Blog

It's over. My dual challenge of following the Weight Watchers plan and painting from the Zero Point foods alphabetical list is over. Whew!

Some of you might be asking why would I do such a thing? Well, I do have a few reasons, actually I have a lot. Does your life ever feel continually chaotic? Mine does. I wanted to get some control over it. I thought combining my new foray into an art career and wanting to eat healthier seemed to make sense. And I think it worked fairly well, for a little while.

I wanted to focus on food because my healthy eating has been sporadic. My kids are teenagers and to say "this point in life is crazy" feels like an understatement. We rarely sit to eat as a family anymore. They seem to be picker about their food now than when they were little! We are all going in separate directions - between activities, jobs, school, interests and friends. Sometimes, I'm home by myself and I just don't want to make something to eat and grab the easiest food not the healthiest. 

I did follow the Weight Watchers plan for a bit. Then a whole bunch of life got in the way - Easter festivities, a plein air event, trips and teenager issues - so the healthy choices got pushed aside. But, I choose to keep up with the painting.

Having this list of food gave me a focus and some discipline for my painting though. I hadn't been painting regularly but doing the fruits and vegetables really helped with my drawing and structural skills. And, I do like to paint from life because the colour and perspective of the subjects are more accurate than photos. All this proficiency gives paintings, even if they ever become more abstract, a complexity that grounds them in the examination of knowing that subject matter.

Along the way I gained some people who decided to follow my journey and I want to say thank you to them. The journey will continue, it will always be... that I paint in hopes of capturing beauty. I paint as a way to inspire joy and feeling in others.

All the paintings are for sale! They vary in size from 5"x7" to 8"x 10" Click here to take a closer look at each painting.