One Subject - Two Mediums

"Head Study #2 At Acadia" , watercolor,  17 x 12"   ©2016

 Two works done recently. One subject. Two Mediums. Why?

This handsome carriage horse was first worked up as a graphite study, in order to get my values figured out in my head. Doing these preliminary sketches helps me a lot; especially when working from photos, and not from life. This horse was one of the horses who was on the American Driving Society's visit years ago to Maine and the carriage roads of Acadia. I captured more than several photos of this handsome guy and I have painted him before. This time I approached the painting a bit differently than other works done of him. His strong face and handsome features attracted me again. And because I have clients asking to purchase my sketches I have included the graphite of this image available on my website.

"Head Study #2 At Acadia", graphite, 14 x 11" ©2016



Be Aware This May

May is Stroke Awareness month. It is also the month that my solo art show titled ”Finding My Voice” opens in Lexington, Kentucky at Gallery B, with a reception on May 8th from 5-8 pm. The works in this show were recreated over that past two and a half years…since August of 2006. That date is pivotal in the theme of the show. But let me digress…read my blog entry of May 19th, 2008 that explains a lot. ....

"What May Means To Me Or Why I Blog" MAY 19TH 2008

May has always been a special month for my family…spring is in full swing, my husband’s birthday falls in May and of course so does Mother’s Day. But this year [and last year] May has taking on new meaning for us, as it is designated as Stroke Awareness Month.And we are very aware about stroke. Now.

On July 29th of 2006, my husband and I, along with my sister who was visiting from California, were all headed from our farm in Morrill, Maine to my eldest brother’s home in New Hampshire to celebrate his 70th birthday. It was a surprise party for him and for the first time in a long time, my siblings and I were going to be together to party and have a good time. We arrived on time and I got out of our car to greet everyone, feeling so happy to see us all together. My sister-in-law, Bev walked up to me and started talking …I could hear her, but I couldn't make out a word that she was saying. I didn’t feel right, but was busy looking around at everybody when I realized I couldn't see my right hand or arm and I couldn’t figure out where they were…and I was still trying to understand Bev. She sounded like a slow broken record and her words were all jumbled to me. I looked around for my husband, Les and when I saw him I asked, “Where’s my arm? And he said “By your side? What’s the matter?” Then I guess everyone saw something was wrong with me. I remember them helping me into the shade of a huge tree on the grounds and helping to lay me down on the ground. I looked up at everyone…I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t really talk and tell them what I felt and a sea of faces looked down on me. But through it all a strange feeling of calm and peacefulness filled my being and I knew it would be all right.

I was suffering a stroke.

I missed my brother’s 70th.To make a long story short…I was rushed to a hospital in N.H. and then was transported by ambulance to Portland, Maine, and admitted into Maine Medical Center. This was done in order that I should be closer to my family and doctors.Tests were started. The left side of my brain had been ‘attacked’ when the blood flow was interrupted or stopped due to a blood clot. A significant part of my left temporal lobe was affected and this left me with right-sided paralysis and Aphasia. Aphasia is a condition where language problems make it difficult to talk the way I used to and makes writing very difficult for me. Something that was so important to me in my life [I have worked as a newspaper reporter and fashion editor in the past…and wrote poetry.] .... was now something that was so difficult. My understanding and comprehension of speech were unimpaired, but speech itself became hard as my speech related muscles wouldn’t cooperate and my brain could not find the words to say what I wanted to. But what was more important to me, as I lay on the hospital bed with my family around me…could I draw??? I managed to get the nurse to understand what I wanted…. a pencil and paper. She brought them and everyone looked on as I sketched an eye, a horse head……….okay… I could live with the limitations I had a this point. I could draw, and this would mean I could paint. Life was good!!!

In the week that passed in between hospital tests, MRI’s and blood work, I sketched some, slept a lot, but I knew I needed to get home, to our quiet farm where I would be alone with my husband, see my Corgi and our horses, see and smell our gardens and get down to the business of getting better…. to getting ‘Kathi’ back!

This year and half that has passed has been difficult. Our horses became my therapy, as I brushed them while walking with a cane, my hand and arm gained strength. I cleaned stalls needing the muck fork to help stand up with. Throwing hay and lifting shaving bags became my upper body strengthen exercises. I had a speech therapist come and work with me in our home, who helped me start to get over some the Aphasia problems…and an occupational therapist to help me get my hand coordination back. And I painted…and drew and I slept. I slept a lot. I still sleep during the day needing naps to replenish my energy.

I started a blog after my therapist suggested that I do it as an exercise to recapture my language skills. Each and every blog entry has my recovery in it. Metaphorically each of my paintings tells of my struggles and my victories...most in the form of equine art.But through it all I knew that my attitude about what I was going through was more important to me that what had happened to me. My recovery depended on my attitude. I cannot control what happens to me in life, but I can control my attitude. And that is my life’s mantra now……….’if it’s gonna be..it’s up to me.’

And I have also been blessed with a wonderful husband who has been beside me through it all. Les has been the wind beneath my wings.So in a nutshell….that is my story. Why I blog.. and the road leading up to the beginning of my blog. That is my story and I am sticking with it.

SO…. next week, May 2009, we head down to Lexington, KY. for my solo show and a chance to explain to folks about stroke and the ramifications of it on it’s victims and their caregivers. I am one of the “lucky” stroke survivors…After a life time of suffering TIA’s [ little mini strokes ] and not knowing what they were really about…I feel a need now to tell more people about stroke and it’s symptoms. If I had paid attention to the TIA’S over the years before, maybe today I wouldn’t have the language skills deficit and the right-sided physical problems that I have today. What I didn’t tell doctors kept me from having the care I should have had before the stroke even happened. If I can help one person from experiencing stroke…it is worth it. Folks just don’t know ……maybe I can help?

But on the bright side….I do hope to see you at my reception…May 8th…5 to 8…be there!!! I will be looking for you!!!

Framed Again

The past few weeks have been riddled with the distraction of getting a solo art show together of my works for a lovely gallery in Lexington, Kentucky. Gallery B is hanging a show of my artwork that has all been produced since my stroke in the summer of 2006. As I pulled all these works together, I see a definite change in my work since that life changing event ...yes, I have been able to paint since, during and before....but there is a certain "Je ne sais pas que" change in it all. I can't wait to see it all hung in one gallery to make a collective statement. Opening reception is May 8TH at 5-8 pm. I hope all you blog followers who live around Lexington will come and see me and my work....and a portion of all sales will be donated to the National Stroke Association

The Show is called "Finding My Voice". Like many victims of stroke, I was left with language skill deficits ...spelling, finding words, numbers and writing all became hard or at times impossible..but my Lord, my art,our horses and dogs, my gardens, some really great friends and the quietness of our lovely little farm in Maine healed me and life does go on...And golly gee!!!! I am having a solo art show in Lexington, KY....The Heart of Horse Country, USA!!

Two of the smallest paintings are pictured above. These are both from my 'Shades of Black' series, and are done in casein on board...the paintings are only 4 x 4"...neat little squares! This series is a study of light and shadows on black horses at different times of the day and different seasons.

I am excited about the upcoming show..but our farm keeps me grounded.....with cleaning stalls and shedding out dusty winter hair-coats from 4 equine beasts and two canine beasties.

What May Means To Me Or Why I Blog

May has always been a special month for my family…spring is in full swing, my husband’s birthday falls in May and of course so does Mother’s Day. But this year [and last year] May has taking on new meaning for us as it is designated as Stroke Awareness Month.
And we are very aware about stroke. Now.

On July 29th of 2006, my husband and I, along with my sister who was visiting from California, were all headed from our farm in Morrill, Maine to my eldest brother’s home in New Hampshire to celebrate his 70th birthday. It was a surprise party for him and for the first time in a long time, my siblings and I were going to be together to party and have a good time. We arrived on time and I got out of our car to greet everyone, feeling so happy to see us all together. My sister-in-law, Bev walked up to me and started talking …I could hear her, but I couldn't make out a word that she was saying. I didn’t feel right, but was busy looking around at everybody when I realized I couldn't see my right hand or arm and I couldn’t figure out where they were…and I was still trying to understand Bev. She sounded like a slow broken record and her words were all jumbled to me. I looked around for my husband, Les and when I saw him I asked, “Where’s my arm? And he said “By your side? What’s the matter?” Then I guess everyone saw something was wrong with me. I remember them helping me into the shade of a huge tree on the grounds and helping to lay me down on the ground. I looked up at everyone…I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t really talk and tell them what I felt and a sea of faces looked down on me. But through it all a strange feeling of calm and peacefulness filled my being and I knew it would be all right. I was suffering a stroke. I missed my brother’s 70th.

To make a long story short…I was rushed to a hospital in N.H. and then was transported by ambulance to Portland, Maine, and admitted into Maine Medical Center. This was done in order that I should be closer to my family and doctors.
Tests were started.. The left side of my brain had been ‘attacked’ when the blood flow was interrupted or stopped due to a blood clot. A significant part of my left temporal lobe was affected and this left me with right-sided paralysis and Aphasia. Aphasia is a condition where language problems make it difficult to talk the way I used to and makes writing very difficult for me. Something that was so important to me in my life [I have worked as a newspaper reporter and fashion editor in the past…and wrote poetry] ....was now something that was so difficult. My understanding and comprehension of speech were unimpaired, but speech itself became hard as my speech related muscles wouldn’t cooperate and my brain could not find the words to say what I wanted to.

But what was more important to me, as I lay on the hospital bed with my family around me…could I draw??? I managed to get the nurse to understand what I wanted…. a pencil and paper. She brought them and everyone looked on as I sketched an eye, a horse head……….okay… I could live with the limitations I had a this point. I could draw, and this would mean I could paint. Life was good!!!

In the week that passed in between hospital tests, MRI’s and blood work, I sketched some, slept a lot, but I knew I needed to get home, to our quiet farm where I would be alone with my husband, see my Corgi and our horses, see and smell our gardens and get down to the business of getting better…. to getting ‘Kathi’ back!

This year and half that has passed has been difficult. Our horses became my therapy, as I brushed them while walking with a cane my hand and arm gained strength. I cleaned stalls needing the muck fork to help stand up with. Throwing hay and lifting shaving bags became my upper body strengthen exercises. I had a speech therapist come and work with me in our home, who helped me start to get over some the Aphasia problems…and an occupational therapist to help me get my hand coordination back.
And I painted…and drew and I slept. I slept a lot. I still sleep during the day needing naps to replenish my energy.

I started a blog after my therapist suggested that I do it as an exercise to recapture my language skills. Each and every blog entry has my recovery in it. Metaphorically each of my paintings tells of my struggles and my victories...most in the form of equine art.
But through it all I knew that my attitude about what I was going through was more important to me that what had happened to me. My recovery depended on my attitude. I cannot control what happens to me in life..but I can control my attitude. And that is my life mantra now……….’if it’s gonna be..it’s up to me.’

And I have also been blessed with a wonderful husband who has been beside me through it all. Les has been the wind beneath my wings.

So in a nutshell….that is my story. Why I blog.. and the road leading up to the beginning of my blog. That is my story and I am sticking with it.


SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT


STROKE FACTS*
About 700,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke. That means, on average, a stroke occurs every 45 seconds.



Stroke kills more than 150,000 people a year. That's about 1 of every 16 deaths. It's the No. 3 cause of death behind diseases of the heart and cancer.



On average, every 3 to 4 minutes someone dies of stroke.



Of every 5 deaths from stroke, 2 occur in men and 3 in women.



The 2004 stroke death rates per 100,000 population for specific groups were 48.1 for white males, 47.4 for white females 73.9 for black males and 64.9 for black females.



Americans will pay about $62.7 billion in 2007 for stroke-related medical costs and disability.



*Source: ASA

STROKE SYMPTOMS*





Any or all of the following:

Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body

Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding

Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes

Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination

Sudden, severe headaches with no known cause

*Source: AHA statistics 2004

Down and Dirty

Yesterday the sun was shining and the inviting warmth of the hay bedding our paddocks near the barn beckoned to our horses to take long naps in the spring sun. It has been a long winter here in Maine. I took advantage of their sleeping to do a charcoal study of one of them..........here is one of 'Duster'. [It is 18 x 12"]

Our horses are comfortable with my being around them when they are laying down in their stalls and paddocks, so even with me walking into their space, with my Artboard and Strathmore gray scale paper tacked onto it, they continued to doze in the sun's rays. As time allows I plan on doing more plein aire work this year..I may even do some landscapes!! I haven't done many over the years.

I had forgotten how dirty I get with charcoal. I am not a very meticulous artist in the best of times.....working with charcoal, I get it everywhere........my hands..my face...........and all over the paper...But in the end I do get some charcoal where I want it on the paper and end up with a drawing!!!

Today it rains. I am content to work in the studio.

The Hunter

This morning when Addie and I went out to feed and turn the horses out, we were greeted by a huge winged predator. He watched us from his perch on the old Ash tree, as the sun rose in the cold winter sky. When we came back from doing the horses this feathered fellow [ I think he is a Great Gray Owl. ] was still perched, allowing me to run into the house and get my digital and 35mm cameras and he posed, it seemed, so I could get good shots of him. The above shot was with my digital...not a very clear shot, but with my 35mm camera I was able to get up close and personal with him. I can't wait to see how those shots came out. After letting me shoot many reference shots, with a swoosh of his wings he flew at and over me and then off into the woods as if to say "Enough of that!!!"

We had our weekly snow storm yesterday and our sauna is now just about covered with the pile up of white rain. If we wanted to take a sauna and then cool off in the brook behind the shed, there is no way we could...not that we were even thinking about doing that!!

Two Black Horses

It is raining......foggy and wet around the farm. But our 4 horses wanted to get out ... so they are out and now know the folly of their antics in their stalls. When it is time to come in... I hope they appreciate their clean and dry stalls!!

Today I have been working on a study of a lovely little Morgan in harness, that will be a watercolor at some point. I also am waiting on a casein to dry and wonder if that would be happening today. It is a 16 x 20" gallery wrapped canvas of two driving horses whom I met last year at Acadia. They were not in driving harness, but rather were on their way out of the stables for a stretch walk with their owner, along the carriage roads under the Triad. It probably is best to let this painting sit for another day and work on the other casein painting...a 12 x 12" Thoroughbred racing scene that I have going.

'The Two Blacks' [at Acadia] painting is depicted above......at the point it is today....needs more work...but not today. After the rains.....