Collar-ed Corgi

She looks like the girl in the bubble!!

After a week of worrying about our Addie's right eye......and many visits to the vet's, today Addie had surgery on the eye and is now resting peacefully at home, even if a bit miffed at having to wear a silly old collar that certainly detracts from her beauty....and her ability to scoff up her food. She is a Corgi you know!!! Nell, the resident JRT, thinks Addie looks silly in this collar!! And how can she , in good terrier fashion, bite Addie when the collar gets in the way??

We had so many good folks contact us with prayers and positive thoughts during and after her surgery, that we want to thank everyone...we know it helped!!!

Even now it means a lot of hand walking the two dogs and doling out meds....I should be able to get back into the studio to finish up some almost completed works and start on some new ones.

If life doesn't keep getting in the way!!

Trivia Galore

Well, I received the new palette and have filled it with some of my casein colors that I use. I almost don't want to touch it now, as it is so nice and pristine. But I know I need to "bite the proverbial bullet" and get down and dirty with it. I just needed to show everyone how nice it looks!! :-)

I have been busy going through the pile of photo shots taken in KY during our visit. Here is a shot of Bobbye and I in front of the American Academy of Equine Art. Bobbye and Ed were our hosts and tour guide during our entire stay. They gave us a royal tour of equine highlights in Lexington and Louisville; and then in Cincinnati we got into the arts and architecture of that great city. We can't thank them enough!


I have been painting some, but the past week was also taken up with caring for our Corgi, Addie, as she tries to get over a bad eye infection. Part of the ordeal is also keeping the puppy, Nell, away from Addie as the poor girl heals. Like kids!

Back to the drawing board now as I finish up a casein painting of a Lexington thoroughbred stallion who posed for me ....I know he wanted to be painted! I am putting the finishing touches on it now.

Small Dog Equals Small Casein

This little JRT is our Little "Nell" on our deck, as she watched the comings and goings of the birds from their feeders behind the house, this past winter. It kept her occupied on warm winter days. This casein on canvas is only 4 x 4" and it will be put up on my website.

I work in my studio this Memorial Day listening to the wind whipping outside and knowing that tonight I need to cover all our annuals and veggies that have been planted due to the predicted frost. This is a common occurance in Maine....It is only spring still!!

Happy Memorial Day

Our flag is flying high this weekend. It actually flies all the time. But today we stop and take time to honor the veterans and to also remember family and friends who have past. We all are indebted to the veterans who fought for our freedom... in America and abroad, in the past and still today. Some of them are from my family.....and today is a day to take time to remember them and what they have given for us and future generations. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Our spring is in full swing here in Maine..finally. My lilacs are perfuming the air and my perennial gardens give me so much joy ...either looking at them ..or working in them. Every year I say I will not get anymore new plants, but I can't stop myself from picking up some new flowers or ground-covers to round everything out! So far this spring I have added a new bleeding heart and a different Monks Hood. Don't ask me varieties..I just know color!! Years ago I worked in a commercial green house, and then for a nursery, but names escape me now. I just know color!!

This above is my "Look Into Garden", with the first blooming old fashioned lilac. I look down into this garden from my kitchen windows and it is a joy all year long with interesting landscape even in the middle of winter.

And then below, the view now from my studio, shows the round veggie garden that we separated with an arbor that will be shaded with grape, clematis and then morning glories later in the season.I get to look out at the horses as they graze in their fields. Mares on one side ...geldings on the other.

Now I better get back to work on painting on this glorious day of remembering and honouring!

Back Doing What I Do Best

I enjoy my family, our home, gardens, animals...my life ! And everyday I feel blessed with this life and the life experiences I have had. And because I am feeling such a Pollyanna today, I have to admit I am SOOO lucky being an artist, painting what I love and having folks who enjoy my work.

The crab apple tree outside my studio window is all in blossom with sweet smelling flowers and even the plum trees have blossoms...not as many as last year. This will mean less plums to harvest for us. But the birds will have their crab apples to eat all through next winter.

But for today I don't want to think about next winter. Last year's Maine winter is still to vivid in my memory!!!

Touring Thru Kentucky And Solo Show

May 2009 is a very month busy it seems. I feel as if it has me sort of hanging on to my hat!

Our trip to Lexington has come and gone and I am still dizzy with all the images captured in my head and on film from the whirlwind tour of Lexington, the Kentucky Horse Park, the horse farms and Keeneland and then over to Louisville and Churchill Downs…then following the Ohio River back to Cincinnati [Actually out side of Cincinnati in Ryland, KY.]

Here is a photo of Bobbye and I hamming it up at KHP! [me on left]

The opening reception at Gallery B of my solo show was fun, looked great and brought sales…. and after the opening we were taken out to dinner by the Gallery owners…to an Italian Restaurant,” Portofino”. Very appropriate for me, I am thinking!!! Portofino is one of my most favorite spots on the Mediterranean coast.

Me [a very tired me] and Marci

One wall of my show at Gallery B

On Saturday morning Marci, the director of Gallery B met us at our hotel and we headed out for a tour of Daly Farm, Sheik Mohammed of Dubai’s stud farm where I was able to get some great shots of some of the Thoroughbred industries best stallions…
[i.e. Bernardini, Hard Spun, Holy Bull, Rockport Harbor] courtesy of Gallery B! From there we headed out to Keeneland to grab a hearty breakfast at the famous racetrack restaurant. We walked around the stables and the grounds of Keeneland for more shots that I know will give me reference for future paintings. Then off we went to tour Cobra Farm and the broodmares and new foals. I also got some new JRT shots…great!! Then we headed to Louisville and Churchill Downs for afternoon races… a bit of betting …and a Mint Julep of course!

On Sunday we were back at Ryland and so went into Cincinnati and “did” the Art Museum and our hosts, Ed and Bobbye Winterberg gave us a grand tour of the city highlights. I loved the Victorian brick townhouses there along the Ohio River! We got to enjoy an art fair in a park along the riverside. And then to celebrate Mothers Day we headed to an Indian restaurant and pigged out on curry and Nan!!

I have a wealth of new reference shots to create from…. and I happy to be back in the studio and working on ideas. I arrived back to several new commissions, new show invites and looks like the summer is going to be busy.

Today I delivered my above casein of my mom riding a pig...it's titled "Poor Girls Pony" to the 2009 Festival of Art at the Huchinson Center in Belfast. Maine. That show opens today May 14th through May 17. Tomorrow we got to the opening reception for Jamie Wyeth's new show at the Farnsworth in Roclkand, Me.

Yes..very busy!
I guess I wouldn’t want it any other way!!!

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!!!