Anniversary of this Blog venture

Today I turn 66, so this year of "Playing Creatively" is finished as such. Did I accomplish what I wanted? Have I been as creative as I had hoped? Did I carry this process to the intended end? No, no and yes.

Towards the end of the year, due to a variety of circumstances, I must admit I lost steam as far as staying true to my purpose of playing creatively and documenting the process as planned. I have managed 53 blogs since I started, so that does mean an average of 1 a week.

 When I look back at the body of work I did post here, it is definitely more than I have every completed in an given year, so that is something that I did achieve. Did I manage to experiment with techniques as much aas I had planned, no I did not. I found it increasingly more difficult to carve out time "away" in my studio without interruption. Made it difficult to dig in. But I realize that I can discipline myself to work. I am pleased with some of the pieces I created. On top of that, I did feel good enough about some of my work to submit a piece this spring to the Drawing for Art, and my artwork got chosen.

Will I carry on? Yes, but I think I need a new focus, so I need to think that through. I will determine that soon and  post my plans here.

Lastly, I did actually do a couple of pieces recently, and I have two incomplete paintings on the go.

This is a "botanical drawing" from our last Art Group meeting in May.

And this is a painting I did of orange poppies growing in my front garden. Which reminds me, I need to remember to move this plant to the side bed!

Garden transformation and Alex turning 70!

Part of my challenges this spring has been to transform my back yard  into "my oasis"!  I had the grass taken out last fall and wanted to wait till I was sure how I wanted it completed ( also what was affordable ). So this spring I contracted with my landscape guy to complete the work based on a photo I had seen in a magazine. That was March. Very wet spring. He was planning for late April, early May. I had wanted to have it done prior to Alex' 70 birthday so that we could have a little do. Then Mom got sick and the landscape guy got busy trying to complete his regular work load between rainfalls. Long story short, it was finally completed June 3rd. The "do" was on Saturdays June 4th!!! Much of what I had wanted to move will have to wait. I also got rid of the BBQ and the old outdoor furniture and was able to get just the set I wanted!!! Here is the result.

 
And here he is at 70 with me!

Challenges!

Its been a while! No kidding. Most of it has been due to challenges with mom's health and its effects on her mentally, physically and emotionally. And........ as a result, on me and my ability to get on with what I want to do. She has had a number of small problems, First, a scratch on her leg that got quite infected. Off to the doctor. Tetanus shot, creme and anti-biotics. Seemed to make her quite out of it mentally and physically. That cleared up, then she had a bit of a fall in the bathtub, when she could not quite get herself out. I had to haul her out by lifting her. Seemed to be OK, but 2 days later her right hand was quite swollen, so off to emergency. They diagnosed a small fracture, and a definite sprain. Her arm was splinted and more anti-biotics. Well... talk about problems keeping the splint on. She does not remember the fall nor the reason for the splint. Back to the fracture clinic for a follow-up appointment where she gave her a Velcro splint to keep on for another 10 days. No way!!! At least not for long. So the wrist kept being aggravated. Plus more anti-biotics so the the brain functions were even less clear!
In the meantime, I've gone an bought a bath-lift since she absolutely does to understand that one can take a shower to get clean!!! It must be a bath and only a bath. Very crabby by now. The bath lift is an intrusion to her. She has always had baths and why does she have to have this "thing" in the bath. Oh well!!! At least she is getting a bath and I have a little less to worry about her getting into the bath. It used to scare me to watch how she got into and out of the bath tub!!! Mom has always been quite agile, and she still is. But she is so unsteady on her feet these days and not functioning too well mentally. I also got a wheelchair for her, so that is actually a bit liberating. Has made small walks possible with her holding on to the chair, then when she gets tired (about the distance of 4 houses) she can get in the chair and we can go around the block or what not.

All of these drugs in her system though, have resulted in her getting a nasty infection in her mouth referred to by the medical profession as "black hairy tongue" . The taste receptors grow quite long and seem to feel awful.So much so, that she actually asked to go see the doctor. More drugs!!! This time to kill the fungus that causes this condition. Still cranky, but it seems to be getting a bit better. I hope that's it for a while so that she can enjoy things a bit more. She has been quite annoyed with everything lately, to the point that she keeps saying she should never have left Holland!

More stuff happened which I will recall in another post. I've not been in the mood