J.R. Secor, Painter of Southwest Visions: December 2021

I have good news to report as we head into December and the holidays! My doctor put me on a new Parkinson's medication (in addition to the old one), and it's made a significant difference in what I call my "with-it-ness." I feel a lot better - I have more energy and my brain seems to be functioning better. Also, I'm not losing my voice as badly or as often as before. My imbalance and not-so-sure-footedness hasn't really improved, but I FEEL better - like I'm actually present and accounted for.

You'll remember me mentioning in previous posts that I was starting to lose concentration while painting. As they would say over in the UK, I lost the plot. (We've been watching so many Britbox and Acorn shows during the pandemic, I'm starting to talk like a Brit.)

(If you don't know, that's Brenda Blethyn playing Vera Stanhope in the Vera series - a great show!)

And I'd be exhausted afterward from trying to concentrate so hard. Because of that, I cut back to painting only two days week. But with this new medication, (Ropinarole) I feel so much better, that I am back up to five painting days/week and really having FUN again.

I think this might be the first medication 💊I've ever been put on that seemed like it actually DID something, and I am very HAPPY about this! 😊

My brother-in-law, Tom, gave me a gift 🎁. It's a very cool sketch book, with pages that open like an accordion. The size of the sheets is 5.5" by 8". I have to say, it's not something I would have thought of getting for myself. But what's interesting about that is that sometimes you need to be prodded to approach things in a new and different way. This little sketchbook has forced me to take a whole different approach, which has turned out to be a really fun creative challenge. Plus, I love how the scenes have come out!

What I do is this: I sketch the scene using a Pigma Micron pen, and then I paint 🖌with very watery (much more watery that usual) SOHO HB Acrylics (love these paints!!)

I have worked hard over the years to evolve to the loose style of painting I have now. Interestingly, creating these small paintings has made me paint even looser! I think that's because the more structured elements of the scene come from the ink sketch, so I can be freer with the painting part.

Melissa says she likes these scenes so much she is going to use the images to make cards. If you're interested, she can have some made for you and can give you a price on that.

Here I am holding the sketch book so you can see the accordion pages. The only drawback is that I drop it a lot and all the pages fan out and then Melissa has to help me pick it up! 🙄Fortunately, it all folds back up nice and easy.

Below are some of the scenes I created in the notebook. Thanks again, Tom, for an unexpected gift that kicked me out of my comfort zone! 🙏 A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law, Jessica, gave me some nice brushes, and now Tom gave me this sketchbook, and I have to say that these are some of the best gifts I've ever gotten. Keeping me at my easel has become a Family Affair.

(You have to be of a certain age to remember this cast of Family Affair!)

The next time we talk, it will be 2022! So I'll wish you a beautiful December, Merry Christmas, Happy All the Holidays, and a very Happy, Peaceful, and Productive New Year.