Tall Trees (Namers beware!) Mike Mahoney's new book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a link to my new favorite book.... Artist, friend and mentor Mike Mahoney wrote a real good one! We used to hang out in Montana together. He's a native of the most red necked state I've ever known. But he's an artist...and a writer. That helps some. Montana still breeds 'em as individualistic as they come and if you get a chance to read his latest you'll see why and I doubt you'll be disappointed. It's a SUPER fun and intriguing read, perfect for a vacation book and one that will really transport you to another world...very cool indeed.
If you have read any of my blog entries you'll see that I am a big fan of being transported. Triple thumbs up!!! (who has three thumbs?) and five out of four stars review for this.

Cross Roads 18x24

Montana near Wolf Point. The high line. Dry land wheat farms and lots of antelope, mule deer and ...weather. A good friend just paid his dues. One year in the clinker for a DUI. He lost his job, his house, part of his family and almost lost his mind. I'm all for lockin' em' up and throwin' away the key but there are some cases that make you want to create your own law a la Judge Roy Bean. One beer and a routine traffic stop many years after he had really driven drunk, two times in a row, was all it took. So this, the third strike was the one that put him away. The patrolman that stopped him regretted that my friend told him he had just had a beer with lunch. He wasn't going to ask or even check but because the information was offered and there was a previous history he was arrested on the spot. This cool scene of a dry land wheat field in northeastern Montana was made with freedom in mind. Good to have you back brother.

Huskies 18x12

A happy little fall view of northern color. It was late October and there were still leaves on trees in the southern half of the state. Northern Minnesota was barren though and only offered a stark and silent cacophony of subtleties. Treks to my homeland are like a view into another life. Kind of like the television shows I've been forced to watched while tied to the sofa with this blasted peg leg. Bob Newhart and Mary Tyler Moore aren't nearly as funny as I remember them to be and the maelstrom of voices vying for a place in my ear only cause me to close my eyes and look forward to another round of Vicodin...or the next surge of energy that will allow me to paint. The truth is, I'm not much one for watching the tube and especially dislike the managed "news" that pours out of that glowing devil-orb in a constant stream (river Styx?) of bytes and hooks and venom-tipped barbs. Even so, bits and pieces make their way into the cracks and crevices of my pain wracked mind and I've been transported all over the place these last few weeks. So, nothing like a tranquil scene like the one above to remind me of real beauty.

Allegiant, Down Home 12x18

Broken leg be danged. I am painting again and enjoying the new small format. Yes, for me 18x12 inches is small. I've got a few upcoming of my recent journey to the northland and these new ones of my fourth favorite state, California are already drying and for sale. I'm letting these go at a must-pay-the-doctor-bills low, bargain basement rate. So, if one of the new ones strikes your fancy feel free to bid. You can find the sale page by following the link at the top right of the blog.

Walmart Model

Beyond pathetic. The Walmart shopper, relegated to search for unreachable third shelf items while riding a machine not too unlike the one which put him in this position in the first place. So was my first outing one week after surgery. I was running low on pain killers and we all know Walmart pharmacies are a good deal. Here pictured I have a whole bag full of stuff that should only be legal in Mendocino, California...or Russia.
The day of the surgery one of the kids ran over the dog in our driveway. Now both of us are limping around looking for affection and looking quite pathetic. The studio has been moved to the old school room and with no stairs to negotiate I'll have no reason not to put my feelings to canvas. Stay tuned. I should have some up this coming week.
My blog friends are awesome! Thank you so much for writing and caring. Many of you have kindly read through the veil of my (genuine but strained) jocularity and dared to peer deep into the dark, swirling pain-fraught specter that lies before us...with all its potential cares and worries and fangs and doubts about the future. I appreciate with all my heart the nice expressions and really take them to heart. With God's grace and the Lord Jesus showing Himself to be the kind master He is, we will make it through. Also, uncle Walmart is close by as you can see so there really shouldn't be any lack of essentials. No, I don't buy my paints there!

All last week (and the week before) I was looking forward to posting some nice photos of Minnesota and had a whole bunch of clever and artsy things to say about our little excursion to the north land. Well, obviously my plans have been interrupted. And now, in the makeshift convalescent room my cyber activity has been severely downgraded. I'm working on an old laptop with missing keys and no easy way to plug in my camera etc. (Actually, it's quite easy...I just can't move) So, a little update here to thank my friendly well-wishers. A lot of mail has come in and it's really great...and really cheers me up. Thank you!

I tried to upload a picture from inside the ambulance. It's probably best I couldn't. I was taking pictures throughout my little ordeal the other day and even asked one of the kids to run and grab the video camera while I lay in a giant pool of agony and thorns. They didn't comply. But I did get a lot of shots of the emergency room and all my "health care professionals" etc. The hospital highlights are too many to tell but the ultra-sounds taken (there were four) seemed particularly humorous to me. I kept asking the techs if it was gonna be a boy. I got no laughs. But I did see the needle go into the sciatic nerve and dump a bunch of numbing effect down my leg. That was right before they put me out and said I was not going to remember any of this stuff anyway. I remember everything! ...even hovering over my body as they pounded that rusty ole spike into my shin bone. Well, enough gory details, you all get enough of that from watching the evening news. Thanks again for writing and caring and especially praying. As I lay on the naked desert surrounded by my family (before the ambulance came) I felt a compelling peace. I asked them to worship God with me. Strange, I know. But somehow, at that moment it seemed the most correct and good thing to do. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Before & After

Yes, this is my leg. No, these are not photos from a box of old memories. Yes, it is as painful as you can imagine. No, I'm not addicted to pain killers...yet.

They kept asking me how bad the pain was on a scale of 1-10. This first started while the young rural paramedics were gawking at my left foot flopping around at improbable angles as they tried to figure out how to put a splint on it. Later, in the hospital they showed me a chart, a series of cartoon faces expressing different levels of pain. They all looked pretty sour to me. I tried my best to look like the last two. It's not that I really needed more morphine. They were pretty liberal with that nasty stuff and though I was more jovial than expected (My son wouldn't call 911 'cause he thought I was joking as I lay propped up on my elbow next to the garden tractor (quad) smiling...till he saw my foot pointing south while the rest of me pointed north) it didn't take long to realize we weren't playing them for a free surgery, a few meals and a bit of pain killer. Now, after one week of writhing with a 16" chunck of rebar pounded into my tibia, I am learning what life is like with no pogo sticks or Zumba in my near future. But I must paint and paint I will. Look forward to new percoset-inspired works

Visits and words of comfort welcome.