For years I’ve been wanting to do snowboard. After my car accident in 2007, where I was left with 2 permanent neck injuries, I said goodbye to many of the activities I took for granted throughout my life. Mountain biking with my oldest son, rollerblading with my youngest, swimming and even going to the gym became a no-no.

Since the day of the accident I’ve been having constant headaches and pain on on my neck right shoulder, elbow and hand. Cutting anything with a knife is painful, painting is painful, turning my head is painful, sitting for a long period of time is painful! On a good day the pain is on level 5-6 on a scale from 1-10 (thank you Patricia for driving and texting, or was it talking?). On a bad day the pain… well is unbearable. I’m very tolerant to pain, so my usual 5-6 level would be impossible to tolerate for a normal person. I’ve seen many doctors, I’ve had 3 MRI’s, 1 physical therapy — that didn’t work!–, took tons of pills — that didn’t work either –, I’ve used a “patch” that was supposed to help with the pain, — you guessed that didn’t work –, and I’ve even had spinal injections, that actually made things much, much worse.

Since surgery is not an option as the risks are too high, I decided to suck it up like a big girl, send every doctor to their merry way, suspend all medication as I’m not a big fan of medicines, and I’ve learned to live with this. I said goodbye to all my regular activities, or what were regular before the accident, and avoided everything, even carrying my disabled daughter, task that was forced to my hubby who had to change his work scheduled because of me. That made me feel like crap.

I have to admit up until 2011, I took my “disability” as a tough to swallow pill and that made me miserable. Mainly because I felt useless and the people I love had to accommodate to my dysfunctional body. That was torture!

In the summer of 2011, I snapped and I said to myself “enough is enough!”. I was determined to enjoy life, my kids and my hubby despite the pain and discomfort and to try to go back to the activities I so much loved and introduce new ones if possible. I’m having pain no matter what I do, mind as well enjoy something in the process!

Slowly I went back to mountain biking, fishing, swimming and the gym. With pain and everything I enjoyed each moments and had a blast with my sons. Everyday I would tell myself, I’ll have fun today, and I’ll deal with the pain later.

It’s been a painful blast, but nonetheless I’ve had fun.

In January of 2012, I decided to give snowboard a try. I always wanted to try it out, it looked so much fun! So I bought all my gear, my personalized board, went to the mountain with my boys and got an instructor. In less than a month I was going down the mountain, slowly but steady, enjoying the ride and having a blast!

Today I’m still in pain, the pain levels are the same, constant reminder of that awful driver who insulted me after ruining my car, my day and my life, but something has changed, I’m not sitting down lamenting myself. I’m enjoying life despite the pain and my injuries and not only that I’m participating on the Burton Snowboarding Design Contest!

Rad & Totally Rad are my 2 designs submitted for the contest. It will be FABULOUS if you could cast your vote, or like they have it set up “critique” my boards. If I get selected I get to have my own completely personalized board with my own design! Critiquing my designs is super simple. Click the image below to go straight to my page and click on the “Login to Critique” button. You will be asked to login/create an account but you can also login with your facebook account. Once logged in, simply rate my Creativity, Design and Execution and click on the green “Save Critique” button. Oh! and don’t forget to share with your friends! The more positive Critiques my designs receive, the higher my chances!

It’s been… a while…

We’ve lost quite a lot of people and beloved 4 legged companions that left deep bleeding wounds…. too many too soon!

My mother in law in October 2009, my amazing and loving father in December 2010 from brain and lung cancer, my mom’s deep decline into vascular dementia Alzheimer’s after my dad’s death that left her without the ability to recognize anyone not even herself, my bother in law in March 2011 after complications from kidney transplant, my beloved teddy bear Pongo, a Newfoundland dog I’m sure to this day was born in the wrong body, in June 2012 after heart complications and a month later our son’s Persian cat Lucky from cancer. We have no one else to loose, other than ourselves that is.

It’s said that artists are more sensitive than the regular Joe, quality you’re either born with or not, a curse for some. So it’s been extremely hard for me to find beauty in the simple things the way I used to. A landscape became dull after a while and I stopped looking at people the way I used to. I guess it’s called depression?… But how can someone not feel depressed after so many loved ones leave without saying goodbye?… Certainly not with drugs! I’m reluctant to even take aspirins for a headache!

I’ve heard people say “you should move on, grab a brush and start painting, and the pain will go away”… Boy that sounds so easy! But the reality is, is not, at least not for me.

We don’t know why we do the things we do. We just go through lives changes the way we can and we cope with difficult situations in our “own way”… for me it was to separate myself from painting. Perhaps because it was a rebel way to cope with pain, the pain of loosing my mom, the woman who taught me to paint as a child. Others cope in other ways, it’s just the way it is.

I know I’ve said plenty of times right here in this same blog, I would paint again but every time I would just enter my studio an invisible wall would block my entrance most of the times. Very bizarre!… I guess I was just not ready and the universe was trying to tell me “NO!”.

I put on hold my art career, my collectors, my galleries and I can’t stop feeling bad about it! I just couldn’t grab a brush no matter how much I tried, and the few doodles I managed to push out of me, were just not good enough to show at all.

I kept thinking on ways to stop whatever “this” force was. I went out to take pictures, I even went plein-air painting! Boy that was embarrassing! I sat in my car looking out the whole time and didn’t even get my tools out. I even questioned my abilities and if I should just drop 30+ years of career and be done with it.

The answer came on our last family trip just a couple weeks ago.

My husband decided early this year that no matter what we would go to Italy to see my mother and make sure she was receiving the treatment she needed at the hospice that’s now her home. I got quite exited I must admit, to see my mom again! I’ve received pictures from my niece who went to see her not too long ago, and once in a while (not as often as I would like it) after I push to no end, I would receive a telegram of an email from my brother, who leaves near her, saying she’s fine, just so I would keep quite and stop bothering him. Don’t I wish I could bring my mother to live with me!

The main focus of our trip was to go see my mom, or so I thought. Paired with our upcoming trip to Italy, I had entered a contest with the DaVinci Wine company, the Storyteller Experience. My main intention was to travel to Vinci gather the so much needed inspiration I wanted so I could go back to painting and meet the rest of my family to go see my mom. It turns out I didn’t win the contest, so I had given up on the idea of going back to painting anytime soon. But hubby had other plans. My husband wanted to tour the places in Italy he hadn’t seen, Rome, Pisa, Florence and Murano and then meet our family in Udine to go see my mother.

The fact we visited the places I had before seen with both my parents and seeing my mom, brought an explosion of tears into my eyes, tears I had been holding on for years and the inspiration I so needed to get back to painting again.

I’ve been classifying my paints, brushes, surfaces and old paintings ever since we got back, found a jar with brushes that have been waiting to be cleaned for 3 years that needed desperately to be tossed out, and the studio cleaning began. My team and I re-designed my website and I’m ready to start my career again.

I know it’s been a while, too long, but I’m sure I’ll be able to retrieve the artist in me and create a new beginning, for you my faithful collector.

Meanwhile take advantage of the big sale I’m starting today while I get settled in my new studio.

@Auction
Summer Fun / Oil on Board / 10″ x 8″
Starting Bid: $50
Click to bid

WOW! It’s been a while since I wrote anything on my blog. Not that I couldn’t find anything to say, but life was spinning faster that I could keep up with.

We keep our heads above water as much as possible, emotionally speaking and try to find the positive in life, until the next hit, brings us down. It’s all part of life.

Just a little while ago I had the nerve (yes, the nerve!) to sign up for a contest I think is marvelous, the DaVinci Storyteller Experience. If you’ve have browsed around my blog, you’ve noticed I’ve never asked for basically anything, so the fact I’m here asking for you votes, makes feel a little ashamed. But shame aside, at least for now, I truly could use your votes on this one!

The contest is sponsored by DaVinci Wine, a fabulous wine company from Vinci, Italy that makes one of the most delicious wines. I would have earn my way into the show but everything is done through voting, at least for the fourth person. Four contestants are selected to travel to Vinci, Tuscany for 7 days in what they call the Storyteller Experience, which aside from being an incredible life changing experience, as I would get to see places from my mom’s region I haven’t yet seen, I would be able to paint on location and I would refresh my database of landscapes to paint, it would give me the chance to go visit my mother after. If you’ve read my blog, you’ll know my mother suffers from early onset Alzheimer’s disease and due to the advance of her condition, had to be institutionalized back in 2010, so if I get to be selected as the winner, I would get to see her.

I applied back in April to be considered for the spot as the Visual Artist thinking I wouldn’t even be called for it, and to my surprise, I was selected! Now, I’m competing with 3 more incredibly talented professionals in their own right, so this is where you come in. I need your vote!

If I get selected I will be painting on location in the heart of my mother’s land, and posting all my entire experience right here on my blog, how incredible is that?!

How is the voting done?

I will need you to vote daily until June 15th. Tell your friends and your family!

To vote, visit the DaVinci Facebook Page

One of the struggles of every seller big or small is getting paid after an auction closes. Online sales or auctions are the target of very “unusual” clients in some cases. Some provide fake information all the way through, others realize they made a mistake with their compulsive purchase and hide pretending nothing will happen, some bid with the intention to increase the bidding hoping they won’t be winning the auction and if they do like the ones before they hide from their responsibility, a few just don’t reply back after entering the wrong expiration date on their credit card when contacted.

The last auction we launched for “Summer Fun” oil on board went unpaid after many, many attempts of communication. The first thought was that we were pray of a scammer or that perhaps bidding was an impulse and after some thinking they decided not to follow through and let the bid go cold?…

Whatever the reason for this frustrating and unnecessary behavior, I personally ask if you don’t have intentions to follow through after bidding, please don’t bid =o)

Today's painting @auction (click image to view)

Another one of my favorite paintings!

Arabian Nights
Oil on Board
10″ x 6″ (25.4 cm x 15.24 cm)
Gallery Retail:  $895.00
Art Friday Special: $120 (unframed)
Special Expires: August 25, 2011