The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

So I’ve been editing my book the past week and haven’t done any art. Going to change that today and work on an oil pastel. I sort of know the direction I want to go now, it’s just a matter of getting more competent with the medium so that I create stronger pieces. Here’s the direction I want to take it…

I want to blur the faces and keep the background and clothing clear. This was my very first attempt at oil pastels, I did some subsequent drawings, but didn’t like them as much. This is definitely where I want to be going.

I use Instagram and WordPress, although I did sign up for BlueSky and Threads. Haven’t used the latter two yet. I want to build my social media audience to hopefully sell books. I have around 1300 followers on Instagram so far. Going to try to build that up each day. That’s one of my New Year’s resolutions.

So I have been really liking this fasting lifestyle where I just eat dinner. I have been having delicious dinners and not worrying about calories or anything because I haven’t eaten all day and I’m losing weight. Not rapidly, but gradually, which is how it should be. I don’t get cravings because I am allowing any kind of food and I allow dessert every third day. That way I’m not having sugar every single day, but I’m also not depriving myself of it entirely. The mindset that I can eat whatever I want as long as it is at dinner time is keeping me from overeating junk food and sweets. I even try to make dinner somewhat nutritious with lots of veggies and protein but I have something naughty on the plate as well to satisfy my cravings. I made the mistake in the past of trying diets that were entirely clean eating or restrictive and I would follow them for about 6 months, lose a lot of weight, then slowly gain it back again when I grew bored of the diet and went back to eating normal food again. Right now I am eating normal food, just once a day. I don’t get that hungry during the daytime. My hunger kicks in at around 3pm, but by then I can hold off two hours for dinner.

I’m so pleased with this because I finally found something that works for me and I can keep it up indefinitely without much effort. I’m not sure when I will stop losing weight, but I’ll just be happy with wherever my body ends up at. I don’t have a specific goal except that I would like to fit my wedding dress by the time of our vow renewal. I think I can do that.

I have been exercising for 3 days and then taking a break day. I’ve been doing 40 minutes of walking because I need low impact exercising while my baker’s cyst heals. Once my leg stops being swollen, I will try picking up 20 minute runs again, but I’m not in any hurry. Walking is good exercise too and I am happy with 40 minutes of it. I enjoy the walks and seeing the neighborhood change with the seasons.