Thoughts on Painting
Posted on 9/24/2018 7:47:08 AM
By Christine Marx
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"Autumn's Gourdgeous Bounty" - 12" x 24" oil on canvas
I am always surprised when I look to see when the last time I posted a blog was, and it ends up being over a year! How times flies. It doesn't mean I didn't start a blog post several times, and then abandon it because I felt there was not enough interesting content. With all of the excitement and changes over the past year, I finally feel like I can give a decent update on the studio and events.
The first big life event would be that I finally got my shoulder repaired, after years of pain. I had injured it falling while hiking about 5 years ago, and then it pretty much healed up enough so that I could work and have a normal life. But then I fell again in Washington DC last October and tore the whole rotator cuff completely. Talk about PAIN. It was really painful and I didn't feel like waiting 5 years again for it to potentially heal, so I ended up getting the surgery I had dreaded, last month. Since I have pretty decent insurance (very grateful for this!) I went up to New York City to have it done at Hospital for Special Surgery by Dr. Marx (no relation). I am so happy I had it done, now 30 days later. I do have to say the first two weeks was even more dreadful than I thought it would be, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. The good thing is my neck pain is almost gone after years of discomfort. I start my PT this week, and only have two more weeks of wearing a sling 24/7. That will be a happy day! Now I just need to heal and build the muscles back up, and get back to painting. I really miss it.
The next big life event would be that we moved, after 10 years in Doylestown to a small farm (11 acres) about six miles from our old house. We had talked about it for years, and finally found the perfect place. It's a beautiful property that used to be a dairy farm. There still is a very large dairy farm across the street, where we can get fresh milk and ice cream so that's convenient! Additionally, I finally get room for a nice, big studio to paint in. I love the sounds of bullfrogs and crickets out here, and the smells of fresh grass. I love that the house was built in the 1700's and has so much history contained in it's walls.
Here is the milk house where they used to sell milk out of the window
This is the barn. A few years down the road I'd love to have workshops here in the Fall.
Long term, we are looking at the possibility of growing lavender, flowers for cutting, and maybe apples, and getting a few alpacas. Possibly some grapes or hops, too. I'd love to create some lavender products (creams, oils, sachets), and apple products, and to sell the wool from the alpacas for yarn production. Our goal is to create a place where our daughter, Shannon, can work and we can employ 5-7 adults with special needs. We want to have enough profit to pay a living wage, and provide a fun work environment where the employees look forward to coming to work. We have a few years to get this started, as Shannon is in 10th grade and wants to attend college. We're happy to have taken the first big step of finding the right property to do this!
So that's the update from the studio, and explanation for the lack of new work being produced here. I am so looking forward to painting in the near future, and will continue to post seasonal favorite paintings from years past. I am still selling my work at Stone House Antiques. Last month I was getting ready to go pull a rooster that I had painted off the wall to hang at our new farmhouse, but got the email that it sold that day. A bit of a bummer, but something to look forward to painting when my arm is ready to go.
Have a wonderful week and happy painting!
Christine
