I’ve learned a lot about blogging since I started this one and one thing is that when I keep a journal, my beloved Moleskine, I feel like don’t have as much to write about here.  My personal journal, however is not open for the world to see as is this one so here’s a little about what’s going on with me.

Back in November we lost my cousin to cancer and the week of Thanksgiving I lost my precious cat of 20 years, Jennifer.  Those two events were very hard to go through and took so much out of me.  I have SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a type of depression that comes during the winter months so that made it all even harder.  Drawing always gets me in a better mood no matter what is going on so I was able to finish my artwork that was promised to  clients by Christmas.

Another thing that always picks up my mood is music so the winter months were not all sad because I was able to go to two amazing concerts.  I saw the very inspiring A Fine Frenzy and had the privilege of meeting Alison Sudol. She played Buckhead Theater in Atlanta along with Joshua Radin and Madi Diaz.  My mom attended the concert with me and I was surprised at how much she really enjoyed as she is not the music lover that I am.

My husband and I went to see Eric Hutchinson on his “Almost Solo Tour” in December also in Atlanta and it was a fantastic show.  Eric is such a talented singer, songwriter and musician so it was a real treat to finally see him play live.

I have posted before about the cats that adopted us and I have been working all winter trying to  get them all inside, tame them and have them spayed and neutered. Taming feral kitties is not an easy job.  It takes much time and patience.  I’ve learned so much about animal behavior through it, though.  Each kitty has a different personality and the way they interact is no less than amazing. 

So that’s what’s been going on.  I’m sure now that spring is just a few days away I will be snapping away with my camera and sharing lots of nature photos on my photo blog and here as well.  

For now I will leave you with one of my favorite photos of one of those precious kitties, Sam, who has grown to be such a loving and beautiful cat.  He and his sisters, Samantha and Sarah will be a year old in a few days.

I received some beautiful sea inspired die cuts in the mail recently and decided to play around with them.

Originally I wanted to make postcards but they soon turned into five little collages. Three of which are pictured here.

I cut some pieces of watercolor paper, added some paint and then the die cuts. I then decided to experiment with some tiny glass beads and then I coated it all with a thick gloss varnish which I hoped would add to the feel of water. I didn’t really like the look of the high gloss finish as much as I thought I would, but at least now I know what not to do next time. The tiny glass beads are very easy to make a big mess with but they can look beautiful in some of the applications. All in all I wasn’t too happy with them but I did enjoy the process.

With the addition of embellishments I didn’t think these collages could safely make it through the postal system. So the “postcards” didn’t turn out as I had imagined but that’s just how it goes sometimes. They will still go to some of my mail art friends and I hope that they will enjoy my little bit of sea inspired art.

Shells

Ship and Shells

Last November a beautiful tortoise shell cat started sitting and napping in the sun on our back deck. I didn’t know if it was a male or female at the time so I didn’t name her.  She wouldn’t allow us to get anywhere near her so I thought that soon she’d make her way on to a new home. You can see photos of her from that time over on my photo blog in the post
Dearest Companions
Not so long after those photos were taken she stopped coming around and I really missed seeing her each afternoon.

Then this past June she returned and with her were three beautiful good sized kittens. She was very protective of them at first but she would come to the deck, sit in the sun and peek in the kitchen door as if to say, “I’m back and I’d like some food.”

Seeing that she had the little ones and they all needed to eat I gave in (which was not a tough decision for me to make) and started feeding them and keeping fresh water for them each day. Slowly the cat that we now call Missy, became more friendly and allowed me to pick her up.

Missy sitting on the deck rail peeking in the kitchen door.

Before long the kittens started venturing up onto the deck with their mom and they were each so very different both in color and personality. One, the only male, is definitely part Siamese, the smallest is black and white with green eyes and the third and largest is a light cream color with the slightest of colors like her mom’s only on her ears and tail.

Now I am able to pick up the little one who looks most like a Siamese. He’s so sweet and curious and the most outgoing of the three. I am thrilled that my husband and I have decided to keep him. Today I was able to get him into a carrier and took him to our veterinarian who checked him for feline leukemia and HIV which was negative and gave him his kitten vaccines. He told me that since he is already beginning to get his adult “canine” teeth he is about 4 and a half months old and very healthy.

The little Siamese resting on the pillow by the pool.

I’m working on taming the other two. The mostly white one has begun to allow me to pet her back when she’s eating so that’s a good start toward gaining her trust as well. The shy black and white one has finally ventured up on the deck to eat while I stand nearby. It takes much patience to tame feral kittens and I always seem to have more patience with animals than with humans so it’s a great joy for me to spend this time with them. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them to the vet soon and get their vaccines as well. Then in about two months we can have them all spade and neutered and find homes for them.

Here the black and white kitten has joined her sister in the sun.

The two kitties who are part Siamese love napping on the lounge.

And in case you’re wondering about Missy, we had an appointment to take her in for vaccines and to have her spayed. The day came for her to go and she was nowhere to be found. She was gone for nearly four weeks. She’s back now and I do believe is going to have more kittens so until they are born she can’t be vaccinated. I am already planning on finding homes for them as soon as possible. I do not believe in allowing stray cats to continue having feral kittens. There is no need for them to live often painful and short lives when we can do something about it.

Missy relaxing

Our two indoor cats, Alex and Jennifer aren’t exactly thrilled about these new additions yet, but I hope once they meet they will  eventually become friends.

After reading all of these ideas, thoughts and remedies for artist’s block I have decided that the only thing you can really do is just draw again.  Draw anything!  Make yourself doodle, scribble, sketch and don’t worry about what it looks like.

I guess I am really fortunate that this is the first time in many years that I have run into something like this. I’ve often met  people that I’ve done artwork for and they have asked me if I’m still drawing.  I’d tell them that I will always be drawing. What a silly question I’d think.  But for a moment lately I had begun to wonder.  It seems, though, that all you have to do is get that pencil back on the paper and it will all work itself out with little effort at all.

I got my camera and sketchbook out today and started looking for inspiration.  I am always inspired by nature  so I photographed some beautiful vines that were in our yard.  Most people would call some of them “weeds” and they do need cleaning up a bit, but they are still lovely to me the way the light shine through their leaves.  I did some little doodles in my book and I thought I’d share a few of both with you here.  Remember they are only “doodles” but at least they are getting done!  Now to finish the portrait my client has been patiently waiting for.

Vines on the deck

Vines climbing taller stalk

Tiny vine

A vine inspired doodle

Vine and flower sketch

View from our hotel

Two weeks ago my husband and I went to Savannah, GA to see the Tall Ships Challenge that was held there May 3rd through 7th.  I have been promising a blog post and photos about it for much too long, so here it is.  I do have a Photo Blog and although it is mainly for my nature photos I might post a few of the ships there as well.

I have loved the ocean, seashells and sailboats since I was a small child.  I was fortunate to have an aunt and uncle who lived on beautiful Jekyll Island and I spent many, many happy times there with them playing in the waves and watching the ships.  So when my cousin told me last November that he had heard that the “Tall Ships” were coming to Georgia I knew I had to see them in person!  In the photo above you can see the view of the ships on the river from our hotel.

We drove to Savannah on Friday night and the beautiful old city was very busy and the first ship we saw was the HMS Bounty beautifully lit.  In addition to all of the beautiful ships docked along the river it was also Cinco de Mayo on Saturday, so there were many more visitors there than usual.  Actually there was more of a wait in the bars and restaurants than for the ship tours!  It was all planned and handled amazingly well by the people on the docks and the ships’ crews.

The HMS Bounty photographed at night.

There were fourteen ships there and all were open for tours but the ships that were giving excursions were docked on the opposite side of the river from where we stayed so since our trip was on Sunday we waited until then to tour those.

My favorite ship was definitely the Peacemaker, from Brunswick, GA.  It was clear where it got its name when we stepped aboard.  A family lives on it so it was cozy as well as being a huge, well built sailing vessel.

My second favorite was the Lynx, a privateer from Newport Beach, CA., which we toured on Sunday.   I could see myself sailing on this one because it was so beautiful in it’s construction.  The wood and brass was simply gorgeous.

And my third favorite was the Appledor V which we actually sailed. I even got to help raise the sail when we headed out of the port of Savannah.  Named after Appledor Island, it is a beautiful schooner from Bay City, Michigan and Ft. Myers, FL. The only reason it was my third fave is that it was smaller than the ones we toured.  For our sail on Sunday it was great, but for a long trip I don’t think I could be that close to eight people.

It was fascinating to walk on the deck of the US Coast Guard ship The Eagle.  I believe it was the largest of all ships there with six officers and a crew of 49!

The US Coast Guard’s Eagle

I believe the most popular ship on the docks that weekend was The HMS Bounty.  It’s famous for the second making of the movie “Mutiny on the Bounty” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”.  There was even a Captain Jack Sparrow look-alike there taking photos with young fans.  It was fun to see the ship in person after having seen these films in which it starred and the most surprising thing about it was how small it feels after seeing it on the big screen.

In addition to these there were ships from France, the Etoile and La Belle Poule,  an Indonesian Navy ship the Dewaruci, the Picton Castle from the Cook Islands, Pride of Baltimore II from Maryland, The Roseway from St. Croix, and several more.

The French ships Etoile and Picton Castle

I must say that being able to see and tour fourteen tall ships and even sail one of them made that weekend a dream come true for me.  I have been sailing several times but never thought I’d see this many beautiful vessels at once.  It was very hard for me to put down my camera even for a moment, so I hope you enjoy seeing the rest of these photos as much as I did shooting them.

You can learn more about them at Tall Ships Challenge

The Peacemaker photographed from the Savannah River docks.

The Peacemaker stateroom.

The banner as we were boarding the Lynx.

Interior of The Lynx

A lynx on The Lynx.

The sail from where I sat on The Appledor V.

The bell on The Appledor V.

The Picton Castle from the Cook Islands

On deck of the Dewaruci

The beautiful wheel and compass of the Dewaruci

The HMS Bounty’s bow and figurehead

The U.S. Coast Guard’s Eagle

The Roseway sailing down the Savannah River

After my visit to the physical therapist this afternoon I stopped to pick up a few plants for our deck.  (I have completed my PT, by the way, and have to do the rest of the exercises for my thumb at home until my doctor visit in two weeks.)

Anyway, I bought a few herbs, Roma and cherry tomato plants, banana pepper plants, as well as some lantana and Mexican heather which I added to my favorite large blue pot with the yucca plant in it.  And last but not least a pot of catnip especially for Alex and Jennifer!

I already had a large square pot with several varieties of ground cover in it that holds a solar garden light beside the steps to the pool, so I got some gerbera daisies and a flowering plant that I used to call 1000 Bells to sit beside it.

I was inspired to plant the box with sweet basil, mint and parsley from my visit on one of the ships on Saturday.  There is not much room on a ship for things that aren’t essential but the cook on one of them had a long planter box of herbs and I loved the idea so I made my own for our back deck (at our house not ship).  I can hardly wait to use my own herbs and veggies in summer salads.

I shot these photos tonight as soon as I finished.  It was already dark so they are not the best, but I couldn’t wait.  It was so much fun working with them this evening.  There was a cool breeze across the deck, no biting mosquitos and my mom and Pepper joined me enjoying some outdoor time as well.

I’m so ready to enjoy sitting on the deck in my hammock swing and enjoying the summer by the pool.

There is no more pain, snapping and getting stuck in the bent position so that is wonderful!  It is still sore and not up to regular use yet.  I have two more sessions of physical therapy but I am able to write and draw some already.  I would definitely recommend PT to anyone who has this surgery even though many people say it’s not always necessary.  It is helping me tremendously to get back both the strength, which was almost gone, and the range of movement of my thumb.

I must admit that I had become somewhat down about not being able to do what I love.  I didn’t expect it to get to me as deeply as it did just following the surgery.  But now I’m just so happy to be able to write, draw and do simple things like turning a key that I haven’t been able to do for so many months!

I hope you haven’t been too bored with these posts.  First, as the title states, it is a journal and I felt like I should document this and second I hope to inform others of this somewhat simple problem that can become huge if you work with your hands as I do.  Also, we all need to be mindful of how very important it is to take care of ourselves.

Since I haven’t been able to type a lot or especially work with photoshop to edit photos I am so incredibly behind here and on my Photo Blog.

My next post will be about our trip to Savannah this past weekend to the Tall Ships Challenge and I hope will be much more interesting than these past few about my hand.  There are over 200 photos that I have to look through and resize before I will get that one up, so please be patient!

Here is a photo that I “borrowed” from Mayo Clinic’s website to show you what is actually going on. Mine is in my thumb rather than the finger that is pictured here.

The bad news is that I have the same condition starting in both my left middle finger and thumb. There is a substantial bump in the center of my left palm now that is painful but no snapping of the finger joint yet. The doctor says we have to watch it, rest it and do not overuse it compensating for the right hand. He said that ideally he would do surgery on both at the same time but I would be able to do absolutely nothing for myself if he did, so we decided against that very quickly!

You can read more about it here at Mayo Clinic

So if any of you who may read this are in an occupation which requires repetitive or stressful use of your hand, especially females as trigger finger occurs more often in women, definitely see your doctor if you notice any pain or stiffness of finger joints, especially sticking or snapping of a joint. Surgery can be avoided if it is treated early with rest and/or anti-inflammatory medication.

Even just typing for a little while here causes my thumb and palm to swell but they say it’s okay for a short time if I don’t overdo it.  So I plan to continue writing here and posting photos until I can start drawing again and posting about my art.  I hope you will stay tuned!

I can’t without much pain and I hate that.

So, I see my orthopedist next Monday and will find out what options he gives me.  I am so ready for this to be over.

Going over to my Photo Blog now to post some new pictures that I shot recently.  I can still press the shutter button so check them out!

Until next week I plan to enjoy reading two new books and working on some mail art. The weather is warm and beautiful so I will also be sitting on the deck with Pepper a lot as well.

My physical therapist told me that I need to change my routine a bit and that she will be giving me instructions on exercises for both before and after I work with my hands.  That will be after therapy.  In the mean time I am having three Iontophoresisc treatments a week as pictured below.  It is a way of introducing medication to my inflamed tendon without injections.

My therapist told me that I will need to either get larger pens and pencils or add these soft grips to the ones I am using in order to take some strain off my fingers.

Pencil grip

Mechanical pencils

I already had some larger barrel mechanical pencils that I enjoy using so they should work well. My Sakura Sumo Grip is my favorite.  I am partial to regular wood pencils when doing graphite drawings.  However, I always have my mechanical ones in my case  especially when traveling with no pencil sharpener.  Its also nice to be able to switch leads in them.  Pictured above are a few of my 2B leadsin different sizes.

Fountain pen and ink

My first love love is pen and ink!  I don’t know if I will be able to improve the grip of this pen, but I will not stop using it.  I don’t do much drawing with this particular one but I do sketch with it on occasion.  I use Sakura Microns, Copic drawing pens, and Staedtlers mostly for drawing.

I absolutely love my fountain pen for writing letters and journaling, though! This beautiful turquoise “Peacock” ink by Pilot is my favorite color.  (My favorite color for ink and everything else really.)  I have had several fountain pens over the years, but I always come back to my Lamy.  It is often called the beginner’s fountain pen, it’s the least expensive at $35, but it has the fine nib and I so enjoy writing with it.  This model, the Vista, is clear so I can easily see when I need to refill it.

The three pencils pictured here are Staedtler Rally that I got last week.  I love how smooth and dark they write for an HB yet they don’t smear like a softer lead.  I look forward to using them soon.

Staedtler Rally pencils

So that’s what I’ve been up to since I can’t draw…looking at and photographing pencils and pens!