Today is Day 19 of the Art Apple A Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Nineteen – October 19, 2010
Looking back 10 years ago today…
I had just spent almost two weeks with my family in Maine and it was time to travel back to Colorado. I remember drawing this on the airplane because I was very self conscious about doing so. I now love painting and drawing where people can watch, participate, and ask questions but back then I had really lost my confidence. I didn’t have the luxury of creating in private, I needed to get an apple done and Sandy had requested a pink apple back on October 3rd so it was on my mind. I have created most of my apples for A.S. but there were a couple of years I did some under the idea of expanding them to be for “Apples For A Cure” to share my “Art For Good” philosophy with more people. Since that time I’ve gone back to the roots of my apples but I’m so glad I created this one for Sandy and to honor all women who have battled breast cancer.
To see my original nineteenth post ~ Pink Apple for Breast Cancer ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.
And the story will continue tomorrow…
Shifting to today in 2020 I am in pain. Lots of pain. I talk about being in medical remission and I basically am. What that means is that the disease isn’t in an active state but what it doesn’t mean is that I’m cured. I most certainly am not. Mostly I stay very ok. I can function and do what I want to do in life as long as I do all of the things to keep things in balance and I take my biologic medication once a month. But occasionally I will push my body too far and today working in my studio I did just that.
You wouldn’t think that painting is a very physical thing but there are many techniques that I love to use that require me to paint with my paper or canvas flat on a surface which requires me to bend over the piece which stresses my very fragile A.S. neck. Today I painted with my neck bent over a table (one we’ve raised up on bed raisers to attempt to alleviate the strain) but today 4 hours straight was too long. I usually catch myself getting tired. I usually pay attention to the pain. But today I was on a creative roll and I was ignoring all the tell tale signs. Guess what saved me?
My sweet old dogger, Lucy. Lucy loves our afternoon naps and gets restless for me to head to rest around 3 or 4pm. Well today at 2ish she was being so annoying and insistent. Do you think she sensed it? I’m not sure but I’d like to think so. Regardless, we had a little talk, a nice belly rub, and a few kisses and a thank you for her helping me stop work. I’ don’t like to think about how much worse I might have made things if she hadn’t been so insistent we head for our nap! I need to pull out my neck brace again I guess – it helps give me support when I paint flat. I have put a bunch of voltaren gel on my neck and taken some extra CBD as well as some tylenol and ibuprofen… fingers crossed the pain subsides soon.
Side Note: To see the painting I’ve been working on in my studio currently please head over to my Instagram so you can see what had me so enthralled. xO