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