Give us a break!

Yesterday I was in the grocery store and my phone rang. I thought it was one of Gary's Doctors but this time it was for me. I was told I needed to come in immediately for an ultrasound as a follow up to a recent mammogram. I was a wreck and in the middle of all of Gary's health issues the last thing I wanted to tell my husband was that I needed an immediate ultrasound. My father was at our house when I told him so I not only worried my husband, I worried my already worried parents.

I went in today and still am not sure what is wrong. They are not sure either but I will talk to my Dr. as soon as the dust settles. We can't even imagine our lives with both of us sick. It does not look like it is too much to worry about but we won't be OK until they do a biopsy. Thank God we are so much in love as our lives are so stressful, our love gets us through.

This is a photo of a jacket that I am almost done with. It is very heavy and it is 100 degrees out so it seems like an odd project to be working on. I have wanted to knit this jacket since I saw it in Vogue knitting. I love big needles. A project like this only takes a few weeks.

I will let you know when we get any news. For now we are resting and trying to get centered again.

Birthday Party and More

It is hard to believe Gary's Birthday Party was almost two weeks ago. A lot has gone on since then with Gary's health. Since this is my creative blog and I am unable to create Gary back to perfect health I won't say too much about it other than we have been tested and presented with a lot of big challenges. You can contact me for more details but I want to keep my blog upbeat and about mt creativity. Being creative has never been more important to me as it helps keep me stable on a very rocky ride.

We had a mix of Gary's and my friends who after a relatively short time have become our friends. Since we were still planning on going to Italy the theme was Italian and each place mat was hand painted with a different city we were planning on visiting. I'm sure you have figured out by now that we are not going. Gary's health is our main priority and we need to be here to get him healthy. The food was a five course Italian meal (if you count the birthday cake) and a signature Italian cocktail. We all had a wonderful time and we have a lot of Virgo friends so it was a celebration for many. Our Virgo Alexis was unable to travel due to her recent spine surgery but she was there with is in spirit.I love planning parties and doing the work. Having a theme made it especially fun.

I don't talk about my cats much but this is Bart. Besides being beautiful, he is the most loving mommies boy you could ever meet. He is sitting on top of two of my current knitting projects. He has a sister Prue. She is in the for the food and is quite naughty a lot of the time lately. We love her just as much, her strong point is her ability to entertain us with her constant antics. She is a typical cat that does not believe in people rules. She is warm in a suck up sort of way and quite beautiful also. She has Gary wrapped around her sweet little paw. They both give us so much love and joy. The really help us with our healing process.

This is the latest sweater I made for Gary. I made a sweater for my father in this yarn and will make this sweater again for Gary in blue as soon as the yarn arrives. I have never enjoyed knitting a particular yarn as much as this one and Gary loves this sweater. If it were colder out he would be wearing it every day. I am currently making myself a heavy pale lavender jacket that is both fun and fast on a very large needle.

I have not painted for quite a few weeks now but with the trip canceled I will be starting on my mural soon. I have a lot of nervous energy right now and Gary spends most of his time in bed so knitting is the perfect creative outlet right now. Also we have been spending a lot of time in the chemo ward and I can't drag my paints there.

I make sure I get out and see my friends on a regular basis. I had a wonderful two hour lunch at the Fairmont yesterday with my amazing friend Evelyn. She gave me the coolest bracelet right off her wrist which warmed my heart immensely. She is leaving for a weeks vacation tomorrow and I will miss her a lot. She has walked a similar path to the one I am currently on and always knows exactly what I need.

Amidst the fear and chaos we continue to stay grateful for the goodness in our lives. We are so lucky that we can spend all of our time together. I could not bear leaving Gary everyday to go to work. Our friends all understand that we aren't good at asking for help so they think of ways to make our life easier without us having to ask. Someone is always ready to stay with Gary when I need to go out. It is a relief for me and good for Gary to see and hear someone other than myself. Roy, Mark Sanchez, Evelyn, Julie, Glenn, Bill, my parents (who showed up with a wheelchair for Gary the day he needed it) are the first ones that come to mind. We couldn't pick a better set of friends. Sorry if I left anyone out. I am a bit scatter brained right now. Also I would not be able to create if I wasn't able to get some time alone every once in a while. We love all of you and all the rest of our friends that do their fair share also. We are blessed. Nothing makes Gary happier than to see me creating. He is so proud of me and I call him my muse. Guess I got off the track a bit but I have a lot swirling around in my little brain right now.

I wish I could promise to post more regularly. Fortunately I know I should be writing at times but get too wrapped up in projects and that is a good thing.

Many thanks to all our friends and family just for loving us.

Still painting

I haven't figured out how to turn the flash off on my camera so taking pictured of art is not as clean as I would like. I finished this about a week ago and then went on a fury rehanging, patching and painting the walls and playing decorator in our house.

Lately I have been busy with lots of projects as always. Tomorrow is Gary's birthday so I am planning a party with an Italian theme since we will be leaving for Italy in about 2 1/2 weeks. I will have a lot to post this week, Hopefully I will take the time to write.

I will say that this blog has been a sporadic project but it has kept me busy creating. I am better at follow through on my other projects.

As many of you know, Gary's cancer has been in the forefront lately. Thankfully I can distract myself with Art. When he first went through radiation I took an abstract painting class. I did nothing with it for a while but it came to me later. Hopefully the effects of my watercolor class will hit me soon. I really want to finish my children's book. The instructor gave me a few great tips.

Life here is a bit stressful but filled with love and as much happiness as possible. Hope all my friends are well.

Near Perfect Day

This is my work area at our beach house. It is at this wall window looking out at the ocean. Almost too beautiful to do anything but stare out at the beach.

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on a large abstract and then we drove out to our beach house. We haven't been here much the summer so to wake up here today was spectacular. It was supposed to rain last night but it did not and we had a beautiful sunny morning. After our coffee we walked on the beach and always stop at the spot on the beach where we got married. Gary mentioned how lucky we are to be able to return to the spot we got married at whenever we want.

We came home and I began working on the layout of our wall. I am doing the drawing in watercolor pencils, one of my favorite mediums. I worked for hours and then we decided to go blading/biking.

For those of you that know Pajaro Dunes, it has an amazing beach, unique arcitechture and great wildflowers. Not as entertaining as our bike/blades last week on Venice Beach but certainly a lot more peaceful. The weather was great, not too hot or too cold, lots of fresh air. Buying new rollerblades this year was one of the best purchases I have made with possibly the exception of Christian Louboutins. It's a tie and hard to compare.

I have wanted a specific personalized license plate for almost ten years and have not gotten around to ordering them. I tried to get my plate an Art plate but was not able to. It came to me that I might be able to get it on a regular personalized plate and hurray, I found it. In the excitement of playing on the DMV website Gary decided he wanted plates also so we ordered his and then the website would not let me go back and order mine. Looks like I will have to deal directly with the DMV and that is the only reason today is only nearly perfect.

Tonight we are going to eat at The Whole Enchilada. I have been thinking about their wonderful food since we left our house to come out here yesterday.

Being at the beach after not coming here for a while is one of those things that makes one think, why don't we do this more often? I am actually looking forward to rainy days here in the winter. The light is always great at the big window and I can create away while sitting almost on the ocean. Today Gary was puttering around the house which made my heart happy. At home I am always the busy one so it is nice to see him so happy here.

Newest project idea

Ever since we moved into our condo I have loved everything about it except our bedroom. It is a large room and feels a bit like it is missing something. A few things have come together to give me the idea of painting a fresco on the wall behind our bed. A combination of planning our trip to Italy, seeing some fun but funky wallpaper on a friend's wall, looking for something large to work on and Art Knowledge News have lead me to deciding to take on this large and exciting project.

I saw this Henri Rousseau painting in May and think it will be a great template for the wall. Luckily my husband loves the image also. I was worried that agreeing on a large wall idea might be a challange. The other challange is the window in the middle off the wall. I am sure the basics of this can be worked around the window. Sorry but I doubt I will start it before our trip so it will be long forgotten by anyone outside of our house by the time it is done.

I went to the city for a dinner last night and finally had a chance to go to Britex to buy lining material for my knit/crochet/beaded dress. Everytime I see it I am bothered that is was so much work and not finished. I think it will be beautiful when I can finally wear it.

Next week we are having our flat screen Tv's attached to the walls. I decided I needed finality to the furniture arrangement in the rooms with TVs. Today I got to move furniture around and I am very happy. I can't believe we have lived here a year.

Tomorrow I am going to paint a mug for Gary. I love painting ceramic pieces. If I had a lot of room I would have painted ceramics all over the place. Guess they are better left as gifts.

Before and After

Desk Before Tea Set Design Finished Tea Set

Once again my blog has been put on a back burner. Again it is not for a lack of creating. Just lazy and busy and focused elsewhere. My friend Alexis asked me to paint a tea set for her to give as a baby present. I had in mind something formal and could not get myself going. Once it was decided that we wanted whimical I jumped on it with passion and excitement. I am currently taking a watercolor class without a lot of excitement which shows me how much I need to be motivated to create and then I always default to knitting, probably because it is the easiest outlet for me.

I love the bright colors and not shown in the photo is a good luck charm painted on the inside bottom of each piece. I love painting ceramic pieces. My sister-in-law, Marci made me an amazing lime green super mug with a pink poodle theme so of course Gary needs his own custom mug. High on my list of to do projects. Just like his sweaters he has input and then we work out what he wants along with what I want to do and we are a great team. He is a wonderful muse, fan and critic. I always value his input even though he doesn't want to interfere with my creative process. I have not been too excited to paint watercolors but like most things I do I figure things out myself making up my own rules. Watercolors are unforgiving and not meant to be painted too far outside the basics so this class has been wonderful to help make things easier and help to do things in the right order instead of what I want to do, limiting myself in the end.

I want to practice my watercoloring as we are going to Italy in October and it would be great if I could take my paints and capture things live rather than from a photo. I am very excited about our trip and know there will be artist beauty every where. Most of my photos are of people I love. I am not wild about scenery that I have not experienced myself. The two exceptions are both of the Alexis'. LA Alexis is an amazing photographer and San Diego Alexis posts the most wonderful blog photos on her blog, a lot of them nostalgic.

So we are off to a trip to visit LA Alexis and hopefully will be able to squeeze in

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.