On 01.02.02, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Too late for surgery, I had chemotherapy, which failed. In May the chemotherapy was changed and I was soon in remission which was celebrated and welcome and lasted nine years - until October 2011. There was progression in 2011 so more treatment was indicated and I am now back in partial remission. But I'm not only a cancer patient - I also enjoy my family, walk my dogs and am learning to draw and paint. Life is good!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Out of my comfort zone

A week ago I rejoined Weight Watchers because things had gotten out of hand. I'm now food focused, food obsessed and a bit hungry. I followed the program faithfully for the full first week and lost a measly two pounds. I suppose if that continued every week I'd be okay with it, but usually the first week is the best and it's downhill from there. Future weeks celebrate ounces lost and every pound is a triumph. (sigh)

The more I draw and paint the less I eat. So I've been drawing and painting, also with meager results. I started off with this little squirrel peeking out of a nest in a tree. Squirrel nests, I've been noticing, seem to come in two distinct variations. There are real nest types, the ones with various grasses and twigs, similar to bird nests and sometimes even stolen from birds. But there's also this kind, the simpler one that I'd make if I were a squirrel, which simply takes advantage of an existing hole already formed in the bark of the tree.


But since I'm not a squirrel, not in this incarnation anyway, I moved on to Zentangling while I watched the evening news. With that I can at least pretend I know what I'm doing.


At Juvenile Hall this morning the kids were back in acrylic paints. "Just paint," the art teacher keeps directing. I "just painted" and that's what it looked like. I began with purple, mostly because I love purple almost as much as I love yellow.

And then went back to looking at the tangles I often use and tried them in acrylic.

And now I want to go back to black pen and ink, my favorite media, and what I aspire to learn most -- how to draw.

3 comments:

  1. Don't you just hate trying to lose weight. I was one of those skinny kids that couldn't gain anything. Those days are gone. You sound discouraged. Don't be, you have a lot of followers, and we're looking forward to seeing your pen and ink sketches

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  2. I like that puple and green piece. Hang in there with Weight Watchers - we're rootin for ya!

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  3. You can never go wrong with a Zentangle!
    I find them a great way to build my confidence with pen use and as a great way to focus my mind and distract from anything negative.
    Good luck with Weight Watchers. I was successful with their program (20 yrs ago now). Don't be despondent if the results don't show early on - sometimes our bodies are slow to catch on ;-)

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