BLOG UPDATE

Hi Everyone,

I know I said I wanted to try to paint 4 paintings a week.  Uhh!! - I don't think that's going to happen right away.  Life got in the way & I've had a very busy schedule lately.  I've been going to water therapy twice a week & that ends soon, but I think I will need to continue to workout in the pool if my progress is to continue.  I'm loving being in the water & I can feel myself slowly getting stronger & my back & leg slowly getting healthier.  

In addition, it is fair season!  I went with my daughter one day & it was really fun.  Unfortunately for her & great for me, she had to wheel me around the fairgrounds in a wheelchair.  I think it's the first time I've been to the fair & not been exhausted at the end of the day.  We saw the pygmy goats, the fine art exhibit (of course), the home arts, & a cooking demo by Soil Born Farms over in the counties building.  It was a great day.

Then the 2nd week my son wanted to go to the fair, so I went again! He had to wheel me around in the wheelchair, so I got another care free day.  We saw the dairy goats, the horses & some girls practicing for their show - they were stunt riders.  And we saw a Belgian horse that was huge - he was 15 years old & weighed over 2,500 pounds. We also made it to the garden area & saw cute little river otters, a bald eagle & a pelican.  Another great day. 

I thought I would have a painting for you yesterday, but I decided to switch over to acrylics & found things more challenging than I anticipated.  My arm was completely uncooperative.  I was trying to work on a smaller painting & I think trying to hone in on a painting so small I learned that I just am unable to paint at the easel.  For larger, looser, simpler paintings I can do that, but not for something small or with detail.  Not having full use of my arm has been a real learning experience for me & I'm learning new things about my handicap on a daily basis.  

So for now, with the acrylics, I'm going to try to paint flat on the table. I'm not used to painting flat anymore, so this is something I will have to adapt to.  I've already found myself struggling with the fast-drying properties of the regular acrylics, so I'm going to give the "open" acrylics a try & see if that is better.  And I think I'm going to start out with a color chart, so my next post just may be a color chart.  

In the meantime, I'll post a few photos from the fair for your entertainment.

My daughter took this photo of me with my giant plate of clams & french fries!!

This is a little pygmy billy goat & he just stood there & kept baa-ing

This is one of the stunts the girl is performing for a later show

HOMAGE TO ROSE

I lost one of my dearest & closest friends this past week.  I have a huge hole in my heart & I will miss her so much - words can't even express.

A couple of years ago, when I was struggling with still lifes, Rose gave me this elephant to include in my still life paintings.  I found the elephant very daunting & just couldn't quite muster the courage to try & paint him, so instead he sat as a beautiful addition on my entertainment center.  I should have painted this while Rose was still alive, but I'm painting it now.  I hope she is smiling down from heaven.

My drawing skills need honing, but only I know how out of scale parts of this poor elephant are.

                                           8x10, Cobra Water Mixable Oils, 2015

LONG & UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

It's been a long & unexpected journey.  A year ago I became very ill literally overnight.  For nearly that whole year I was on large doses of prednisone & am still on a chemo drug.  These medications took their toll on my body & I have necrosis in the ball joint of my right arm that has left me with only partial use of my arm.  I also have a compression fracture in my spine & pinched nerves that cause pain to radiate from my lower back all the way down my leg.  It's painful to sit in a normal chair for any length of time.  

In addition to all of this I had been spending large amounts of time with my aging mother who was in a board & care home.  I had also put my house up for sale & planned an estate sale.  This all took it's toll on me emotionally, as well as physically, & probably had something to do with my illness.  Because of all of my other responsibilities I didn't have time or energy to paint for nearly 2 years.

Now I seem to have this huge block against painting.  I poured over my photographs & picked numerous ones as possible subject matter.  I set up my easel & arranged my paints.  I imagined in my mind painting.  I just couldn't bring myself to actually paint. Well, today I actually sat down at the easel & painted.  I used my new Cobra water mixable paints.  I saw a book that said to start small & paint only one thing & I decided perhaps that was the solution.  So I grabbed an 8x10 canvas & a red pepper that I had in the refrigerator & I started. It's not bad for my first attempt in 2 years.  I look at where I was when I last painted & I not only want to get back to there, but I want to exceed that point.

I've made a promise & a challenge to myself to try to paint at least 4 days a week. It's difficult & sometimes painful to use my right arm.  If nothing else, it will force me to paint very loose.  I found myself sometimes trying to accomplish things with my left hand.  In addition to the necrosis, I sometimes have a slight tremor in my hands that I think may be from the medications.  I hope it eventually goes away.  But I need to retrain my right arm & hand as much as possible so I need to paint as often as I can.

Below is my first attempt in nearly 2 years!

                                    8x10, Cobra Water Mixable Oils,
                                    2015