Nice Try

The landscape below is one of the paintings that I was working on in January when my health got in the way of my art. I certainly had good intentions when I announced in my last post that I was going to be a more frequent blogger, but right after that rightous announcement, I was felled by a "cardiac event" and ended up in the hospital for a few days, even more days of bed rest, and some subsequent hobbling around. I had been having chest pains in the middle of the night since after Thanksgiving and had attributed this to indigestion, but a few weeks back at 4 in the morning, I knew that this was not something I ate which was returning to haunt me in the wee hours, this was the real deal. Allan rushed me off to our doctor first thing, who then sent me on immediately to a cardiologist who promptly arranged for a bed in the Cardiac Hospital here in Mesa. After prodding me, poking me, x-rays, sonar scans, blood tests on the hour, nitroglycerine drips, and blood thinner shots in my abdomen, I was scheduled for a angiocatheterization the following day. The good news is that I did not have a heart attack and in fact my heart muscle was healthy and my vessels were clear of blockages or plaque. The bad news was that I have a form of angina that is prompted by stress or extreme cold. I am now on some medications and have some nitroglycerine spray for any unforeseen attacks...so the doctor has assured me that if I stay in sunny warm locations and stay away from anything that can cause me to feel stressed, I will be just fine and on the other hand if I do not take his advice then it is possible to bring on a heart attack if the angina is not taken seriously. So needless to say...Allan and I are planning a suitable rv trip for this season.....where we can relax and just be tourists and see the sights and enjoy the summer. It also appears that our friends Mike and Rose, who also have had a traumatic event happen to them this January, might be joining us on our travels. We hope to see more of the type of scenery that Allan photographs for his boat paintings, like the one he did above left.

We did manage to fit in a portrait workshop by a well known portrait artist by the name of Dodie Ballentine prior to the hospital and we just recently attended the pastel meeting for the month where we were given a demo by the President of the International Assoc of Pastel Societies, who was also the judge of our winter show. The photo to the left shows Maggie Price giving the demo at our meeting.





The hospital stay managed to slow me down considerably in terms of paintings produced this month but Allan has been churning them out....so he will have plenty to choose from for the Sedona show coming up in April. Below is a painting that I have started on some dry pods in a dark background and it is only about 40% complete. I hope to have it finished in time for the show deadline. Allan has been working on several seascapes and boat paintings and to the left is a painting that he is planning on submitting for the show. I had already finished a painting for my brother of his cabin, so if I cannot get anything else finished, then he has said that I can submit his cabin in the rockies painting for the show.