In the last week or so, I've started feeling closer to normal... my thyroid is finally approaching 'normal' and my hip is able to get me back upstairs to my studio. I seem to be healing quite well and quickly also. My family set up an art area for me downstairs, but that just didn't work for me. However, by a month later in late October, I started feeling the return of energy - just as my thyoid lab showed I was just inside 'normal' boundaries. And my hip has also healed enough to make it up the stairs to my studio. Yay!
So the first thing I did was to sort thru all my artwork to get a feeling of what I might want to focus on. Looking back, it's obvious to me that I've been floundering, trying a million different ideas and media, but unable to follow through and follow any single path for awhile. That's the hypothyroid effect. I replaced old artwork on my walls with newer work worth hanging... and I realized that drawing is what motivates me the most and is the medium through which I can speak my ideas and feelings the most authentically. I'll continue collage because I do enjoy it as well, but for now... it's going to be drawing. Dry media.
So yesterday I hobbled upstairs (one step at a time) and took out some conte sticks and blue/gray tinted paper... and started a "not-me" portrait like I was doing a year ago. That means I use my face but let it become someone else. In other words... instead of correcting distortion, use it to discover, or 'uncover' a different person. In this one, it was the mouth - I saw if and stopped before finishing the left side... She's a pretty tough cookie! Because I let the shadow hair go all the way black, it definitely wasnt me from the start and felt easy. But this is the first time I've felt successful, using the whole range of black, brown,sanguine and white conte sticks.
So... yay! My thyroid is finally fast enough that I 'feel' something other than flatness in my art attempts. I'm almost afraid to say it but I kind of feel like "I'm back"!