My first Post Covid Art Project

       Watch the realtime video. Click here.

I painted this surreal piece using blue, white and black Pan Pastels and pastel pencils. My surface is Canson black drawing paper. This lovely, empty tequila bottle has a blue rooster standing on the front of it. Doing glass isn't as tricky as it seems, especially on black paper. Capturing the reflections as abstract shapes is key. I pulled the rooster off the label, leaving just part of the tail feathers and the right leg on the bottle. 

I still have more physical therapy to do. Well, not prescribed but self imposed. My hands are not steady enough, strong enough to move as delicately as I wish. Now that I can work with art again, I'm on the rad to renewed health. Brainfog is pretty much lifted. Six or seven weeks of being ill is so difficult on my creative nature. 

It's been a long, long time...

 It's a long itme since my last post and in most of them I have barely been able to think creative thoughts let alone create art. 

In mid December I was struck down by Covid. I wasn't thrilled of course but I expected it would only be a couple of weeks. I was so wrong. I must have brought it home from work and I passed it to my sister who, while later hospitalized for something different, got over Covid quickly. I'm still on sick leave and it's January 18th. I was hospitalized but I knew the signs. I was heading into dehydrattion and kidney failure. I have been there before. I came home for Christmas although we, Rose and I have yet to celebrate. Maybe this weekend or the next. I am still exhausted but I knew I was finally on the mend when the brain fog lifted. The incessant cough may be with me for months. I still have a rest after climbing the stairs. 

So that is it. My 2023 begain with back to back surgeries and ended with Covid. I wasn't able to visit my sister while she was in the hospital because of my health. And I havent been able to so much as doodle in all of this time. I often wondered how Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote her beautiful poety in such ill health but it was only her body that was weak. Her mind was clear. 

In the past couple of weeks I have been able to think about art. I pulled out my Pan Pastels and tools and thought of a composition. I'm hoping today that I can take a reference photo. It  won't be complete. I need to photograph a Tequila bottle to get the reflections, etc, but then the rest is pure imagination. That's the part I love and that's why it will be in Pan Pastels. Pan Pastels are my comfort medium. I can work with shaky hands and stop and go as I please. Drying time has no importance. 

Well here is the base reference photo...

Wish be well with this project.