I have a mantra. “This is a painting, not a ….(fill in the blank.) Because I forget! This storm cloud is getting to be a painting. Now I live with it awhile to see if it’s done (can’t just stick a fork in it!)
Progress
Where am I?
I hope the scope of this threat of a storm coming is overwhelming. I’ wouldn’t even show up in scale with the mountains,
Total hip replacement
About four months ago I got my hip replaced. I’d had to wait two years, for other health problems. I’m doing better, but three hours in my studio is my limit, now. But oh, how much more energy when I’m not in constant intense pain!
Ominous Enough?
Storm’s Coming, has more paint. Does it seem ominous and threatening? If you’ve been hit by a fast moving storm, you know that it’s powerful.
Storm’s Coming-4
More paint. I tried to put in layers, but then I messed them up. Maybe painting is straightforward for others, but I struggle. I enjoy the struggle, and feel that I’ve learned some things along the way.
More, more
When I saw Storm’s Coming this morning, it was thin. Not enough paint. So here’s some more. It is about environmental and political problems, not a religious thing.
Threat
Continuing to try to make “Storm’s Coming” ominous and threatening, without just painting it solid black. I’m avoiding blue, and the purple is what is threatening me, too, too. After I’d made a goo of all the paints, I went in with apalette knife and made some edges.
Storm’s Coming
A local farmer dropped by my studio today, just as I was starting this painting. I was very loosely laying in orange swirls. His question was whether I had a plan, or was just painting. The answer is both. We’ve had lots of big thunderstorms this summer. The clouds before the rain are dynamic, to say the least. Are the clouds wilder because of global warming? Is everything just fine, politically and environmentally? I’m pretty sure there’s a storm coming.
I hope to post pix of this painting in progress. First is sketch in chalk on brown paper. The painting
is acrylic on a gallery wrapped canvas 36″x24″. I like to paint around the wrapped edges, avoiding frames. So BT, I hope this helps you get what I’m trying to do. I do not blame your skepticism that it will turn into anything. But as a farmer, you probably get the idea of continuing to try.
Splenectomy
In 2016 I needed a new hip. I got my spleen removed instead, to cure Chronic ITP. That didn’t work. Lots of my paintings with ovals represent platelets, or the lack of. The 2018 painting ,ala, Frida Kahlo, is of that surgery. 
Alonso Davis
In a summer session at the San Antonio Art Institute(now gone) Alonso Davis challenged me. Do you want to think of yourself as an artist, or a housewife? Made me mad, so I painted Dogs of Hell. After he set us up to paint a mural (on a barber shop wall) I designed, helped paint, and finished the 10’x20′ mural, that stayed there for ten years. I chose artist. Thanks, Alonso Davis, west coast muralist.
