America doesn’t need Major Surgery; She needs Forgiveness to Heal her Wounds

(Here's my main model, my granddaughter)

I’ve decided that it’s very hard to think creatively when you don’t feel well or you’re in pain. Some may say that getting your imaginative juices off your own problems and onto something fun makes them better. But if you’re miserable, it’s not going to cut it for long.

The good thing is I’m starting “one week after surgery” on Monday, and it can only get better from here. People tried to make me feel better before surgery by saying it was going to be a “snap” and comparing it to the old way of incise, cut and mend. I suppose their right. But arthroscopic surgery is still surgery. Once my body gets the message that it’s so much better this way, maybe my bowels and my stomach will come along for the ride.

(I'm going to change direction of her eyes, make them lavendar and purple)

I had an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair a few years ago, but I’ve yet to forget the weeks and months of physical therapy it took to get me back to normal. Sure the incisions cover less ground so the healing is quicker, but the reason for surgery, repairing a tear or removing an organ still takes a lot of internal healing and re-directing before things get back to normal.

I’m still trying to function creatively in the mean time. I had a request from my granddaughter who is a working girl, an actress, and a creative person in her own right. She wants to use her favorite color purple in various shades to enhance a living room dominated by grays, whites and black.

(I may use black or purple stripes on her costume?)

Using a portrait of her with a Harlequin theme seemed like the winning combination. I haven’t had any feedback from her at this point in time, so I’m winging it until I do. I’m also continuing to work on my India family portrait which was interrupted by my surgery.

A lot has happened in the news of late, one of them being the removal of the South’s Confederate flag. Living in Florida has somehow immunized me against what the flag stands for to some people. For me as an artist, it was a colorful statement of the South’s unique heritage.

I worry that this decision will have a domino effect on everything else that reminds us of something we don’t like. Will statues of the Founding Fathers be tampered with because they once owned slaves?

Sometimes history is a good reminder of what we stand for and of who fought beside us. Black soldiers fought side by side with Yankees in the Civil War and with other American’s in the Revolutionary War. African Americans have also risen to great heights in every other war we’ve conducted.

(Love black 'n white checks -- a checkerboard?)

Arguments should represent not just one side in a debate, but both sides.  Before we start changing history, let us remember what Dylan Thomas penned long ago to his father who was going blind: “Do not go gentle into that dark night” lest we “throw out the baby with the bath water,” or cut America’s nose off to spite her face.”

(Lower quadrant of drawing --- my shadow on canvas)

Top upper quadrant of drawing. Working Title:  "Queen of Diamonds"