I'm a little late getting my November post up, what with Thanksgiving jumping in there at the end of the month. The next thing I knew, November was over and December had begun!
During November, I participated in an effort to support our active military and veterans by donating a portion of any painting sales to the Veterans Initiative for Therapeutic Arts. I was the artist of the month at The Yoga Sanctuary, where Melissa teaches, and also participated in a one-day event there to benefit veterans. I am happy to say that, thanks to many of you, I was able to donate $150 to VITA.
As December closed in on me, so did my studio. It's small and not as functional as I need it to be, especially now that I don't always have total control over my feet! They tend to stick or stutter-step, especially when I am turning, backing up, or getting up from the floor (where I sometimes find myself on purpose and sometimes by accident).
So, Melissa came up with a reorganization plan (she loves to rearrange things), that included adding sturdy metal shelves to give me larger, clearer workspace, and storage that is not so low to the ground. She is developing some excellent handyman skills, thanks to my fine instruction. (Insert HAHA emoji here).
Anyway, my studio space is much more functional and safe now, though I am still adjusting to the new set-up and wondering where my stuff is when it's not where it used to be.
My brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Cheryl, recently took a fabulous trip to Australia and New Zealand. Tom sent me a post card of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains of Australia, and on the back he wrote, "PAINT THIS." So I did. I usually paint in an expressionistic-impressionistic and sometimes semi-abstract style, meaning that I capture the essence of the scene rather than a precise replication of it. With this image though, I went more realistic, and was surprised at how well it came out. The whole time I worked on it, I thought it would be a disaster. Here you can see the painting alongside the post card.
Here are a few other pieces from November:
In December, I am cleaning out my boxes of paintings and trying to be ruthless about it. They either get thrown out, repurposed (painted over) or back in the box - or sometimes they get sold!
