Summertime

If you don't see a new post for a time, it could be because I'm otherwise occupied.

Questions Rising Revised and a Busy Feeder

Here's the painting as I revised it to push back the dominance of the two smaller rising circles. An improvement, I think.

 

Questions Rising 22 x 18

Mike took this great photo of our hummingbirds last night. We can barely keep the feeders full!

 

A Sense of Relief and Further Experiments

 

Clear Sailing 30 x 22

I ended up naming this piece "Clear Sailing" as a response to its creation occurring while we waited to hear about Mike's biopsy after the removal of melanoma. The finishing touches were put on in gestures of relief shortly after hearing that the margins taken after the mole was removed were clear. This abstract had always reminded me of waterways and bridges. Also Mike has a great interest in sailing, so the name seemed to fit nicely. As for the orientation, I just chose my favorite. I've often heard that a necessary quality a good abstract is to be well balanced and look good from any orientation, so I guess this one has a thumbs up on that score.

This past week I took a subject I recently painted (see below) in a fairly realistic style and put a twist on it.

 

Chetco River 22 x 30

I wanted to continue my experimenting with collage and painting as I had done with "Sound Bites." I studied "Sound Bites" looking for what worked so well with that piece and tried to apply some of those aspects to a piece based on "Chetco River." I abandoned the local color and chose some failed paintings with similar attractive colors to use for collage pieces. I wanted the figures to be the focal point and tell a story, as the sailors did in "Sound Bites." The story is about stillness and waiting. Waiting for what you might ask--thus the title.

 

Questions Rising 22 x 18

And now that I look at the image, I'm off to the studio to lessen the colors of the 2 groups of smaller concentric circles to better blend into the painting.

I'd love your feedback. Is this collage piece a success?

A Week of Waiting for Good News--It Came!

Today Mike heard that the pathology report from the additional tissue taken around the melanoma is clear. What great news. Thank you all for your positive thoughts.

I now realize how lethargic I'd been, pulled inwards: waiting, dreading, hoping, worrying, waiting. Everyday I've dragged myself out to the studio working on another abstract.

 

Too dark!

 

I masked over all the white in preparation to create a nice white shape.

 

Inching along, I cut the tape to leave a shape.

 

Here's the cool corner I used the atomizer to spray a blue mist over.

 

Once I'd chosen the one cool, I was ready to use the atomizer on the other 3 corners spraying a warm color.

 

Here's the abstract waiting for collage.

 

I slowly added collage to add interest and liven up the peice. I took days adding a bit this day, a little more the next. Then today I made myself hit the studio to finish the collage and decide where the black would go. As the black acrylic paint was drying, Mike got the call from the doc telling him he was in the clear. I went back out to the studio and joyously added a flourish of red lines and "sealed the deal" on my focal point with a red pattern. Now I'm trying to figure out which orientation gives the painting the most impact. Oh, of course, a title would be nice.

 

Untitled 30 x 22 oreintation A

 

orientation B

 

orientation C

 

orientation D

"Proud Lady" Wins a Home on SMJHouse.org

First to address the most important matter, Mike had his surgery to remove the area surrounding the melanoma on Wednesday. We'll get the report on that next week. In the mean time he's having help recovering with granddaughter Angelica. There is nothing like a good read to pass the time.

 

Today I had a pleasant surprise when I went to the Sheldon McMurphey Johnson House website to find "Proud Lady" nicely displayed to advertise their summer art show. http://www.smjhouse.org/Art_Submission.html I had heard earlier that it won 3rd place in the competition. As you can see at their website, the SMJ House will be on the August 7 First Friday Artwalk.

An additional boost to my work is that a click of the painting image takes one to my website and my blogspot is posted there as well. Nice publicity!

 

A Cougar, Small Surgery and a Painting

This past weekend Mike and I decided to take a hike along the beautiful McKenzie River. We had our granddaughter, Angelica, with us and she was all into seeing waterfalls. Our destination was Sahalie and Koosah Falls. http://www.oregon.com/hiking/sahalie_falls.cfm
The drive is about 30 minutes from our home. As we drove up the highway (somewhere beyond the Robinson Lake Rd. for those of you who know the area) a full grown cougar ran across the road in front of us. We were all stunned. The cat was nearly as long as the lane of the highway from the center line to the fog line. His tail was massive, much longer and fuller than I expected. His fur was dark and tawny. He never looked our way, he simply loped from the woods on one side of the road and disappeared into the woods on the opposite side. It was a thrilling sighting.

I told Angelica I'd waited 60 years to see this fabulous occurrence. Since she's only 7, she may have more wild cougars to see. Mike has seen only one other after spending more than 30 years in the woods of the Northwest, to give you an idea of the rarity of this sighting.

Yesterday Mike and I spent a full day in town seeing the doctor who will take more tissue from his ankle to insure the melanoma cells are removed. The doctor continued to tell us the shallowness of the melanoma indicates a very good prognosis. None the less, getting prepared for this minor surgery entailed a chest x-ray, blood workup, etc. all at another location. By the time we headed home it was after 5 p.m. and we were wiped-out. Tomorrow, he'll have the procedure on his ankle and on Friday he will have 4 other moles removed which is totally precautionary. It's also about the only moles he has. So when we get the news that all those biopsies are negative, we will breathe a great sigh of relief.

This event has made me more aware of my own very mole covered body. Maybe it's time to have my body scanned. Maybe you should too.

I'm including two images of the painting "Sound Bites." The first is the image that was in the Watercolor Society of Oregon show.

I was encouraged by a fellow artist to enter it in a national competition, so we talked about how I could give the painting even more impact. The second image is of the painting after a little editing. Can you spot the changes?

 

 

Another instance of "Life Happens"

This story starts with a tick bite.

During the birthday celebration on May 23, somewhere between several beers and our grill fire, Mike asked me to remove a tick he'd found on his abdomen. Unfortunately, I used tweezers and took only the back half of the tick. This, of course, brought forth further irritation to the bite which looked like this the next morning.

 

My husband Mike took the visiting youngsters on a hike later in the day and found another tick on his body. At this point, I did a thorough search of his naked body finding another live one on his torso. I moved down his leg and spotted another one on his ankle, but when I got closer, I realized it was a mole, small and dark. "How long have you had this?" I asked. "I don't know, I've never noticed it before," Mike replied.

By Tuesday morning, it was obvious Mike needed medical help to remove the rest of the tick and get some antibiotics to treat the infection. Could this develop into Lyme Disease we wondered. As he took off for the local clinic, I mention having the Nurse Practitioner look at the mole as well as the tick bite.

When Mike came home, he had antibiotics to treat the bite, and a hole with a stitch on his ankle. The N.P decided to remove the mole and have it biopsied, not because it looked troublesome, but because it was unique to his body.

So, do you believe things happen for a reason? Does the Universe/God/something beyond us humans put forth opportunities, intervene, give us chances to avoid disasters? Read on.

Yesterday Mike got the news that the mole was melanoma, caught small and early. He will have a larger chunk taken off to make sure any of the bad cells are removed. Also he will have 4 other moles removed, just in case.

I shudder to think how long it might have been before he (or I) noticed the mole. It could have been growing and spreading had it not been for that tiny insect that burrowed under his skin.

Once again I am forced to ruminate about the fact that sometimes something we think is really unfortunate (like an infected tick bite, the possibility of Lyme Disease) is actually good fortune. We found a scary cancerous spot early.

Please keep us in your thoughts, and I'll send updates.