Flowers, wildflowers, sketching and foam stamping

It’s amazing what a good doctor and his team can do for your spirits. Yesterday, we went to the pain clinic in Campbellton where I met with the doctor, nurse practitioner and his nurse. He spent a good hour going over all my health issues and recommended and referred me to an excellent young endocrinologist that he works with. We looked at the MRI pics of my back and he recommends a spinal injection first which he hopes to do within a few weeks. We will see how it goes and discuss surgery for 2 slipped disks depending on the results of the spinal injection of a cortisone and numbing drug mix. I felt cared for and hopeful afterwards.

Today, my outlook on life has lifted. Not to say my problems are solved but there is hope for improvement.

After meeting a friend this morning, doing blood tests and then errands, I felt ready for a little creative experimenting. First, I watered some veggies and picked a fresh bunch of flowers.

And I made a new pot of my herbal iced tea. 

It is light ( I add only about a tsp of honey and the teas are all caffeine free) and thirst quenching. I even drink it while it’s still a bit warm when I’m thirsty.

I’m still doing small sketches of the wild peas from the beach, this one in ink and watercolour.

I also experimented with a craft foam stamp, drawing directly onto the foam very lightly with pencil first and then redrawing with a heavier hand.

The fun part is testing it out with acrylic paint in my sketchbooks. There were a couple slight flaws in the foam which showed up as straight lines but it’s no problem as I plan on doing more. It occurred to me that it might work nicely to do the actual flowers and the leaves as 2 different stamp, an idea for another day. I do quite like the lines and textures in this one though. You see how one thing can lead to another? And I wonder how it will work on fabric. I think I may try making a stencil for screening too.

First, I will need to search for my heat gun which is currently hiding on me.

Summer to me means, the beach with all its sounds and sensations, the breeze, the bird calls, the sound of the water, the great expanse of water and waves. I love it. And then there is my yard with my small gardens of veggies and flowers and all the birds who come to visit the birdbath, all of which I can watch  from my studio.

And inspiration collected and displayed on my window ledge.

Can you feel it? The optimism. The fun in a little creative play no matter where it leads.