Jayna . . . and Maxwell

Today our granddaughter Jayna graduates from high school and I painted this card for her. When she was a baby, I adopted a wheaten Scottish terrier named Maxwell from a Scottie rescue group in Missouri.

When their mom returned to work after Jayna’s brother Josiah was born, Maxwell went with me as I served as “granny nanny” for a few weeks. Jayna, who had always shared a special bond with him, asked me “Grandma, when you go home can Maxwell stay and be my dog?”

I had been warned she might ask. And Maxwell had a special need for children in his life, having been rescued from a puppy mill where children had been the only human contact he had experienced. So I said yes.

Maxwell is now gone and Jayna will soon be heading off to attend college. But he is still a big part of her heart so I drew him on the card.

Jayna with her mom, Carrie

for Mom

When I painted a birthday card for my brother a few weeks ago, I also painted this card to send to my mom. I saw something similar when shopping online and I loved the use of metallic lines over the leaves, but it was a birthday card. So I made one myself but changed the greeting for Mother’s Day.

It’s getting harder and harder to find good cards to send to those we love. Either they are cheap and boring, or so-called “humor” of an offensive nature. I keep a box of Strathmore watercolor card blanks on the shelf — maybe I’ll be painting my own more often.

I love you, Mom❣️

waiting to be toasted

The weird low-fiber diet I’ve been on for three months is lacking so many good things, but at least I can enjoy cinnamon toast! I keep the bread in the freezer, breaking off a couple of slices to toast whenever I want some.

I combined my limited palette based on 19th century watercolors and what I call my “Texas gulf coast, prairies, and piney woods palette” in the same Folio palette, separated by plenty of mixing spaces.

🎉🎊🥳 After sketching this I had a virtual follow-up visit with my doctor — he took me off the silly fiber-free diet and now I am free to eat anything! Woo-hoo! Bring on the fruits and veggies! 🥕🥬🫛🥒🍅

(Drawn in continuous contour line with a Kaweco Supra fountain pen.)

a soggy mushroom . . . and post-cancer thoughts

We have been having several weeks of rainy weather off-and-on. Early one morning as Butters and I walked the front pasture I came across this lovely brownish pink mushroom with a very frilly edge. But as I touched it, the edge bits began to crumble off due to too much absorbed moisture.

This past week has been extremely challenging for me as I continue my post-cancer healing. On Monday I had the final surgery to reverse the ostomy. The cancer is completely gone, the ostomy bag is history — I naively thought this would be the end of it! But after 14 months of being “off line”, my colon and sphincter muscles have to relearn how to work. This has proven to be a frustrating and often painful process. (How very often I wish that I could go back in time and have that timely colonoscopy that would’ve detected cancer early enough to have avoided all this!)

Each day at times feels week-long as I struggle through this process. But then a comment on a previous blog post or on my Instagram account captures my attention and reminds me of just how far I have come. As a very dear friend just reminded me, “God brought you through we know He works according to His time. I  can imagine Him saying. "I'm not done with you yet my child. A few more months is necessary for me to accomplish my will for you."

I’m still here . . .

This coming Tuesday is my brother’s birthday. With everything that’s been going lately, I lacked inspiration for sketching his card this year — until I happened to see another sketcher’s Instagram post of a silo with his friend’s initials, age, and birth year on it. (I regret not remembering that artist’s name so I could give him credit.) 

I had snapped a photo of a grain silo in the Kansas Flint Hills 1 1/2 years ago so I used that to paint a similar card for my brother, finishing it a couple of weeks ago.

On Monday I underwent the final surgery reversing the ostomy I’ve lived with for 14 months. A simple, short surgery this time but now a long time of healing follows as my body relearns how to function normally. No hospital sketches were done due to a IV once again placed in my right hand. Returning home the next day, I gave no thought to sketching at all. But today I think I will maybe get back to drawing something. Moving forward, with much thankfulness, is a good thing.