Older and Better

No need to choose just one, and I don't say this simply because of a sign at a recent dinner party saying "silver is the new blond!" Older has given me time and resources to travel more. Better is because I'm healthier (thanks to our CSA farm share) and more fit (thanks to Pilates) than when I was younger. So it's no problem to walk for hours while traveling, searching for great scenes to photograph and paint.

My last milestone birth year had me closing a consulting business to find new meaning in managing a team again. Instead I found a bad knee, thanks to the driver of an SUV the size of my office, who took a high speed left turn into me and totaled my car. Being off balance with the knee led to a broken foot, and I'm here to tell you crutches in a third floor walk-up made my charming old brownstone much less so, fast. The foot healed a few weeks before an emergency room visit for acute appendicitis, where I caught a rash my dermatologist swore was common among healthy young adults. 

In short, it wasn't a banner year, and this one is looking awfully good by comparison. I added some interesting clients, shed some board responsibilities and did some wonderful traveling, with more on the horizon – all of which has greatly inspired my painting.

I'm revisiting my photos of favorite places and feeling more capable of painting the complicated, high energy cityscapes I love – like this unusual view of Venice's Rialto Bridge. Fortunately, collectors are responding favorably. Three new paintings flew off the wall at the artist's reception for my current gallery show at Studio M in Mystic, CT. These are the last few days of the exhibit, which ends October 3, so if European travel, old cities and cheerful color are your cup of tea, act now.