Time Out

"Apples and Pewter"

14X11

Oil on linen panel

Available

Click on image to enlarge the view.

I have not posted since early August for many reasons. Sometimes in one's life an avalanche of necessary duties comes crashing in. There are two art shows coming up in the next couple of weeks and at this point I am just hoping I can come up with some paintings for those. This past summer our lives have been turned upside down with various house repairs and the need to address the current political circus of impending communism. Both of these separate categories of life have overwhelmed me.

On the house repairs, as you probably know it isn't easy finding the right contractors to do the work both properly and within a budget. The search took long hard hours. Our repairs involve exterior siding, rotted molding, adding chimney caps, reinforcing structure, etc. Our garage interior was a disaster with drywall tape giving way and drywall coming down from the ceiling. And our garage was full...stacked to the ceiling with STUFF. All of this had to be sorted out and placed into a pod in our driveway to make room for the contractors to fix the ceiling and walls. The double garage door frame was starting to rot and was sagging in the middle. Then there is the old vinyl floor in the half bath downstairs and wallpaper that needs replacing. Then there was the shaky banister that had to be fixed. The downstairs millwork is all in need of painting....a job I have to tackle myself. My back screen door is also my job, needing wood putty, sanding and painting. The benches on the front porch need sanding and painting....my job again and I haven't even started that one. Etc. Etc. I did finally find some great guys to do the major exterior jobs and the drywall and tile work. But we are only part way through all of this. I am overwhelmed...to say the least. I have developed a lower back problem that keeps me from doing any of this without pain. That has slowed me down considerably. But all of these things must be done and have been neglected for the last several years while I have been in my studio painting.

On the political front, I am extremely concerned with the turn toward communism that our government at all levels has taken. This is beyond unacceptable. America is in great peril and being attacked from without and from within. For this reason I have been doing a lot of research and sharing information on my other blog, My Tea Party Chronicle I hope all of those who have been following my work realize that my art and our lives are depending on the freedoms found in the U.S. Constitution. Politicians for the last few decades have gradually, incrementally, and insidiously been undermining our freedoms and turning American into a socialist state. We cannot let this continue. It's time to go for the reset button and rid our government of all socialists and communists. So, besides working on the house repairs, I've been also doing all I can to help the cause of re-taking America from the clutches of these very evil un-American power elitists. I hope you are doing your part by getting involved in local elections and supporting those national candidates who are putting their lives on the line to save the country. That is what I have been doing.

So, while my mind and heart are still in the paints and canvases, my physical being has been taken away from my easel for a while. Not sure at this point how fast I can get back to it...but I hope you will hang in there with me. I plan on getting back to painting more regularly as soon as the way clears for me to do so.