s Thursday Doors.

Northern Lights II

~ MaryG ~ 16 Comments

A little over a year ago, I saw the Northern Lights for the first time on the way to choir practice and wrote a post about it.

Last night at about 9pm, thanks to Facebook, I was alerted that the aurora borealis was again visible in the skies above our town. Not as bright as last year, but still very cool.

Photo taken from my back porch facing north
The Northern Lights do not look as bright to the naked eye as they do in photos, but I could distinctly see both the pink and the green with my own eyes.

I texted my kids and my parents to look north and my daughter saw some beautiful pinks where she lives in southern central Massachusetts:

My father saw them for the first time in his 91 years and he was a pilot who has been to Alaska several times and also to Iceland. Here was his photo from two towns over:

Watercolor Class Week 7: trial and error

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

After my frustrating experience with complementary colors and sunsets, I made some gradients to try to better understand my color options.

I have no pink. Alizarin Crimson can work as pink when diluted or mixed with Purple Lake.

I decided I do not like Cadmium Orange and will avoid it in the future.

Today the teacher gave a dog portrait painting demo (something she earns money doing) and then everyone worked on whatever they wanted. I decided to go back to my rail trail painting and see if I can make it better by adding more layers. A woman loaned me a sea sponge for applying paint to get a certain effect (like fall leaves), so that was fun. I hope to finish that painting by the last class next week. I also want to try one more portrait before the end of the session.

Although there are definitely some shared techniques in watercolor painting (like lifting paint to lighten areas), a lot of the learning seems to come from trial and error. Our teacher is self-taught and she swears she learned everything she knows (and she knows a lot) by just trying it. As she says, “it’s just a piece of paper.”

These are her top tips:

Painting Progressions

Light to Dark

Loose to detailed

Big to small brushes

Tealike to Creamy

90% to 10% of surface active painting to observing

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Update:

Here’s my “Rail Trail” with the additional layers. I do like it better now.

Yes!

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

Thank god!!

Two pro-choice women governors, Prop 50 in California, Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices, Virginia legislative seats, and a 34-year old NYC mayor who basically told Donald Trump to go fuck himself.

America hates Donald Trump and someday he will be gone. That’s what I take away from last night.

Thanks to Gov Newsom for leading the charge.

Watercolor Class Week 6: lessons learned

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments

Each of the primary colors has a complementary color that you really want to avoid mixing with, at least for sunsets. If you put wet complementary colors near each other or layer them, you’re going to get brown. 💩

Red & Green = Brown

Blue & Orange = Brown

Yellow & Purple = Brown

That’s why my blue/violet to orange sunset sky ended up looking like a fried egg, especially from a distance,

The teacher said you can’t go directly from blue/purple to orange. You need some pink to transition.

She suggested using Alizarin crimson (not cadmium red) to make pink. It has blue undertones.

I tried again to get Key West sunset vibes, but without an ugly brown ring.

I’m not happy with the result. I really wanted a nice blended smooth gradient. The teacher said I painted “into it” too much. I need to try again, wetting the paper in both directions with my largest flat brush and then dragging the wet paint across in one direction only – end to end. In fact go off the paper with the brush.

Rather than masking, I could use a paper towel to lift out a circular moon or sun. (You can hold the paper towel in a round bunch and rotate the watercolor paper to create the circle.) And again, avoid complementary colors that will bleed into each other and make brown.

There are two classes left in this session and I need to decide what to do. I’ve been enjoying the class, but I’m not 100% sure that watercolors are my thing. But perhaps I should re-register and give it a bit longer.

One of the women who keeps re-registering is a very good watercolorist. She creates beautiful paintings of natural subjects like oyster shells and winter trees, and I can see that the teacher gives her good advice. Is that what I aspire to?

I am curious about both acrylic and oil painting, but those are more of an investment, and not as easy to whip out and work on at home.

Maybe I should take another drawing class and also re-up for one more 8-week session of watercolors. Maybe after that, I’ll feel confident enough in my drawing and color skills, to try working with real paint on an actual canvas.

Charcoal pencil sketch of a pug (like Horace from Poldark)

On the other hand, 8 more sessions of watercolors is a lot, if I decide I’m not that into it.

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Update: Third and final try on this silly Key West sunset! Water colors are hard.