Into the New Year

I hope your Yule was a good one, even if it was a bit different and probably a bit smaller than usual. And I hope you and your loved ones have come through this year with your health, your sanity, and your livelihood intact. May the next year bring relief for all of us.

While doing my annual review last week, I was looking back on this crazy year, and surprised by how much I’d managed to paint despite all the upheaval in the world and closer to home. I started the year with a burn-out, then covid hit, we went into lockdown, and my mother fell and broke her hip. Just when things were returning to a kind of semi-normal, my mother’s health suffered another blow. On the eve of her 90th birthday, she was admitted to a nursing home for temporary care with a severe case of vertigo. When she was able to return home in mid-August, I was just about ready to call it a year.

Needless to say my painting practice has been a little haphazard. Periods of steady creative work alternated with times in which I accomplished little beyond record-keeping, accounting, organizing, and sharing my work online. I did participate in a few exhibitions, but the work for that had already been done, which was a blessing. Painting small also allowed me to work when time was limited. In any case, here’s an impression of what I did this year – not to show off, but to encourage you to be creative even when times are hard. It’s better to do what you can now than to wait for a time when circumstances are perfect, because that day may never come…