Yin and Yang: December 2009

A Recovery Blog

This blog is about my continuing recovery from severe mental illness and addiction. I celebrate this recovery by continuing to write, by sharing my music and artwork and by exploring Buddhist and 12 Step ideas and concepts. I claim that the yin/yang symbol is representative of all of us because I have found that even in the midst of acute psychosis there is still sense, method and even a kind of balance. We are more resilient than we think. We can cross beyond the edge of the sane world and return to tell the tale. A deeper kind of balance takes hold when we get honest, when we reach out for help, when we tell our stories.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Portrait Of My Father

Here's a portrait I just did of my father in gouache taken from a photograph I took recently of him. I might turn these portraits of my parents into acrylic on canvas paintings. I'm not sure because I have a lot of photographs to work from now.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Portrait Of My Mother

I shot the photo for this gouache painting on Christmas. She's wearing a t-shirt that I gave her as a present that has one of my portraits on it. It's hard to believe that she is 81 years old.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Christina And A Slightly Revised Aaron

Christina is Aaron's older sister. These two paintings will go to their mother. I really enjoyed working in acrylics as opposed to mostly painting portraits in gouache. I think I can expand into it now. I did a lot of fiddling with the colors, trying to follow the photographs as closely as I could, but varying a color choice here and there. It feels good to be painting. I love painting for people and their families.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Aaron

I just painted this portrait of my friend Richard's son Aaron. I'd like to give it as a present to Richard's wife/Aaron's mom who dotes on her son. I painted in acrylics on a 10" x 10" canvas using some new brushes.

Yin and Yang