Hello Everyone!
Well, collectively, we have made to the end of 2020!
In the past 10 months, I have been inside the bubble of our home and car, except for two trips to the beach, where we were able to sit far from anyone else and enjoy the sun and surf. I know we all hope that 2021 will bring us a return to the simple pleasures of life that we may previously have taken for granted. I don't think we ever will again!
I have noticed physical changes from my Parkinson's this year that affected my painting. The main problem I encountered was that, if I tried to back up to look at a painting I was working on, I felt myself falling backwards. Apparently this is common, and my doctor even told me that one of his patients wears a bike helmet around the house because this happens to her so often!
The problem is that I have been painting standing up for 25 years, so having to adapt to painting while sitting in a chair had some challenges. The main issue is that it is harder for me to take the broad sweeps with my palette knife that I could take when standing, and this feels awkward and inhibiting. I felt as though I couldn't achieve the same looseness of style. For a while, I stopped using the palette knife and took up the brush, but this felt very constricting and not at all like ME.
I also had times when my mind would freeze so that, afterward, I had no memory at all of creating the painting!
So that was weird.
The chair has definitely solved the problem of falling backwards, though I have occasionally fallen a few times getting up out of the chair! It's taken some time, but I feel like I've been able to adapt to the set-up so that I can move my arm freely, and so I've returned to using the palette knife.
I took some time off from painting in December, but look forward to getting back to my easel in January.
Below are two paintings I created in December.
I hope you folks have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021, and that the weight of the pandemic will lift off our shoulders sooner rather than later.
Thank you for following and supporting my artistic ventures - Happy New Year!
J.R.
Sunset, Gulf of Mexico
12" by 16" on Linen Canvas Panel
$125
