The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

Today I worked on my Bosch painting and got the background painted in. It was pretty easy to do but I feel like I have some momentum now so tomorrow it should be easier to start. I’m doing it on iPad in Procreate and since I removed the surrounding figures, it was mostly about putting color in and blending it. The birds coming out of the man’s butt are done as well.

I did the Seattle Marathon. Well the half marathon part of it. Overall it was really disappointing. Seattle has some beautiful sights and neighborhoods but the bulk of the run was on the highway with traffic on either side of us. I didn’t get to see the water or much of the city at all. So I’m not doing that run again. It was almost impossible to navigate the one-way downtown streets getting to the hotel anyway. I don’t think my husband would want to drive there again even if I did want to run it next year.

Next Sunday I run the holiday half marathon in North Portland. That one is always nice and they hand out Christmas cookies along the course. It winds through the neighborhood with some good views and past the University of Portland campus. It’s a fairly flat run with a single big hill at the very beginning, but that means the last half mile is all downhill which is always a bit of a relief when you are on mile 12 and feel pretty tired.

I got a Christmas tree and decorated my living room for the season. The lights on the houses have been lovely walking around in the evening too. I’ll get some pictures and post those later on during the week. I do like Christmas time a lot and it was something my mother and I used to bond over. It makes me a little sad during this time of year because I miss her and wish she could have lived longer. She died of ovarian cancer when I was 27.

My husband hates Christmas so I am sort of alone in my celebration of it, although my best friend comes over to do festive things with me throughout the month so that’s comforting. The weekend after this coming one we are making cookies, the weekend after that we are going to the Pittock Mansion which is all done up during Christmas time, and at some point on a week night we are going to The Grotto which is a pretty outdoor area that is all decked out with lights. There are choirs and music there too.