A Christmas Commission

12-12-12  
THE ASSIGNMENT: 
paint an old, old tin as a Christmas gift for a man's wife. He had the thing already prepped & primed, so I gave it two base coats of folksy blue.

What most people don't understand is that artists need time to mull a project for a while, then paint like the dickens, get almost finished, and then they need some time to mull it over again, before the finish. This can (and usually does) cause me to work slow anyway.  So getting the tin on the 12th and having it done less than two weeks later was a real push for me --- but I did it! The man seemed pleased with it.

2012  was a hard year on all of us, I think. This was my only commission all year, and I sold one other small painting. Without the support of my husband, I truly would be a starving artist.

Merry Christmas to All

A day late 

and a dollar short...

but I hope you had a blessed Christmas!

End-of-the-Year Update

I'm feeling better than I have all year --- finally. In March I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Apparently, I've had it for 15 or 20 years but never knew what it was. Various aches and pains all over the body --- I just thought that came with growing old. But last winter I had it so bad, the pain was unbearable and I was suffering from a very bad bout of insomnia. I was so weak, there were times I couldn't even haul myself up out of bed. I just laid there and cried for hours. I finally had to see my doctor.

It's only been recently that modern medicine has finally recognized what I have as a legitimate health issue and have given it a name. It used to be  called "hypochondria," or more simply put, "laziness."  Everyone knows someone (usually, but not always, female) who just seems to be sick all the time, complaining about this or that pain, but in all outer appearances, they seem to be normal. They hurt so much that even housekeeping is too overwhelming for them, and they lose all interest in things that used to delight them. They don't want to be around people, withdrawing into an ever-thickening shell of depression. This now has a name: FIBROMYALGIA.

Giving it a name, however, doesn't mean a cure. Doctors don't know what causes it or how to cure it. In fact, with all the research I had to do on my own, I feel like I know more about the disorder than the doctors do. I was sent to a rheumatologist, who started treatment with one of only three meds on the market for fibro right now, along with a couple other pills. At first, it seemed to help. My pain was cut by 50% & I had great hopes. But after awhile, it lost its effectiveness. It's also funny (not ha-ha funny either) that the side effects of the drugs used to treat the disease are the same as the symptoms of the disease itself.  After 6 months of feeling as bad as I did before treatment, I gave up on it.

The worst part of fibro is that the usual pain-killers have no effect. None of the opiate-based ones like Vicodin do a thing! I've practically lived on ibuprophen for years, even though relief was hit-or-miss. I recently read that NSAIDs are ineffective, so I switched to Tylenol PM to take before bed to make sure I don't wake in pain in the middle of the night.  The other pain med that I take 3 times a day is Gabapentin, an anti-seizure drug that does seem to help with pain in fibro patients.

Needless to say, my life sucks big time. I'm doing my best to keep going. We recently built a porch onto the south side of our house and installed a hot tub. What a wonderful thing it is to soak away my pain every night before bed time. Temporary, but very effective!

In other news, we sold our cute little camper.  With my illness, camping is no longer that enjoyable. I sure hated to say goodbye, but we were making payments on it and couldn't justify continuing to do so, when we used it so seldom. We still have our pontoon boat, and we'll just have to find pet friendly motels when we travel.

Gardening was especially challenging with our summer-long drought. Caring for it and hauling buckets of water to it nearly every day actually gave me a purpose to keep going and brought me through a long, hot, dry, summer.

I sold the "4 Bins" painting (see post below) at the Dec. Gallery Hop. The only painting I've sold all year. I also took on a small commission to paint an old tin. It has a Christmas deadline! My only commission this year too.  

2012 hasn't been the best year of my life by any means. Let's hope the New Year brings better.

May you and your loved ones enjoy a blessed holiday season!

2 New Paintings

"A Sandy Beach" South Superior Lakeshore (Wisconsin)  7"x14", acrylic

I visited this deserted beach in Wisconsin a few years ago, while I was on a self-directed artist retreat. The elderly gentleman who owned the resort where I stayed had been very helpful in recommending local sights for me to see. I couldn't wait to see this one.  It was supposed to have a trail to some look-out rocks. But when I got there, the parking lot signs said it was a 1.5 mile hike (3 miles, round-trip) and I didn't know if I was up to that. I might have gone ahead and tried it, but at the trailhead there was a sign that said "Bears Frequent This Area." No way! So I walked down to the beach instead. It was a blustery, cold, gray day, with the sun sometimes breaking through. The choppy waves washing up on shore were making a loud roar, and just being there in the solitude of nature was spellbinding.

"4 Bins" Morgan County, Illinois  7"x14", acrylic - SOLD

This is an Illinois farmscape from right here in Morgan County, although I couldn't say exactly where. Once in a while my husband and I take a ride in the country. He drives, and I man the camera, yelling at him to stop when I see something photo-worthy. Something caught my eye about these 4 bins in a row. This is how the corn and beans should look. The photo I painted from was taken last summer. This year we're in a prolonged drought,  and I'm having a hard time convincing myself that there's anything out there that's photo-worthy right now. I still can't stand to go into my ruined garden, after the storm we had the other night.  

NOTE ON THE PHOTOS ABOVE

I apologize for the poor quality of these two photos of my paintings, above. I was in a big hurry this morning and it was misty-rainy outside, so I couldn't photograph them in natural light. I had to grab a couple shots in the studio, under incandescent light.  So they're a bit warmer in color here than they are in real life, and not real sharp.  I hope to replace them with better ones soon, but I was in a hurry to get them to the gallery.  

A Temporary Detour

A Painful Smile ~ 8-13-12 ~ after a grueling hike!

Friends, I've been sick. Sorry for the absence. For the time being, I'm only going to be updating this blog when I have a new painting to announce.

Please visit me at my other blog, which I will try to update daily, as I'm able. It can be reached by clicking on the link to THE HEARTLAND DAILY at right or using this web address:

http://theheartlanddaily.blogspot.com/

Dust Bath

No more rolling in the onions for Katty. 

They've been harvested!

Happy...

Happy Birthday, CC!

Canning --- Ugh!

I hate canning. I'm very slow at it, even though I've been canning for nearly 30 years. It's a LOT of work, and it fills the house with heat and steam. Last year we had a tomato failure in our old, worn-out garden site, so I was only able to can seven quarts (one canner load). This year will be a bumper crop, so I'll can toms for the rest of the summer. Helllllpppp!

Cussed Tomato

Oh, the verbal abuse I heaped upon this blasted tomato, trying to pull it off the vine. This year, instead of pinching off excessive growth of the vines, we just kept sticking it back in the cage. Now the ripening tomatoes are packed in there so tight, they're almost impossible to pick. Here is one (top & bottom) where three tomatoes grew together into one, wrapped around the wires of the cage. I wanted to scream when it wouldn't come loose. (Live & Learn!)

New Painting

"Last Spring"

Overabundance

We've never had a garden as beautiful as this year's.  And in the midst of a crippling drought, which shows that our dedication (watering it) has been faithful. I work every morning from 7-9 a.m. watering, mulching, pulling weeds. It has turned out to be good stretching exercise for my fibromyalgia.


Speaking of which: I'm doing better than I expected on my meds. Pain has decreased by at least half. I still have my bad days. I strive to eat right, including gluten-free when possible, and all these great vegetables. I also have a walking track that my husband mowed around the entire meadow, which includes the garden and the patch of rye (feed plot for deer) which I've been enjoying every morning. I'm happy to finally be feeling better...I thought I was a goner last winter!

Cat Nap

Cats are rather delicate creatures 

and they are subject to a good many ailments, 

but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.  

~Joseph Wood Krutch

An Oldie

1989

Lately, all I've been blog- ging about is my garden. Here's a BLAST FROM THE PAST to switch things up a little.

My Rosa Sharon

A dear friend gave me a foot-long shoot of her Rose of Sharon bush 23 years ago, our first spring here. I estimate it to now be a mature seven feet high and fourteen feet across. It buzzes like a bee hive with apian activity.

M-m-m-m-melon

Sugar Baby Watermelon

Q:  What do you get when you cross Lassie with a cantaloupe?

A:  A Melancholy Baby!

Pastoral Rest

This is a very pleasant, little cemetery behind the church at Pere Marquette, near the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Directly to the east of it is the Pere Marquette State Park campground.

Slaw, slaw, slaw...

This thing is huge! Big around as a dinner plate. 

Three more just like it coming on. 

What do we do with this much cabbage?  

(No KRAUT! Please! I already cleaned up 

that mess once in my life! Besides, I hate it!)

Slaw, slaw, slaw...

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

There are some days 

when I think I'm going to die 

from an overdose of satisfaction.  

~Salvador Dali

A Kiss to Kathy!

My Willow had her picture in "the Source" newspaper this week, in a wonderful article about the artist, my friend, Kathy Hall. Here she is blowing a kiss to Kathy!

Primitive Cuisine

Well, okay, aluminum foil ( swaddling the baking potatoes) is a modern convenience, but Sunday night's meal, cooked over an open campfire, is about as primitive and delicious as one gets.

A Tragedy of Nature

Yesterday evening my husband built a campfire to cook supper over. He had to get firewood in a wheelbarrow to feed his fire. We found this poor little brown snake in the bottom of the wheelbarrel, crushed during the loading of the firewood. It's very tiny, compared to the stove-size chucks of firewood.

Here's a photo for size comparison with the wood. I wish we had an outdoor wood stove. This is the kind of critter that can come into the house during the winter when we bring in firewood, along with spiders, ants and other creepy-crawlers.

Now That's More Like it!

We bought a new hose yester- day. The non-kink kind --- hurray! Added on to the two old hoses we already have, it gets water to the farthest reaches of the garden now.

Wishing for Rain

It's rained buckets every- where but here. The storms and showers seem to split apart before they get to us, going north and south, but leaving us high and dry. Oh, well, I'm building strong muscles carrying water in buckets out to the garden...but it's getting old!

Wacky Weather

Look at this crazy dude,

tilling the garden 

with a jacket on,

on the first morning of June!

How I Feel These Days

Fresh

 IT DOESN'T GET 

MUCH FRESHER THAN THIS!

I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, 

and stand in deep contemplation 

over my vegetable progeny with a love 

that nobody could share or conceive of 

who had never taken part in the process of creation.  

It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world 

to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, 

or a rose of early peas just peeping forth 

sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green. 

  

~Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from an Old Manse

A Tisket - A Tasket

I took this photo of my husband last night and roared with laughter when I got back into the house and saw it on my computer.  
     I was sitting, unnoticed, in the shade as my husband walked from the house out to the garden. I took nine shots of him as he came across the yard. Suddenly he saw me and grinned in surprise in this, my next to the last, shot. 
     At first glance, it looks like he's happily carrying a white basket out to the garden. But look closer.  The basket is actually sitting on the table and his arm, swinging forward as he walked, intersected with it at just the right split second to make it look like he was carrying it. We laughed our butts off when we saw the picture, but he'd probably kick my butt into the next county if he knew I'd put the photo on my blog!

Be Who You Are...

"Willow Woodsprite" c.2012 Kathy Hall

 Be who you are and say what you feel, 

because those who mind don't matter 

and those who matter don't mind. 

 ~Dr. Seuss~

Mystery Flower

I wish I knew what this flower is called.  

It's grown in a large clump, volunteer, 

all the years we've lived here.

What's Up in the Greenhouse?

POTATOES, MUMS & ONIONS

LOTS 
OF 
GOOD 
THINGS

Keep on Digging, Mom

Many things come to mind when you stop to realize this is Underground America Day. Actually, it’s all about eco-friendly, earth-sheltered architecture. The holiday was founded by architect Malcolm Wells on this day in 1974. His homes and buildings were often burrowed into hillsides and designed to harness the alternative energies of solar and geothermal. You can even garden on their roofs. 

(I wonder how underground houses built in 1974 have stood the test of time? Here in Tornado Alley, I wouldn't mind living underground.)

So to celebrate, 

I’m going to head on out 

to the garden right now 

and burrow into the earth! 

Maybe stomp a few mole tunnels 

on my way out there!

Oh, here's a picture...

from the Mother's Day cook-out yesterday evening. 

A perfectly beautiful day. 

That's the garden in the background. 

Thank you for the wonderful wine sampling, Weezer! 

Kids, glad you could be here! 

Husband, thanks for the good, 

down-home, outdoor campfire cooking! 

And Dog... leave the bees alone!

Happy Mother's Day!

c. 2012 C.C. Godar

Imagine Many Things

This dear little person is an example of the unique creativity of my artist friend, Deea.

Creative people are curious, 

flexible, persistent, and independent 

with a tremendous spirit of adventure 

and a love of play.  

~Henri Matisse~

Vinnie

My friend Kathy Hall creates these adorable cartoon characters, besides her awesome dolls. This is "Vinnie," who works in a carnival.

"What?" "Where?" "Why?"

Dream of Pretty Things

So precious...from my artist friend Trina
Dream of pretty things:

You are your own

fairy godmother!

Good News!

Sunset #1, acrylic 7"x14" SOLD

I just found out that my most recent painting, "Sunset#1," sold at last weekend's Gallery Hop.

CC's Gallery of Amazing Artist Friends

NEW FEATURE:  My Private Gallery of artwork by friends and other artists.

A group of us from the Eclectic Gallery and Art Co-op used to meet for Artist's Way twice a month. At one point we decided to each make a piece of work for everybody else in the group. I've kept my wonderful memories of these friends and the good times we had together in this binder with the cover designed by yours truly.

[Artist Friends: I'm only identifying you by your first names, unless you let me know you'd like your full name featured.]

Survivors of Winter

I can't believe these tiny, forgotten Dusty Millers survived winter, but now they're actually taking off!

Success seems to be largely a matter 

of hanging on after others have let go.  

~William Feather~

Peaceful Rest

Church cemetery at Pere Marquette State Park, Grafton, IL

For death is no more than 

a turning of us over 

from time to eternity.  

~William Penn~

The Kiss of the Sun...

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
~Dorothy Frances Gurney

Listen to Me...

I'm the Dad and you'd better start listening to me!

Today is National Pet Parent Day. 

Do you know what your pets are up too?

A Survivor of Urban Decay

Pruitt–Igoe was a huge public housing project on St. Louis' lower north side, which consisted of 33 11-story apartment buildings on a 57 acre plot . It was designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, who later designed the World Trade Center towers in New York City. The new complex was first occupied in 1954, but the ungrateful residents soon tore it up. The decline was such that a decade later, the housing project had become infamous for its crime and poverty. It's 33 deteriorating buildings were demolished in the mid-70s. It was an enormous waste of taxpayer dollars and the poster child for failed urban renewal. 

My dad worked there during its demolition and uncovered this old, old bottle in the ruins.  

Kids & Pets Just Go Together

My son when he was little with his beloved Kitten Nugget.

Yesterday was NATIONAL KIDS & PETS DAY. (Sorry I'm late in posting this --- long story told on another blog). Anyway, I'm not sure what this celebration is all about, but I do know that pets are good for children growing up. 
          My sister and I always had a regular menagerie: dogs, cats, hamsters, fish, frogs, piglets, calves, a pony, a horse, an orphaned raccoon, baby birds fallen from nests which we tried to save, and the list goes on and on. I feel sorry for anyone who grew up without at least one pet to love and care for.

Love Those Red Hats!

Bayfield, Wisconsin

Today is RED HAT SOCIETY DAY.  It all started when Sue Ellen bought a bright red fedora hat on a impulse at a thrift shop.  A few years later, she read a poem called “Warning” written in 1961 by Jenny Joseph which is about an older woman in purple clothing wearing a red hat. The poem begins with the lines: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple, With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.” She liked the poem so much she gave a framed copy of it, along with a red hat, to her friend Linda as a birthday present.  Linda enjoyed the gift so much that Sue Ellen started giving the same gift to other friends. One day they all decided they should dress up in purple (like the lady in the poem) and wear their red hats out to tea together. Soon they were doing this on a regular basis and inviting other friends to join them. As the group became too large, sister groups were formed. Now they hold conventions that fill entire hotels with red hatted women having a great time together. Women over 50 are the “Red Hatters”; those not yet 50 wear pink hats.

This year the Red Hat gals will celebrate their 14th birthday at the Hard Rock Café  - Hollywood.  They are now a global sisterhood of women whose mission is fun, friendship, freedom, fulfillment and fitness. In only five years they’d grown to 40,000 chapters worldwide. For more information, their official website is: http://www.redhatsociety.com/

To read Jenny Joseph’s poem that inspired this sisterhood and, see:

http://www.wheniamanoldwoman.com/pages/348544/index.htm

I first heard about this group while at an artist retreat near Duluth, Minnesota in the summer of 2006. One of our fellow artists was a member and was explaining to us what the group was all about.  Imagine my surprise when one Saturday morning a year later, I happened to spot a small group of “Hatters” while on a self-directed artist retreat in Wisconsin. I was waiting to board a tour boat when I spied this group having their pictures taken on the balcony of their bed and breakfast suite. There appears to be three of them, posing with a sign and holding a couple of extra red hats (maybe for members who couldn’t be with them that day for one reason or another).

[I'm presently reading THE RED HAT SOCIETY: Fun & Friendship After Fifty by Sue Ellen Cooper and I'll post a review in my book blog after I finish it.]

Teach Your Children...

c. 2006 Godar Graphics

Today is TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO SAVE DAY. This awareness day was established by the American Banker’s Association Education Foundation to express the importance of teaching our children how to save money, how to set up and use budgets, how interest works to make savings grow, and most importantly (in my opinion anyway) how to recognize the difference between needs and wants.