Dancing In The Moon Light

Dancing In The Moon Light

This day I just woke up wanting to paint an orange.

 Who knew it would turn out like this. A little different I would say.

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas 1.5 inch deep. 

$50

Dots On A Cup

Dots On a Cup

Painted for the polka dot challenge at DPW.

I got this orchid form my daughter for Mothers Day. It was beautiful then....

It is beautiful now. 

6x6 oil on 1.5 inch deep gallery wrapped canvas.

Unavailable

Lemon-y

Lemon-y

We went out to eat and they brought us a bowl of lemons for our tea.

I just had to paint them...So........Here they are. 

4x4 oil on deep gallery wrapped canvas.

$40

Group Hug

Group Hug

My grand daughter named this one. It started out as family hug

but quickly changed to Group Hug.

$40

4x4 gallery wrapped canvas 1.5 inch deep

Orange You Special

Orange You Special

Orange is another one of those colors that you have to get just the 

right angel to photograph. I gave it my best shot. 

4x4 gallery wrapped canvas 1.5 inch deep sides are painted 

$40

Not Quite the Apple of my Eye

Not Quite the Apple of my Eye

I wanted to paint a cherry. For the past few days I have had this bright red on my glass so

Again I decided to just use it. 

oil on 4x4 gallery wrapped deep canvas. side are painted

$40

Radish Rumble

Radish Rumble

I love radishes. They taste good, they look good and they are wonderful to paint.

Sometimes red is the hardest color to photograph. This is one of those times.

6x6 oil on deep gallery wrapped canvas

$40

Round Up

Round Up

A few radishes in a bowl. None scattered about on the table. All of them

are in a bowl......It's a real Round Up.

4x4 oil on deep gallery wrapped canvas.

$40

White Stuff

White Stuff

Painted for a challenge at www.paintanddrawtogether.blogspot.com

I did find this one quite a challenge and do see things I would like to change but

for now it will remain as it is. 

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas 1.5 inch deep

Unavailable

Hen Pecked

Hen Pecked

Proud and bold this rooster waits for his woman. 

He struts across the farm yard just looking for the right girl...

after all he is Hen Pecked

6x6 on gallery wrapped canvas

$50

Ruffed Up

Ruffed Up

I love painting animals. Some are precise some are scruffy. This one is....

well......Scruffy.  He is ruffed up. 

6x6 oil on canvas panel

$50

Farm Life

Farm Life

Sometimes in the country colors can play tricks on you. What seems just plain and

ordinary is really outstanding. This is what a day is when you live on a farm. This is an everyday

part of life. Farm Life.

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

$50
For sale at my DPW gallery just follow the link to purchase via PayPal

Fields of Sunshine

Fields of Sunshine

Isn't sunflowers wonderful. They come up and grow magnificent yellow flowers that wave in

any breeze that passes. There bold heads perk up at the morning sun. They demand attention and to 

top that off they give us......sunflower seeds. What can be better than that. 

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas.

Private Collection

A Hair Out Of Place

A Hair Out Of Place

No really. I know he looks a little strange with all that wild hair but that is

how he really looks. A little scruffy around the edges. Still....someone loves him.

I am glad that on those days when I look a little scruffy someone sees past the messiness

because all they know is that they love me...even on a bad day.

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

$50

Thinking About A Nap

Thinking About A Nap

I always want to paint cats. Big or small does not matter just as long

as it is a furry creature which purrs.

Some days as an artist you just like what you have painted...

Some days you don't...

I will just let you guess which kind of day this was for me...

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

$50

Red Beard

Red Beard

Posed for a painting. I just could not help it....

I had a hard time again with the photo. Sometimes it is so easy....Sometimes not...

This was a not.

$50 6x6 

Oil on gallery wrapped canvas

Tête-à-Tête-à-Tête

My Sloan-Kettering peeps: Dr. Sauter's nurse, Heather,
Dr. Moskowitz, me, and Dr. Sauter - the dream team. 

I have been home and feverless since last Thursday when I was discharged from the hospital. We figured out what the cause wasn’t, but not really what the cause was. But I’m feeling better and that’s all that really matters. I was ballooned up with almost three days worth of heavy-duty IV antibiotics, IV steroids and lots of IV fluid in hopes of flushing any kind of infection out. No bacteria grew in my blood cultures. My chest and lungs are clear. There is nothing out of the ordinary in my blood work, except for that incredibly high sed rate, indicating high volumes of inflammation in my body.

I got the sign off by the medical, oncology and infectious disease teams that were overseeing my inpatient care and was sent home with instructions to call if chills and fevers again broke in. Despite trying to get out of my previously scheduled appointment, my doctors at Sloan really wanted to see me in New York City on Friday. I was desperately tired on Thursday after finally getting home and couldn’t even fathom a trip to the city, but they assured me that they could see me at whatever time I could get there. They are ultimately the ones who I’ll be working with to decide my next steps – and the ones who watch me so closely and frequently, so I knew that in the end it’d be worth the trek for them to inspect me and weigh in on what might be happening.

My parents took the day off of work and my dad drove us into the city so that I could catch up on all the lost sleep coming off of my hospital stay. I didn’t really sleep, though. I was more cranky and delusional, kind of like when I used to ride in the back seat as a toddler I imagine. We sat in a lot of traffic, which only made me angrier. But we got there, as we always do. I was too impatient to wait to park the car so jumped out on York Ave and made my way into the hospital and up to the physician suites grumbling.

The driving force behind me going down there was that it was set up as a dream appointment. My lymphoma doc, Alison Moskowitz, was on service in the main hospital and my transplant doc, Craig Sauter, had clinic there so she wanted to be paged when I arrived and they’d see me together – a collision of my medical worlds! For two years I’ve wanted to get them both in the same room to talk about me, with me, and it finally was going to happen. Sure, my voice was so weak and strained I could barely talk, but this was going to happen.

When they both walked in the room together I got all red-faced and smiley and we were all laughing as I kept remarking how surreal it was to have my whole team together. They work in offices next to each other and have taken a team approach with me all the along, but I’ve never seen them interact and they’ve never seen the other doctor interact with me. It was kind of like they were competing with who I’m closest with because we are all kind of besties, not too far off in age and completely relatable to each other. The thought of us all hanging out together effectively melted away my anger and I was back in survivor mode armed with my list of questions about my status as a lymphoma patient, transplant patient, and human being. I felt like focus was lost over this past month and I wanted to get back on track. This was the perfect opportunity to do so: a meeting of the minds, a regular tête-à-tête-à-tête.

My mom took notes while the three of us talked about the potential that still remains with my donor transplant immunotherapy process and the myriad drug options still out there to try against the lymphoma.  We talked about some of my hypotheses and concerns, as well as theirs. We were three amigos putting our brains together to hash this all out. I asked the tough questions about my future in all of this and was told that there is still much potential for cure. I guess I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. They told me that I’m the kind of patient that they love because I’m out there and doing things and making them look good despite all that I’ve gone through. They want to keep it that way and so do I. I’ve reiterated my need for quality of life many times as being active and engaged in my life is very important for me. If a treatment takes that away from me then it may not be worth it to me in the long run at this point.

They hear me, always, and take so much time with me. Dr. Moskowitz wasn’t even seeing patients but made this special visit for me, and Sauter opened up his clinic for her to work in, his “hood” as he referred to it. I truly have the best medical care out there: not just the science and the medicine, but how I am treated and respected as a patient and a person. It makes a tremendous amount of difference to know that my doctors at Hartford Hospital and at Sloan-Kettering care for me as much as I care for myself, that they get me, my goals, my outlook and my level of intelligence and toughness.   

As a result of this power meeting it was decided to pull me off the CEPP chemotherapy. I didn’t even have to use all of my arguments against it, Dr. Moskowitz was already planning to pull that plan as she knew that I just didn’t tolerate those drugs well.

I will have a PET Scan done this Thursday and will see her to look over the results on Friday. I have not had a scan since the end of March, so it will be interesting to see what it shows. With the fevers, night sweats, and elevated sed rate, it’s not unlikely that the lymphoma is flaring some. However, there is a chance that all of this inflammation was just my immune system/the CEPP chemo working and the scan could be completely clear. In a few days we’ll have a clearer picture – as clear as the muddy, often unreliable results of a PET Scan can be.

If my scan is looking better than the last and we don’t see any disease spread then we’ll probably do nothing and ride things out until the GVH in my mouth calms down and we can look toward getting some more of my sister’s lymphocytes through a DLI procedure. If my scan looks worse then I am scheduled to start up another regimen of SGN-35 (now FDA approved under the brand name Adcetris). This is the highly targeted drug showing very positive results against refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma that I was on in December 2010 through compassionate use before it was approved. It’s now very sexy in the HL world. Both Sauter and Moskowitz believe that though I did have growth while on the drug after 3 rounds prior to transplant, it may work differently now that I have an entire new immune system. The microenvironment in my body has changed and for all we know the nature of the lymphoma has changed as well. These flaring areas may be more sensitive to the targeted attacks the drug makes to CD-30 cells present in Hodgkin Lymphoma. It’s all about the proteins and the disease strands and the micro- and macro-environment in there.

What’s great about SGN-35 is that I experienced virtually no side effects with it. Because it is so highly targeted to the CD-30 cells, it does not negatively affect all of the other fast-growing cells in my body, keeping the rest of me as unscathed as is possible. I did have some allergic respiratory reactions at the end of my last two infusions on the first go-around, but we are going to pre-medicate for that. There is some worry about neuropathy, much of which I’ve read about with other patients’ experiences, but I’m told that if I do get it, it comes on slowly and is most often reversible.

The drug is given by infusion over about 30 minutes once every three weeks. Other than that, I don’t have to worry about devoting any time to it. I can just live my life. I’m very comfortable with this plan if it’s what the PET Scan dictates needs to happen at this point. As an added bonus, Sauter tells me that SGN-35 is now being explored as a way to reduce Graft vs. Host Disease in transplant patients so it could be the perfect combo of lymphoma-kicking and GVHD-avoiding powers that will lead me safely into a Donor Lymphocyte Infusion that will be my forever cure. Here’s to hoping … . 

New online class begins May 17th!

Announcement:  
My class in creating a perfectly balanced flying faerie is now open for registration and the lessons and forum begin on May 17th.
http://www.aforartistic.com/flying-faerie.html 
I have separated it into two Lessons.  
First creating the armature and then sculpting, and then painting and costuming.  
What's great about online classes is that you can download the lessons with all the photos and work at your own timing...jump right in, or save the lessons for another time.  
And I'm always available through email or the class forum to critique, answer questions, or just share in your process. :) 

I can't tell you how many of these faeries I had to create before I figured out how to easily get one who balanced nicely. 
The first ones tilted to the side....made a nose-dive to the front or the back or just hung in a completely wacky way .
So in this class I will share that secret and all that I learned, and we will create a lovely flying fae. 
 
Creating a grouping of 3 faes hanging over your bed, art table, or in the corner of a room where the sun comes in, makes an inspiring display.  
Mine hang over my art table and shower me with their inspiration.
Hope to see you in class!
Marilyn

The Beach Hut

 The Beach Hut

I have never been on a cruise to a far away place but I do think it is somewhere I would really like to go.

I love the look of the tall palm trees swaying in the breeze. In fact I like the feel as the gentle wind

brushes across my moist damp skin glistening in the summer sun. Really the only places I have ventured to the beach is at Destin, Florida and Gulf Shores, Alabama both beautiful in their own way. Oh yes and I for got the beautiful San Diego where palm trees are everywhere. Anyway This is the painting of the day. Hope you enjoy.I have been painting on these little 6x6 gallery wrapped canvas....Love them. The side view which they allow is wonderful....

$50

Red Bouy

 Red Bouy

Taking a day off form a long season of hard work.

My uncle Robert owns a shrimp boat in Bayou La Batre, Al.

His boat is named the Morning Star he is older now so she rest a lot

these days but he is still the avid shrimper at heart.

4x4 oil on canvas panel

$40

Taggin Along

 

Taggin Along

One little boat just floating in the water behind the larger much wiser boat.

I love the water it is so beautiful and serene.

4x4 oil on canvas panel

$40

She Loves Me Not

She Loves Me Not

Well! she loves me....Not...She loves me...She loves me Not...

4x4 oil on canvas panel

$40
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Blowin Smoke

Blowin Smoke

 When We lived in Wyoming my husband became obsessed with trains. They were so long and 

interestering as they meandered across the mountainsides. One day we were driving along I-80 and my husband was driving. We passed a trooper who had a car pulled over and he pulled out right behind us with blue lights flashing. As he walked up to our window and peered in he said "Sir did you know that in the state of Wyoming it is a law to move over for stopped emergency vehicles?" my husband looked at him smiling and said "Yes Sir! I know but I wasn't looking at you I was looking at the train". Yes my mouth was hanging open at such a crazy thing to say. We did get a ticket and I was none to happy but now it is funny right?
6x6 on gallery wrapped profile canvas
$50

My Space

My Space

My space is a favorite place on this earth. A place not necessarily the favorite of others.

My space is a wonderful space. I can think here and figure out the problems of the world.

Painted for the shadow challenge at DPW

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

$50

For sale at my DPW gallery just follow the link to purchase via PayPal

A Place Where Cows Call Home

A Place Where Cows Call Home

Just before you get to the Alabama river on the right side of the road

is some silo's. They store grain for feed. Cows live here and are very content.

California is not the only place for happy cows.

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

This is another painting where I played around with concentrated color.

Another one I like....

$50

For sale at my DPW gallery just follow the link to purchase via PayPal

Three Years Later

How appropriate that today is the third anniversary of my cancer diagnosis: May 8, 2009, and I’ve spent it in the Emergency Room and now as an inpatient at Hartford Hospital – the hospital at which that diagnosis was discovered. This is certainly not where I thought I would be three years later. It’s frustrating. It’s defeating. It’s confusing. It’s angering. It’s exhausting. I’m doing my best to focus on the fact that I am still here, that I am still living my life despite what this persistent disease has tried (and failed) to take from me, but it’s hard to keep that focus. This year, more than past anniversaries I admit that I’m angry and resentful. The fact that I’m in the hospital on this day is just insult to injury.

Just last night I said to Craig that I am never going back to stay in a hospital and that he’d have to drug me up significantly to get me there and my mom was comforting me by saying that even though I was feeling so awful, at least I was able to heal in my own home. Well, to all of our surprise, here I am, and I won’t be released until they figure out what’s going on with me. It’s funny how a fever of 103 degrees, writhing chills and a morning full of vomiting quickly changed my tune on the Emergency Department visit. I nearly collapsed at its doors desperate for help to make me feel better. I also came uncomfortably close to vomiting on the triage nurse.

The past few days have been very difficult. I greatly enjoyed a wedding on Friday night and a bridal shower on Sunday, but in order to do that all times other than that have been primarily spent sleeping or wanting to sleep with just short spurts of energy. I’ve had incredible body aches, swollen and achy joints, foggy headedness and incredible fatigue. Yesterday was the seventh and last day of my second round of CEPP oral chemo. It was rough. I don’t think it’s for me. Plus, I didn’t even have the Procarbazine as several errors on the part of the mail-order pharmacy delayed its delivery to yesterday, missing an entire week of treatment with that third drug of the protocol.

Yesterday was a particularly hard day. I was very weak and my body very swollen. I was also extremely emotional about approaching my three-years-with-cancer mark. It is just plain hard to look back at all that I’ve been through and the anniversary just reinforces how much I am still in the fight. All day yesterday I kept saying that I had a bad feeling about May 8, that it was going to be a difficult day. The emotions are elevated by the fact that today would have been Craig’s mom’s 60^th birthday. This is hard on both of us. I felt so awful last night that I asked Craig to pick me up McDonald’s on his way home. This only happens when I feel completely disgusting and know that soda, fries and fake meat is the only thing that can absorb the unsteadiness in my belly.

After vomiting and registering a temp of 103 degrees at 5am this morning I knew I had to call the on-call doctor at Sloan-Kettering – technically I’m supposed to call at 100.3 degrees, but I thought that the 100.8 of the night before was okay to get away with. However, the morning presented some more serious issues to contend with. Not surprisingly, the doc told me to head into my local Emergency Room to be evaluated for an infection. I also spoke with my local oncologist, Dr. Dailey, who advised me to do the same and called ahead for me to get the fast track in the ED. He’s now leading my care here.

Craig took the day off from school to drive me in and be with me today. My mom came by and surprised me this evening to hang out with us. Since our 7 a.m. arrival, I’ve been cultured at every orifice: blood work from my port, blood cultures from my arm, chest x-ray, urine sample, nasal swabs – the gamut. I’ve been seen by the hematology team, internal medicine team, ED team, and infectious disease groupies. I’m just on the border of being neutropenic so this doesn’t seem as if it’s neutropenic fevers due to lack of white blood cells. This doesn’t feel like normal chemo side effects. The high fever means that there is something wrong in my body and because I am immuno-compromised the doctors need to treat it aggressively.

I’m being treated with IV broad-spectrum antibiotics to hopefully kick whatever this is. I’m also being pushed IV fluids as my blood pressure is very low. The team here will be monitoring me closely for signs of more fevers as we await the results of the blood cultures to see if there are any signs of bacterial infection. So far, all other tests have been clear. I will likely be here for a few more days and can leave once the cultures come back and I have 24 hours sans fever (so far I’ve stayed cool since the start of the antibiotics). Good news is that I don’t have to take the Procarbazine anymore. To be honest, I was probably going to refuse it anyway as I knew my body needed a break.

I am already feeling much, much better than when I arrived this morning. I’m just very tired and hope that I’m able to sleep, though I already know they’ll be waking me up every four hours for vitals checks, so a broken sleep it will be.

I don’t want to be here, but it’s where I need to be. I feel safe here. The care has been fantastic and I’ve seen many familiar faces from past inpatient stays over two years ago. It’s like a homecoming with some of the nurses and PCAs and that certainly makes things more comfortable. Plus, I’m on the newly renovated cancer floor, which is absolutely beautiful with rich décor, a big television upgrade, much comfier seating, and a private bathroom with shower. 

The Emergency Department has also been completely revamped since I was there last and it looks fantastic. The comfortable, private, clean, upgraded space makes a big difference when you’re feeling real bad. It looks more like a crisply decorated home than a hospital. I have a huge window that overlooks the action of the ambulance drop off and the forecast is predicting rain for the next few days anyway, so it’s appropriate weather for indoor rest and healing. This is where I need to be. Maybe it’s been some fluky infection that’s been holding me back and once these power antibiotics kick in I’ll get back to myself again. I miss my energy.

Rusty Roof

 Rusty Roof

I am experimenting with color focus. I have been very pleased with the results so far.

When I paint animals I say to myself that they are my favorite subjects to paint.

When I paint barns they are my favorite. Does that mean I am wishy washy.

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas.

                                              SOLD

My Shadow and Sleeping Beauty's castle....

We got into our cottage late last night....it's always, always hard to leave the beauty of Kawela Bay.   It was dark when we opened the door to the cottage, but hmmm....what sweet smell as we arrived home......

This morning when we opened the door to a bright beautiful warm morning .....our cecile brunner rose vine had almost covered the doorway and was in full bloom....stretching onto and over the roof top!

The smell, in the warm morning air was intoxicating!  I have to admit....I immediately forgot all about Kawela Bay!

The weeds are high and abundant too, adding to the look of abandonment and mystery. It's so quiet here.....and I realize how loud the sound of the surf, waves and trade winds are.  Nature is strong and powerful in Hawaii....this morning Nature has whispered in our ears and presented her sweet scents as her calling card.

View from inside looking out through the door....

My hedgehog's crowns are covered in cobwebs......

Evidence that the whole castle must have fallen asleep during the winter .....

My shadow has arrived home.....inhaling the enchantment around me...I just can't stop smiling. :)

The Eye Of The Storm

The Eye Of The Storm

In the eye of the storm is a place of peace. After experiencing the

nightmare of the wind, rain and sometimes hail peace and erie quiet surrounds.

Sometimes people come out from hiding in the eye of the storm before they must

regroup for the onslaught of what will come next. As I looked at this little church and the

gloomy clouds I thought about the eye of the storm. The church is where some people

fine refuge in the eye of their storm. May your storms of life be brief and may

you find your place of refuge.

12x12 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

No Longer Available

Sweet Vidalia

Sweet Vidalia

Love the sweet taste of mild onions.  Can't even imagine a

world without them. Yum!

4x4 oil on canvas panel

Lemon

Lemon

The challenge of yellow is a wonderful thing. Love adding color to achieve the

shodows without making it dead or too brown.

4x4 oil on canvas panel

$40

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