Blog – Page 41 – Katie Jeanne Wood

Sad Little Superhero – portrait painting little girl with masquerade mask

Original acrylic portrait painting.

I’m always reaching backwards to a place when I was young, innocence, carefree. It’s always summertime there, and my hair is in long braids down my back. My Mom is in the kitchen baking peanut butter cookies, and we’re having German potato salad for dinner. Memories so sweet, it makes tears well up in my eyes.

When my mother got sick with cancer in 2008, I started painting a lot of little superheroes. Why? Superheroes save lives, and I wanted my mother’s life to be saved sooo badly. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way. No matter how many I painted, they couldn’t help my Mom. She passed away in 2010. I sat beside her hospital bed, held her hand, and watched her go. It was the saddest day of my life. I miss her soooo much.

There really isn’t a need for me to paint little superheroes anymore. This is the last one I have on canvas. If you need a superhero in your life, this painting was made for you with lots of love and hope. I know how important hope can be. You can purchase it here.

On the Easel and New Studio Hours

I didn’t feel like standing up today, so I sat down, and used my tabletop easel for the first time in months. I don’t usually have my tablet upstairs with me, but for some reason, I did today. I loaded up some youtube videos, set to painting, and half watching at the same time.

About an hour later, my lower back was screaming out in pain. I remembered why I don’t sit down and paint. Sciatic nerve trouble, on top of a busted up back from an old car accident injury. Live and learn. I guess I don’t mind standing up after all.

Portrait paintings I worked on last week.
Most are acrylic, but some were done in OILS!!
Gasp!! I knoooow, right? 😉
Some are brand new, and others were being revised.
More on that later!

My studio hours are changing!! My new summer hours started a couple weeks ago. I usually stay up until the wee hours of the morning in the summertime. I like to skip the bright hot sun, the loud kids screaming at the city pool down the street, and the heat, as much as possible. I really enjoy the darkness, the quiet of the nighttime. In the winter, I’m the complete opposite. I get up very early, sometimes as early as 3 or 4 am, and I’m up for the day. I don’t know why I do this, but my body does it naturally. I used to fight it, but I’ve learned to listen to what my body is telling me, and go with the flow.

I was thrilled to find out last week that my husband’s office hours are changing on the 15th, from daytime to afternoons/nights, again!! Yay!! Now I won’t worry so much about waking him up when I get ready for bed at 4am. Of course, when winter rolls around, he’ll probably have to worry about waking me. Winter seems forever away at this point, tho.

So, look for more of my posts at night now. I like to sit down and write all my blogs for the week in one or two sessions, and then schedule them throughout the week. However, some I write in the moment, such as now, and I’m about to hit Publish at 11pm. 🙂