The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

I did a basic outline of the Bosch study which I will start filling in tomorrow. To simplify it a bit, I removed a lot of the background to focus solely on the bird demon. In addition, I did 16 figure gestures and 8 hand and foot gestures. I’ve decided to divide my days between hand and foot studies and working on the Bosch painting. Every day I will do gestures though. It was pretty rough starting to draw again, but I have faith if I put time into it, I’ll regain my ability eventually.

Yesterday I did a 10 mile run and the next two weekends are half marathons (The Seattle Marathon and The Holiday Half). Then I will be done for the year and will have run 13 half marathons in total. Next year I am going to do a few local half marathons but nothing too intense or hard. Some of the trail runs I did this year were really hilly and I just want easy routes from now on. I think I will do The Shamrock Run in March, The Hop Hop Half Marathon in April, The Sauvies Island Flat in July, The Columbia Gorge Marathon in October, and The Holiday Half in December. That’s all.

I haven’t had a panic attack in six days. It’s a bit of a record. Perhaps the erasure of that major stressor is finally sinking in and I have some respite from anxiety for the moment. Overall I haven’t been as anxious as I was previously. The past two days have been pretty idle and uninspired, but I haven’t been nervous about the fact I wasn’t doing anything productive. Just finishing that painting on Friday was a massive achievement given how little I wanted to work on it and the mental resistance I overcame to get it done.

I need to set some intentions for next week. Mainly I want to…

1. work on art five days,

2. exercise four days (that includes the half marathon in Seattle)

3. intermittent fast every day

4. only spend money on necessities

5. cook at home five days

6. meditate every day

7. walk the dog every day

8. avoid desserts six days (I will have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving)

9. go on Instagram seven days

10. read a book every day

11. keep my teeth clean after I brush them in the evening every day

I think that’s all quite doable and I’ll update on how I did next Sunday.