Art work and Other Thoughts

Last month the annual Christmas art show at the Seippel Center was hung. The center is in Beaver Dam and will display the show until the end of this month. I have a few things on display, mostly small paintings and some cards. Next year I plan to have much more. I am steadily trying to get more paintings finished. I have a tendency to start 4 or 5 and then get hung up with one, go to the next, become inspired with another. Its a process and with the year of working of the house, the move and making sure Jack stays well.. there is little time. I need a New Year's resolution on focusing. I have a wonderful studio space upstairs and after the holidays I will be posting some new images on here. I have decided to change medium for my larger compositions. I will be painting them in oil, not colored pencil. I started out an oil painter in the 70's and gave it up because I got cancer after exposure to silk screen solvents in a poorly ventilated studio at the UW of Whitewater. 4 students got cancer that had worked in that studio, 2 died. Thankfully there is more awareness now on how dangerous the chemicals we work with are. Artists tend to take risks for the sake of art. I did also. Unfortunately it scared me away from painting. I never did like the feel of acrylics. The pencils were fun until I realized the hours of burnishing the pencil layers was becoming painful for my hands and wrists. I love the pencil, line the sharpness of it. But I also love the paint. I have 5 large paintings in process and am very excited about posting the finished work soon. I also am having fun painting my old farm animals and some landscapes. These are more painterly and really a lot of fun.
I will try to update more often. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.