This is the only painting that I have sold but wish I still had. It was the second painting I did after not having painted for about 25 years. I will be taking an involuntary break from painting for about a week. Yesterday I had an accident in the kitchen. A 8" butcher knife slipped out of my hand and landed on my foot slicing a deep laceration in my two smaller toes. I was home alone and sat on the kitchen floor for about 30 minutes trying to stop the bleeding and cleaning up the blood as to not scar Gary when we walked seeing me on the floor with the knife and blood everywhere. When Gary returned home he dragged me to the Emergency room with a fair amount of resistance. I figured the bleeding had stopped so we were done. He decided the cuts were too deep to ignore. Luckily stitches have been replaced with glue so the most painful part of the trip was the tetanus shot. Not so in the middle of the night when I woke up in intense pain. I am supposed to be off my feet for five to seven days. Today I am in the mood to be stationery, lets see how long it lasts. The good news is I will probably be close to having my dress done with the exception of the lining by the time I am mobile again. We have a new rule that should have been implemented a long time ago, no cooking while barefoot.

The other bad part of this is that we had started rollerblading and biking together an activity that we were really enjoying. We were to go to the trail as soon as Gary got home. This will be on hold for a while.
I will do my best to write during my resting period and keep you all informed about my recovery.

Finished

Today I hung the painting that kicked off my blog. It isn't a great photo but I am proud to show it off! I am about to start a watercolor class so I don't want to begin a new painting but it feels odd to have nothing on my easel and to have my paints cleaned up. Lately I have been getting a lot of positive feedback about my artistic talents and it feels nice. Gary and I rearranged the other paintings in the living room and it is fun to have a fresh look. I love to knit but I get a different pleasure out of painting and I thank my husband for encouraging me to paint.

I have my watercolors and watercolor pencils all set up on my big drafting table. I have some reading to do but will start doing some more work on the illustrations on my childrens book. Both my mother and our friend Alexis had some material sent about writing and illustrating my book. Always something to work on, always something to be excited about.

I have about 5" of knitting and it will be time to put my dress together. The last 5" feels like a long stretch and I am very excited about putting it together. It is one of the more interesting projects I have done and I have been knitting for 36 years. It won't be too long now until I can show you that project. Wish there were more hours in the day.

The other big project that I have been neglecting is the major semi-precious stone necklace I started a few months ago. I am at a stand still as I need to learn a few things before I can finish. There is always something to look at around here. I thank all of you for your support.

Two years

Yesterday we realized that it was the two year anniversary of our first date. We are both very romantic so it is odd that we almost missed it. As many of you know our first date was a week in the Azores. It seems like a lot longer than two years since we had our first date and first kiss. How romantic was this for a first date? I had always heard that a couple should get to know each other before they got romantically involved but I had never done that before. Looks like it paid off. The Azores are absolutely beautiful. The lakes behind us in this photo have a romantic yet tragic story about a princess and peasant that fell in love with each other. Each lake represents the tears of each of them as they could not be together.

Gary arrived in the Azores first and found me this beautiful waterfall. We had an amazing one week kick off to an amazing life together. Starting off this way has made all that life has thrown us a lot easier to take. Ups and downs together bring us closer all the time. We are blessed and so grateful that we can appreciate it. Our life has been a mixed bag of great travel, hospitals and cozy home life together. I wouldn't trade away one second of it.

Two years later and Gary's health is holding and looking to continually improve. We have learned to live in the moment and it is an easy way to live.

Hope you have a Happy 4th of July.

Never a dull moment

I have sat on a few animal sculptures in my time and have never given any thought to what the artist would think about it. Anyway, this is in Coure D'Alene. I am in bed recuperating from some nasty Periodontal work, just the beginning unfortunately. Looks like I have a long haul in front of me. I also have a lingering bad infection in my mouth that would explain my lack of energy and motivation to go to the gym. The moose statue ties into my dental work as I needed a cheery image for today.

I almost finished the painting I have been working on. I painted before I let for the dentist yesterday and now all it needs is a coat of gloss medium on it and I am finished. Good timing as I begin a watercolor class soon. Guess I get to knit to my hearts content until my painting class starts. There is a difference of opinion about knitting at my house. My husband sees it as something I just do and a lessor art form than painting. He sort of changed his mind when I was treated like a returning Rock Star at Tricoter, but that will fade soon and he will nudge me to paint. He is also right as it takes less creativity to knit but what does it really matter as long as I am doing something. And today I will be in bed so knitting is not as messy as paint in the bedroom.
I have a happy kitty on each side of me. What more could I ask for.