It has been a slow few painting years for me. In 2022, I fell down a flight of stairs and it took several months to recover from the concussion. In 2023, I was pulled over by a dog eager to get to a treat someone had, and broke my femur. I was in the hospital 8 days because of blood loss, and the surgeon had to insert a metal rod into my femur. It was a long recovery. (A quick public service announcement here: If you can donate blood, please do so. I would have been out of the hospital sooner if they had had enough blood to give me.) In 2024 – at least this one was planned! – I had knee replacement surgery, during which the surgeon also removed the rod from my femur. My new knee is terrific! And then this year, my dormant macular degeneration suddenly got worse and my vision is affected. Trust me, you don’t want to know what the treatment is!

Here’s a painting from the x-ray after the femur surgery. My local group of pastellists decided we would all paint “Interiors,” and I figured that this was pretty much as interior as it gets!

But I finally feel back to myself, more or less, and have finished four paintings so far this year.

“The Knowing Forest,” 13″ x 17″

“An Afternoon in March,” 11″ x 14″

“Running Away From Home,” 10″ x 8″

“June’s Generosity,” 8″ x 10″

It feels good to be painting regularly again! In a recent interview, Henry Winkler said that being old is like living in a bad neighborhood: anything can happen. Exactly. I hope the fates leave me alone for a bit!