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The Color of Water

By Danny Gregory in Galleries —

After a week of cold rain, most New Yorkers would kill somebody—anybody!—to spend some time on a tropical beach. Artist Danny Gregory just returned from the Dominican Republic, and brought back a book of drawings and watercolors.

‘Early Morning Flight Out. We are on a 757 to the Dominican Republic – still a bit out of it because we woke up at five a.m. to make the flight. I borrowed some crayons from Kelly in the adjoining seat. She’s in the second grade and likes to draw so we sketched a dog and cat together. The movie is <i>Under the Tuscan Sky </i>but it seems a little early to be at the cinema. I am still waiting for my cereal and fruit.’
‘Early Morning Flight Out. We are on a 757 to the Dominican Republic – still a bit out of it because we woke up at five a.m. to make the flight. I borrowed some crayons from Kelly in the adjoining seat. She’s in the second grade and likes to draw so we sketched a dog and cat together. The movie is Under the Tuscan Sky but it seems a little early to be at the cinema. I am still waiting for my cereal and fruit.’
‘We have begun the morning ritual of securing our deck chairs with beach towels and paperbacks. Patti uses three, stacked, so she can transfer easily [from her wheelchair] but if we leave our seats for long, someone always snags one or two off her stack. Apparently the chances of being killed by a shark are less than by a falling coconut – Source, Jack Tea Gregory.’
‘We have begun the morning ritual of securing our deck chairs with beach towels and paperbacks. Patti uses three, stacked, so she can transfer easily [from her wheelchair] but if we leave our seats for long, someone always snags one or two off her stack. Apparently the chances of being killed by a shark are less than by a falling coconut – Source, Jack Tea Gregory.’
‘Our first day and it’s hellishly nice. The place is quite lovely and lush and not too packed with other people. Very few Americans and all the announcements are in three or four languages. The food is decent, the sun is hot and there’s no work to be done that doesn’t require a swimsuit and lotion. I should learn some Spanish but think I’ll take a nap instead.’
‘Our first day and it’s hellishly nice. The place is quite lovely and lush and not too packed with other people. Very few Americans and all the announcements are in three or four languages. The food is decent, the sun is hot and there’s no work to be done that doesn’t require a swimsuit and lotion. I should learn some Spanish but think I’ll take a nap instead.’
‘Meanwhile, at the pool…The rain drove us all, briefly, under cover around lunch time but now the sun is vigorously tanning our hides once more. Though I have developed a cough and Jack was up with a running butt all night, we’re feeling a fair amount better, thanks for asking.’
‘Meanwhile, at the pool…The rain drove us all, briefly, under cover around lunch time but now the sun is vigorously tanning our hides once more. Though I have developed a cough and Jack was up with a running butt all night, we’re feeling a fair amount better, thanks for asking.’
‘I’m not sure what the function of these Swiss cheeses could be. I also wonder how they were made and how they got here. They are each a different shade of sea-battered concrete and form jetties and then just stand around, here and there in the sand. Jack’s the only family member to have taken to the sea on this vacation. He and his new pal, Marco, were dragged behind a motor launch on an inflated yellow banana boat while Patti and I looked on from the shore. Then he went on a horse ride which was fun but, more importantly, afterwards he got a Fanta. Today is Patti’s birthday which we are celebrating by lugging by the pool.’
‘I’m not sure what the function of these Swiss cheeses could be. I also wonder how they were made and how they got here. They are each a different shade of sea-battered concrete and form jetties and then just stand around, here and there in the sand. Jack’s the only family member to have taken to the sea on this vacation. He and his new pal, Marco, were dragged behind a motor launch on an inflated yellow banana boat while Patti and I looked on from the shore. Then he went on a horse ride which was fun but, more importantly, afterwards he got a Fanta. Today is Patti’s birthday which we are celebrating by lugging by the pool.’
‘An ersatz lighthouse on the beach by the next hotel to ours. It’s not really intended to keep ships off the rocks but to serve rum on them. Incidentally, the adjoining beaches seethe with exposed bosoms as Eurobabes expose their glands to the sun’s warm touch. Many middle-aged men with drawing equipment trudge the sands in search of impromptu life-modeling classes.’
‘An ersatz lighthouse on the beach by the next hotel to ours. It’s not really intended to keep ships off the rocks but to serve rum on them. Incidentally, the adjoining beaches seethe with exposed bosoms as Eurobabes expose their glands to the sun’s warm touch. Many middle-aged men with drawing equipment trudge the sands in search of impromptu life-modeling classes.’
‘This guy was in the gym with me on Monday before I succumbed to my various ailments. There were only three of us exercising at the time and I studied and hypothesized about the other two quite extensively while cross-country skiing and listening to Al Franken on my iPod. The other guy was proudly running on the treadmill, deluged in sweat* (the gym’s an open-air hut and as humid as the rest of this tropical isle) and describing his fitness regime to this guy who was questioning eagerly and, it seemed to me, quite creepily. The questioner wasn’t wearing regular gym clothes but rather chinos, a polo shirt, and brown street shoes and what seemed to me to be an obvious toupée. It was unnaturally black and had a little boyish flip at the front and that little tell-tale duck’s tail at the back where it met his real hair, what there was of it. He would periodically sit on the lat pulldown machine and do a set and then stand next to me and my machine and carefully examine himself, his physique and his rug in the wall to wall mirror. Creepy, non? I’ve seen him alone a few times since then, always in the same perfectly groomed hairpiece and Ross Perot ears. Suddenly, I decided to feel sorry for him and his lonely, creepy, self-deception (this happened as I drew his bony back) but then some woman joined him and I’ve had to start rewriting his story again, figuring he’s just French or something. <br /><br /> *The running guy appeared at the pool later, and removed his shoes and then slid, sweat-soaked clothes and all, into the pool my family swims in. Nice.<br /><br /> She took off her face drape and left before I could draw her knees so I won’t waste any more time thinking about her.’
‘This guy was in the gym with me on Monday before I succumbed to my various ailments. There were only three of us exercising at the time and I studied and hypothesized about the other two quite extensively while cross-country skiing and listening to Al Franken on my iPod. The other guy was proudly running on the treadmill, deluged in sweat* (the gym’s an open-air hut and as humid as the rest of this tropical isle) and describing his fitness regime to this guy who was questioning eagerly and, it seemed to me, quite creepily. The questioner wasn’t wearing regular gym clothes but rather chinos, a polo shirt, and brown street shoes and what seemed to me to be an obvious toupée. It was unnaturally black and had a little boyish flip at the front and that little tell-tale duck’s tail at the back where it met his real hair, what there was of it. He would periodically sit on the lat pulldown machine and do a set and then stand next to me and my machine and carefully examine himself, his physique and his rug in the wall to wall mirror. Creepy, non? I’ve seen him alone a few times since then, always in the same perfectly groomed hairpiece and Ross Perot ears. Suddenly, I decided to feel sorry for him and his lonely, creepy, self-deception (this happened as I drew his bony back) but then some woman joined him and I’ve had to start rewriting his story again, figuring he’s just French or something. *The running guy appeared at the pool later, and removed his shoes and then slid, sweat-soaked clothes and all, into the pool my family swims in. Nice. She took off her face drape and left before I could draw her knees so I won’t waste any more time thinking about her.’
‘Au bord de la mer…<br /><br /> It’s not very easy to draw and worry at the same time. Jack’s head is one of the little ones out there bobbing in the surf and my memories of being little and afraid of the undertow keep dragging my eyes back and forth across the horizon to make sure he’s still there. He’s a far better swimmer than I was at his age so, instead of angsting about the sea, he is having fun. He waves to me now and then and comes back to the shoreline to tell me about a particularly awesome wave. Maybe if I chill I’ll draw better than this mess.’
‘Au bord de la mer… It’s not very easy to draw and worry at the same time. Jack’s head is one of the little ones out there bobbing in the surf and my memories of being little and afraid of the undertow keep dragging my eyes back and forth across the horizon to make sure he’s still there. He’s a far better swimmer than I was at his age so, instead of angsting about the sea, he is having fun. He waves to me now and then and comes back to the shoreline to tell me about a particularly awesome wave. Maybe if I chill I’ll draw better than this mess.’
‘My lovely wife, Patti Lynn bought me this selection of chocolates a couple of days ago when I was feeling under the weather. I decided to hoard them until I was in better shape. The chocolates went into my backpack to await the return of my appetite. This afternoon, after getting a shot of hydrocortisone and antihistamine in my ample rump, I got a hankering for some of that Swiss confection. I hauled the lot from my pack under my deck chair and discovered that I was now a frustrated owner of a couple of hundred grams of hot chocolate. The sun had melted the lot.’
‘My lovely wife, Patti Lynn bought me this selection of chocolates a couple of days ago when I was feeling under the weather. I decided to hoard them until I was in better shape. The chocolates went into my backpack to await the return of my appetite. This afternoon, after getting a shot of hydrocortisone and antihistamine in my ample rump, I got a hankering for some of that Swiss confection. I hauled the lot from my pack under my deck chair and discovered that I was now a frustrated owner of a couple of hundred grams of hot chocolate. The sun had melted the lot.’
‘Sitting and Stewing at the Airport. La Romana, Dominican Republic.<br /><br /> People are usually so helpful to us at airports, going out of their way to accommodate Patti’s wheelchair but it’s been different here. Our seats aren’t together, they gave Patti an inaccessible window seat and were generally somewhere between indifferent and hostile throughout. We’d done our part, reserving in advance, explaining our needs, getting to the airport ridiculously early but it made no difference. Interesting that in general there’s a callousness toward disability here and at our hotel we’re not used to and I wonder if it’s cultural. People stare a lot and treat Patti as more ‘other’ than usual. Time to board.’
‘Sitting and Stewing at the Airport. La Romana, Dominican Republic. People are usually so helpful to us at airports, going out of their way to accommodate Patti’s wheelchair but it’s been different here. Our seats aren’t together, they gave Patti an inaccessible window seat and were generally somewhere between indifferent and hostile throughout. We’d done our part, reserving in advance, explaining our needs, getting to the airport ridiculously early but it made no difference. Interesting that in general there’s a callousness toward disability here and at our hotel we’re not used to and I wonder if it’s cultural. People stare a lot and treat Patti as more ‘other’ than usual. Time to board.’
‘Influenced by my iPod soundtrack: the dirges of the Decemberists and David Sedaris.<br /><br /> God, plane decor is vile. <br /><br /> Depressing, really that this is the scene and point of view that I have drawn and painted more than any other – not the foot hills of Tuscany or the rooftops of Paris or the beaches of Tahiti but the view from a midsection economy-class seat, midflight, tops of heads and overhead compartments.’
‘Influenced by my iPod soundtrack: the dirges of the Decemberists and David Sedaris. God, plane decor is vile. Depressing, really that this is the scene and point of view that I have drawn and painted more than any other – not the foot hills of Tuscany or the rooftops of Paris or the beaches of Tahiti but the view from a midsection economy-class seat, midflight, tops of heads and overhead compartments.’

After a week of cold rain, most New Yorkers would kill somebody—anybody!—to spend some time on a tropical beach. Artist Danny Gregory just returned from the Dominican Republic, and brought back a book of drawings and watercolors.