Reorganizing for the new year

Look....a floor, how about that?!  It was starting to get a bit dangerous in there again.  You know how it is right?  Mixed media....boxes and bags full of this n' that.  Decided it was high time to pick up and reorganize before I hurt myself tripping over some treasure.  












I cleared out a corner to make a quiet place read.  I'm thinking about this chair in brown.  When my mother-in-law passed away, I was given her brass reading lamp.      

Paul rescued this sink from going into a dumpster on a job site.

He didn't want me making a mess in the bathroom sink, so he had this put in.

This is an old lawyer's bookcase, it has glass doors that flip up and push in.

It holds paint, mediums and etc.!

Nice to have like things in one place.

So now the studio is ready

Time to get to work!

Thanks for visiting, have a nice weekend!

New Year's Eve

Not sure where the past month has gone, I've been neglecting the blog.

I think what happened was I'm still healing after the knee replacement.

Just getting through the work day was a challenge

day by day my knee is gaining strength 

and stamina is returning.
~~~~~

The ornaments above are what I gave to all my co-workers.

I used 300 lb watercolor paper 

drew the zentangles with a pigma micron pen

shaded with graphite

and the most fun part was

encasing them in encaustic medium.

Too fun!

Then I fashioned a wire hanger

and added a red bead....they needed a little color.

I'm always a little hesitant to give art as gifts.

Everyone liked them--that made me happy.

This is the finished journal page.  

 I continued the checkerboard across the page,

and tried my make my self portrait appear

as if it's emerging from the checkerboard.
Everyday was one step,
my mantra was "just do the next thing".
Everything took so much longer than I was used to.
Showers, getting dressing, going up and down stairs.
S l o w  m o t i o n
But everyday brought more strength
little by little, increment by increment.
That's a great metaphor for life isn't it?
I'm not sure about you,
but I like to look back at the year that's past.
There's a lot of life in those days-weeks-months.
Bittersweet. Joy. Pain. Happy. Grief.
Now we look onto a clean slate,
a brand new year stretched out before us.
I don't want to make any more failed resolutions.
I want to go into this next year
f e a r l e s s.
That calls for a new mantra
What if?
What next?
What happens if?
YES.
We tend to look at things/circumstances/art projects,
afraid to take that next step,
the one that could very well make all the difference.
I'm tired of waiting for something to happen.
I want to take risks and make them happen.

Thanks for visiting!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Journal page

Since I haven't been able to spend time in my studio

I thought I'd share a journal page that I've been working on

for a couple of weeks.

This is for an online class with Juliana Coles--Field Notes, a book of reminders.

Juliana had asked me a couple of times to continue to work on the page, 

and take it further.

Going outside (for the assignment) was out of the question.

There is enough right in front of you, to teach you something.

My days are/were filled with medication, exercises, Dr. appts., PT appts.,

For the first 2 weeks, I needed to use a walker. 

One day my eyes welled with tears, my thoughts were

swirling with the idea that with the walker I can walk, I am liberated,

without the walker, I can't walk, I am humbled.

The checkerboard represents taking things one day at a time.

We can't rush healing.  It happens when it's ready on its own schedule.

It was good to journal my feelings of this experience.

I drew my self portrait on the prescription info sheet,

the med bottle on an an exercise sheet from PT.

~~~~~

I see the Dr. on Tues, hoping he will let me drive and go back to work on Wed.

The walker is in the basement (!), using a crutch now.

Off all meds!

Things are moving along nicely.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts,

and thank you so much for visiting!

Knee Update....

Post surgery is going very, very well.  Everyday I am getting stronger.

Grateful for that.

 

This is a CPM machine (continuous passive motion).

I have to spend several hours a day with my leg on here.

It slowly bends and straightens my knee.

The degree of bend can be adjusted, so everyday I bump it up a little.

I also spend much of the day wrapped in a Polar Cooler.

The cooler is filled with ice and water, there is a pump that circulates the cold water through the knee cuff and keeps the swelling down.

Here are my marching orders from Claudia, my physical therapist.

She's wonderful and great to work with.

We often see smiling faces, pregnant bellies & etc. on blogs.

We don't often see peoples scars, but this is where many of us are at.

This is life for me right now, it really doesn't look that bad, does it?

Not even 2 weeks from surgery.  

If it weren't for joint replacement, I would be in bad shape at age 51.

This really is not short of miraculous.

(I really didn't mean to gross you out ;)

Most of all, I miss my girls.  They are being boarded at the shelter for a while longer.  Paul is doing a great job taking care of me, but the girls on top of that is a little to much right now.  Perhaps I can persuade him by telling him how much they will help me heal just by being here.  What do you think?

Thanks for visiting!!

Today's the day!

I've been neglecting the blog,

getting ready for today.

Today I get a new knee.

Am I excited.....yes I am!

It will be wonderful to be on the other side of surgery,

and on the mend.

Please keep me in your prayers!!

~~~~~

Haven't spend much time painting,

though those paintings have again changed

dramatically.

I look forward to getting back at them.

I have enjoyed trying the "what ifs"

++what about adding this color

using that brush

scraping

scrubbing

and covering it all up again++

having some successes

mostly not so much.

I'll keep going back

and at some point

they will be done!

Thanks for visiting!!

Squeak Carnwath

Squeak's work is so interesting to me, layer upon layer.  I get very inspired watching artists work and hearing their thought process.  Enjoy!

4 paintings update

I decided to paint the 4 paintings at once

then take them apart so they'd look like 1 large painting.

I like it so far, blending paint right on the painting 

gives nice variance of color....

but there's something missing.

I looked at it from from each angle

and found two figures.

I blocked those in and started working on the background.

I like what is taking shape.

The figure on the left seems sad with her head down.

Is she unhappy with her relationship?

Did he give her the wrong answer when she asked if 

her jeans made her but look big?

Doesn't he want to go to the opera?

....just received bad news?

I'll keep going and see what happens.

Here is a closeup of the figure.

On top of the paint I smeared (or is it schmeared?),

a tar like patch---it has threads of fiberglass in it.

The texture is very cool.

Who knows what's next?!

Thanks for visiting!