September recap: NYC markets, making, and transitioning to fall
The last of the slow
September through December is busy season here, so the first half of the month was the last stretch of unhurried time until January. I went to the US Open. I took a long walk at Liberty State Park with the skyline across the water and nothing at all to accomplish, which is usually where I do my actual thinking about what to make next.
Wandering the Upper East Side
Two afternoons went to walking with no destination, and both of them paid off.
Someone on the Upper East Side covered their front stoop in moss and ferns and then filled it with Lego mushrooms. Red caps, white spots, some of them waist high and some small enough to miss entirely. Nothing was for sale. They built it and left it out for people walking to the subway.
Two blocks later there was a flower shop with an arch of blooms over the doorway and a sidewalk chalkboard that read "life is better with flowers" in loopy handwriting. No notes.
Paper is my medium. Watercolor is my medium. Neither one is the point. The point is that somebody decided a thing was worth making, and then made it.
Framing other people's art
I finally found the right frame for my Upper West Side print, a linocut of the San Remo towers over the park from Couleur Aube. It took longer than it should have, because the wrong frame makes a good print look like a poster. A small ZapGlass Studio piece found its spot on the dresser next to it.
Living with work made by other hands is part of how I keep my own eye sharp.
Back to back weekends
Then the calendar turned. Two Grand Bazaar Sundays in a row, which means the wagon gets loaded on Saturday night and unloaded on Sunday night, four bins at a time, week after week.
The booth this month was bookmarks and NYC landmark cards up front, with paper flowers on the table behind them. The Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building bookmarks were the top sellers again.
Production mode
Now the studio is producing rather than experimenting. The Happily Ever After cards are printed and stacked for engagement season, which starts the week of Thanksgiving and does not let up. Between market days I have been painting bouquets, one small piece at a time.
The season turned at a concert
The month ended at a candlelight concert in a room with a full wall of windows. The quartet played with the sun going down behind them, hundreds of small flames on the floor, the skyline turning pink. Then the encore was Thriller.
October started right there. The turn from summer into spooky season in this city is not gradual. It happens in about four minutes.