Follow your bliss...: May 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I dream of summer skies..., May 2012, acrylic wash monotype, rice paper on canvas, 24 x 12 inches

I have pondered this one long enough, and decided to leave it...I wanted to keep this one simple...just because I loved the surface and how the colors flowed and broke apart as I scumbled and scrubbed with brushes after printing my shapes and marks...some things were not going as hoped, but I prodded and kept fiddling...when I made it too complex, I washed it off...I wanted it to be simple. I almost thought I ruined it! I love the golden glow, and those blues...so, this is it.

Detail #1

Detail #2

I have a few other small paintings in progress, but nothing I want to share at the moment...I'm looking forward to setting up my porch studio soon and stocking up on paints and other goodies for making more...but I've been spending more time working on editing my novel than painting, and when I'm not pondering words, I'm digging in the dirt and planting things in the garden...and of course, there's the encaustic kit that is begging me to take it out to play in the shop...Soon. Very soon!

It has felt good to dawdle over my paintings...

At my day job I've been checking in our fall exhibition of Karl Schrag's paintings...oh, so pretty! As soon as the link is up, I'll post it...he was an amazing painter.

Me and Fibromyalgia...the good news is, it's not going to kill me.

I was finally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2007 after years of being told my illness was all in my head. My Fibro is everyday fatigue with body aches, mostly tolerable, but when I have a flare-up, which can be triggered by stress, hormones, or being over tired from over-doing it, I get the full body pain, including chest pains (yes, these are scary, like an elephant standing on my chest.) Thankfully, it doesn't hurt to take a breath, but I feel breathless, I just do yoga and breathing exercises to stretch and breathe to ease through the worst of it, NSAIDs help to cut the pain, and naps are always a necessary thing when needed (but hard to do while at the day job!) It's a balancing act to manage, I take advantage of the good days, lay low on the bad ones, and very often, push through in spite of the bad days...some mornings I wish I could stay in bed, but I'm glad that I get up and about, very often 'the kinks' work themselves out. I refuse to take the recommended pharmaceutical band-aids on the market, I tried one once, and I don't like feeling like a zombie. I keep active with my creativity, I think that's the key to my overcoming this obstacle every day...and I have my Fred and our son, five cats, and one dog named Max.