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Monday, July 30, 2012

Potato Chip Junkie


Work in progress: Banana Cream Pie, Acrylics; middle portion of  30 x 10" stretched canvas.

My lower level, my favorite place to be. The watercolor station is
on the bar (left).  Oil and Acrylic studio down the hall., past the bath.
Exercise area with mirrored wall beyond the couch. I designed
the space, Ellis built it. We had a great business partnership. I miss it.
On the weekend following my physical where I learned my bad cholesterol is on the rise, I chose to paint banana cream pie. Typical me, do what you shouldn't. I haven't touched this painting in a week or more. As you know, I needed some Cadmium Yellow Light, but I kept putting it off. I finally put in my paint order yesterday.I figured bite the bullet, put up the money; all my acrylics were low. Too tired to do watercolor, after I had divided a couple of large wc sheets, I chose a session with acrylics to wile away an afternoon.

 Opening my acrylic palette, I discovered much to my delight that the paint mixes were still as moist and workable as I had left them over a week ago,(Masterson disposable paper palette with a dampened sponge pad liner in an airtight box, excellent), so I figured go ahead, jump in, add CYL when it comes. The more I worked, the more I felt myself loosening up.  

After a lifetime preference, I do feel comfortable with acrylics. I do enjoy painting pastries. Oddly enough, I don't like to eat them. I'm a potato chip junkie--was a potato chip junkie. That report put me back on the elliptical trainer and  sunrise swimming  this weekend. Love that lake--with no wind squalls and no people.

Mirror Lake

All To Myself Alone



24 comments:

  1. Happy Monday LW...what a fun post..(well, sorry about your cholesterol, but it is fantastic that you are finding ways to deal with it..) I love the photo of your living area, it looks inviting and the table looks a perfect place for a watercolor station. As for your pies...I understand what you are saying about not being so keen on sweets. I, unfortunately, love sweets..(I need hypnosis. haha). As someone who does love sweets I can say with authority that those pies are sending out "I'm delicious" vibes. Acrylics are your medium!

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  2. Replies
    1. Well the chlorestol is just a smidgeon high (220 LDL) that I'm concerned. I just came off a sixteen day any food goes holiday with the kids and I have let my exercise slide over the last year. So back on the wagon to see what I can do naturally.

      When I get those three pastry paintings done they'll be nice. I can see them. Funny thing is I have slowly swiped all my acrylic brushes over to oils these last months and need to pick up more. I do have a persistent desire to top acrylic under paintings with oils for the finish. Maybe I'll try it with JD?

      The deck isn't totally mine; it belongs to the 42 owners of the condo association. I was glad my partners weren't up at that hour when it was just me and the lake and the silence of early morning.

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  3. Your lower level looks like such a quiet, comfy place to spend time. The lake looks almost unreal, it is so beautiful at dawn. I'd be tempted to paint it rather than swim in it. And I am glad to hear you are doing exercise and diet, rather than prescriptions for the cholesterol. OK, now ... STROKE ... STROKE ... STROKE!!!

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    1. My lower level is heaven. I have all my art supplies and stations--acrylics, oils and watercolor. I have all my art books ( not pictured). I can paint. I can read. I can stroll out onto a covered patio and stare at the woods or walk down to the lake. I can take a shower in the best bathroom in the house. I can workout. I can catch The View or a Law and Order. I can pull out a bed from the couch. I adore it. It's the best space in the house. It was the best thing we did in the house when we carved it out from the unfinished space. It has made me reclusive, but I'm sort of that way anyway.

      Swimming isn't the answer. Sweating on the elliptical trainer thirty minutes every other day with resistance on the days between is the answer--and throwing out all the goodies we have left over from the kids' visit. Thank God there's no cholesterol in white wine!

      I love your bee.

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  4. The photo of the lake is absolutely beautiful!!! It could make a wonderful painting. Dear potato chip junkie, get up and do some exercise... it's always for the best! (look who's talking; the only exercise I get for the past 6 months or so, is fingers' exercise from drawing and blogging)
    The pastry painting looks even more delicious!
    Warm regards.

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    1. I've been a bit fearful of exercise since my knee became an issue, which I can directly trace back to adding lunges to my routine. Before 2008 I was one of those five, six times a week obsessive types. Then a cancer diagnosis, a bilateral mastectomy, four sessions of chemo, thirty sessions of radiation and now drug therapy--five years of a drug that depletes the body of estrogen and in doing so weakens your bone density and causes arthritic aches and pains all over. When I got the notice Thursday, I decided that's it. That damn cure of that damn disease has had it's last side effect.

      I do cycle. I do swim. I do do resistance training. I have shied away from aerobics due to the knee. I was thinking about having it replaced in September, but I'm a bit down on operations and painful recoveries. I'll see when I see the doc next week for a cortisone shot? I also did a urine collection test last week to check my bone density, (was that a trip)! A relatively new pill is on the market long enough to have been approved by my doctor that gets rid of the aches and pains of the anti-estrogen pill. He thinks I should try it.

      As you can tell, my physical condition has taken priority. So working on my pastry paintings, shoe heaps are just right--not too serious, full of color and fond memories when I could eat anything, strut for miles on those stilts, exercise was a foreign word and I never gained weight or say OMG when I got out of a chair.

      Thanks for the opportunity to think this through Konstantina. Thank you for your kind comments.

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    2. Oh dear... how stupid of me. I knew that you have some pains to endure and still I go and say something like that. Only you are so full of energy and life Linda, always positive and giving away smiles with such a generosity... that I seem to forget everything blue-even my own blues and I thank you for that.
      For the past 2 years I've changed my life radically and although before I never had time to spare I've always exercised and now though I do have time I do not. So I said to you, what I say to myself everyday.. get up and do some exercise.
      Hugs x

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    3. I wasn't offended or anything Konstantina; I just lament those days BC (before cancer) when my body did what I wanted it to do. Now it squawks and I resent it, but have to bear with it. Art takes my mind to a better place.

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  5. The painting looks... well, it looks downright yummy! Looking forward to seeing all of the calories! Your series of 3 delectable untouchables should be fantastic!
    Lovely home and lovely lake as well!

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    1. Thank you Susan. We adore our condo on the lake. I adore the lower level. Ellis thinks I make it too messy. I do, but only during a work day. He's the kind of worker who has nothing on his desk. I'm the kind that has everything on my desk when I'm working on a project.

      I'm curious as to why these no-no delectables fascinate me. I can only guess. The presentation of images has been a major part of my life and these cakes on display are so artfully done I am always compelled to photograph them. Painting them is delightful too. Eating them? That's out of the question. I would have a colossal case of eaters remorse!

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  6. Your posts are always full of interest, both artistic and personal. Love the way you produce subtle value differences in your lights. I also heartily endorse the remarks of others who admire your location. Looks like heaven to me.

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  7. Sorry about the test results.

    Your prescription, especially the lake, looks delightful.

    I too would rather look at most sweets than eat them. Am enjoying your painting of the pies.

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    1. Don't have to be too sorry; I'm feeling confident on how to go about reducing that number. The program began when my kids went home and we threw out all the junk food.

      Painting them is more fun than eating them--guilt free. But, as I said, I'm a potato chip junkie, a salt junkie, which I shouldn't eat either.

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  8. Dear Linda might be better to write an email than on the blog ... Anyway, I took 5 years, this competitor of estrogen and the increase in the colosterolo due to the drug is downhill after 17
    months that I stopped.
    My triglycerides were perfect in my blood, evidence of a proper diet, but cholesterol was high ... my oncologist has decided not to give any drugs.
    I also started the treatment to prevent bone damage and was finally damaged my esophagus, so that this drug has been withdrawn.
    There are other reasons why it was abandoned in oncology, but here each group has its own medical theories.
    These treatments, which should compensate for damage to other treatments, is a difficult matter where the patient must be alert to its symptoms to guide treatment in the direction that will help him and not damage.
    The lake is beautiful, your studio is perfect, everything looks so beautiful Linda! Even your work always so bright!
    I wish you... to find the balance between the necessary drugs and the drugs who would do worse, and the right people ,in trust, in this difficult questions.

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  9. Great living space you got, and a splendid and inspirational view. Can one be anything than creative with that? =)

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    1. You would think so. Not always. Being an artist always striving for perfection and never reaching it can be blinding. There's ups and downs in all environments. We humans live in our heads. That's why I keep my painting sessions short and go for walks in the woods and down to the lake. The relief keeps me grounded, but not prolific.

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  10. Love your house, love the lake, love the painting, love potato chips! :)

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    1. Me too Judy. We're lucky to have it. Sold our last house with the demise of our business. Lived in apartments for eleven years to recover. After our new business took off and became strong, it took us three years to find this place. Ellis liked it because it was in the woods with no one in front of us and no one in back, just nature preserve. I liked it for it had studio space potential, but then I didn't. It was farther away from the city and there'd be more driving, not my favorite. I've adjusted; The pros outweighed the cons.

      I just threw out my Pringles yesterday after finishing them off, of course. They have no cholesterol, but salt and Sat Fats, so one last binge and gone; salt is bad for me too--and you too. Today I'm paying for yesterday's weakness.

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  11. The images of the lake are very spiritual. Be well.

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    1. Thank you JJ; you too. At that early hour before sunrise, it is spiritual--soothes the soul.
      I do love the mornings. When I think of all the mornings I missed sleeping in, I'm glad to have been in the construction business, which woke me up to the beauty of dawn.

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  12. pies are going to be excellent linda ..sorry no to be able to keep up with all your posts at the moment ...beautiful location

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