NEW – November 2020 Art Apple!

Today is the end of month Two of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

NEW November 2020 ~ Fall Apple

Another set of new Art Apple A Day apples!!! I’m loving doing this year as digital images and doing the four colorways! I think I’ll use this format for all 12 new monthly apples. To see the new October 2020 apple go HERE!

I’d love to hear which is your favorite and any ideas you might have for December’s apple!

Side Note: All new monthly Art Apple A Day images are posted on the last day of the month – I hope you enjoyed this one!

Looking Back – Day 61

Today is Day 61 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Sixty One – November 30, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

Very few of the 365 apples disappoint me and this is one. It’s ok… I guess… but I wish I didn’t have any that I felt that way about. I won’t spend any more time on it but I do think it is ok to acknowledge when we create and share something that isn’t up to our vision and aesthetic.

I do however love where the idea came from!

Shifting to today in 2020: We put up our live tree yesterday and we went all out with color and oodles of ornaments this year! 2020 seemed to need the intensity and grand display to help our heavy hearts. I’m usually a white lights and more subtle color combination Christmas decoration type which may seem at odds with my intense and saturated artwork of today. I do have one tree in living room that I just put white lights on and a simple handmade garland but my sunroom/tv room has the live tree with the LED lights and every ornament possible! You can see my trees this year on my Instagram page.

To see my original Day 61 post ~ Apple Chain ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…

Side Note: Later today I will post the November 2020 Apple!!! I also want to share that as of December 1st I will not post the apples to the Facebook page any longer. The apples will be here on the website or on the Art Apple A Day Instagram page. Just trying to cut back on some of the time I spend on Social Media in 2021 and have more time available for creating art – which I post a lot of on my other Instagram here!

Looking Back – Day 60

Today is Day 60 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Sixty – November 29, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

I describe my love of pattern and how I went about thinking about, constructing, and creating this apple pattern. Since that time 10 years ago, I have evolved a little bit in my creation of patterns but I still love the unexpected way of creating that happens with paint, especially watercolor, inks, and liquid acrylic. I may create this piece digitally and see how it looks. A side by side would be illustrative about my thoughts. I think both are beautiful in their own way.

Shifting to today in 2020: I now use software to create patterns sometimes but they have always started from a painting. I have still kept mostly old school in my work, preferring the feel of the pencil and the flow of the paint but I have created some digital art, mostly with phone apps because I find time and places where I’m not able to use art supplies but I can create on my phone with my finger! Creating soothes me so I’ve found a love of this method as well.

My next step is taking the plunge and getting a large iPad pro and using a software called ProCreate. This is now the digital standard for pattern licensing. A larger screen, and a stylus would be amazing! I love to paint over the top visual images – especially flowers BUT I can dial myself back and create more graphic images… I’m feeling that impulse lately! So many ideas, so little time!

To see my original Day 60 post ~ Pattern Play ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…

Looking Back – Day 59

Today is Day 59 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Fifty Nine – November 28, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

I talk about my love of color ~ an artist friend of my Aunt Jill recently said that I’m a colorist… that was high praise in my book because I adore using color in interesting ways. The definition is an artist or designer who uses color in a special or skillful way! I’ve always seemed to have a knack for understanding them and how they work well together.

When I was in “the crisis years” I was lost to my friends – these colors that give me life and joy. I couldn’t see them… I couldn’t feel them. I know it sounds odd but I felt the loss viscerally. After I was FINALLY diagnosed and started treatment, the colors started coming back. Slowly at first and then a few years later when I detoxed off all pain meds (a story and a half for another day) they flooded back! It became so apparent to me that the pain and the systemic inflammation robbed me of so much and once they were under a bit of control my essence returned. This is when I decided to create, Art Apple A Day. I needed to make art and I needed to share the experiences of all that had happened.

Shifting to today in 2020: About 2 years ago I had to detox off some pain meds once again. After our move to Maine in 2013 I was off my biologic infusion for about 8 months due to the first Rheumatologist I saw not agreeing to give me the medication that at that point I had been on for 7 years! This set me back as you can imagine and I had to start back on some pain medication. These prescription pain meds are imperative at times but what I know from detoxing from them twice now is that they change you. I do everything I can to stay “well enough” to go without them but I know if this dang disease roars again I will likely need to make a difficult decision. These are the types of things that worry me and many about our futures with a chronic painful autoimmune/autoinflammatory disease. How long will I be okay and when and how might that change.

If you wonder why I am so positive and insistent on celebrating my current health it is because I refuse to surrender today to the worry of tomorrow. I take every day I can see the colors as a true blessing and I will dance in my studio, laugh with my friends, and fling glitter every moment my mind and body are willing and able and I will fight with everything I have to not go back to the crisis days.

I talk more in the original post from 10 years ago about the treatment that has helped me so much. It’s crazy I’ve been on it for 14 years now.

To see my original Day 59 post ~ Which hue? ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…

Looking Back – Day 58

Today is Day 58 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Fifty Eight – November 27, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

You might think this post was about cooking based on my title of the apple but we’d both be wrong… with 365 apples I can’t keep track of all of them in my mind based on the title alone and this one had me stumpted this morning before I saw the image. The post clarifies where I got the title however so…

To see my original Day 58 post ~ Dash of This, Some of That ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…

Side Note: I adore some of the comments my husband makes! Yesterday he outed me about my spatula and a year ago today he… well, you’ll see…

Looking Back – Day 57

Today is Day 57 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Fifty Seven – November 26, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

I created a shopper ~ a stylish shopper (heels???). Although I’m now questioning my choice of attire for this gal, at least she has an apple package right on top! Regardless of my artistic critique, she is quite appropriate for the rush to the malls that (typically) occurs each year on the Friday after Thanksgiving!

I’m still not much for epic excursions to malls so I try to purchase things for gift giving in the months leading up to Christmas so that I can find just the right something and forgo the stress and strain of long lines and crazed fights over parking spaces. The hardest part of this strategy is waiting to give and making sure I don’t misplace any items. I’ve got it down to a bit of a science after all these years but I do occasionally find an item months after Christmas hidden away somewhere bizarre which I’m convinced is life reminding me to laugh at myself instead of getting frustrated. And speaking of misplacing items…

Yesterday I baked a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and I’ve misplaced the measuring spoons… some days life really wants us to question our sanity! I still have no clue where they went but I did find my spatula in the search! If I find the spoons in the laundry basket or the car I give up! lol My husband however was thrilled with hearing I’d lost something… he now has a Christmas gift idea which means I really HAVE to find those spoons stat!

You see, my husband knows that I’ve never been a fan of giving Santa a Christmas list – I love surprises! And… on the same note I look for something for someone that isn’t prompted but maybe I pick up on and idea in casual conversation but the best part of gift giving is either something handmade or when I spot something that calls out to me that it is the perfect gift for a specific person – I LOVE that moment, don’t you? That is such a big part of the joy of giving… right next to watching the person you love open up their package and seeing their face light up. Ahhhh… I love this season of thanks followed so closely by the season of giving.

To see my original Day 57 post ~ Tis’ The Season ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…

Looking Back – Day 56

Today is Day 56 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Fifty Six – November 25, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

I love reading my posts again after all these years. Each morning I’m starting my day with coffee and a surprise look back in time. This morning I’m taken back not only to 2010 but to I believe 1979…

My Mom’s comment on the original post has helped me piece together that the year my family went to the Macy’s Day Parade, I was 10 years old. Mom shared that my Dad recalled that, “Diana Ross was on top of a big red apple!” which tickles me that I didn’t know that when I created this image!

In thinking about the parade it brings to mind that I could right now relate this to struggles with A.S. but… one of the things I’m learning as I continue to heal is that what we focus on expands. So although this project is about raising awareness of the disease, I will not focus on it every day – I was criticized about that back 10 years ago and I’m afraid it will be more the case now.

This is an important message though – how can we all shift our minds off the negative challenges surrounding us and move them into something positive? It’s a recurring theme here and it is a practice like anything we strive for – we become better at it the more we do it.

So… I hope everyone is getting ready for whatever size thanksgiving they are having tomorrow and that the virtual Macy’s Day Parade on t.v. is wonderful and joyful. I love seeing how the people of our country and the world are finding ways to be positive and find happiness while the pandemic worries and dangers whirl around us. It’s extremely important we continue to find these moments for our mental health.

To see my original Day 56 post ~ Macy’s Day Parade ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…

Looking Back – Day 55

Today is Day 55 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Fifty Five – November 24, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

The cornucopia is a classic symbol of Thanksgiving. It symbolizes abundance, a bountiful harvest and the appreciation and thanks for both.

Ten years ago today was Thanksgiving but here in 2020 it is still a couple days away… I may just need to pick up a cornucopia basket and style one for our small pod of 5 celebrating and giving thanks for all that we have and the joy we share when we sit down to break bread together. There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. We’re hoping for a VERY large Thanksgiving feast next year!

To see my original Day 55 post ~ Horn Of Plenty ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…

Looking Back – Day 54

Today is Day 54 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.

Day Fifty Four – November 23, 2010

Looking back 10 years ago today…

This post really speaks for itself. I hope you take a moment to read it.

To see my original Day 54 post ~ I’m Taking Off My Camo ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.

And the story will continue tomorrow…