My current painting (step-by-step images of my process included below) and a story!

I am working on a new piece. 12"x 36" acrylic on canvas. It is of the view from the top of the skihill the last day I made it up to the top, before I had a fall and tore my MCL and possibly my meniscus (will have an MRI in few months to see if I need surgery or not).

It has just been one thing after another, these passed years. I fell skiing and broke my ankle about 3 years ago. I couldn't afford physio so I just bounced back up and continued on as best I could. I made it back to the ski hill for the last couple weeks though, which was quite impressive if I do say so myself!

Then almost 2 years ago I found out I was pregnant! I was so sick for the first trimester that I didn't ski half the season and when I did return I had to take it really easy as I couldn't risk to have any falls. I am pretty sure my son is going to be a skier, too. I felt like I was skiing the best I ever have while I was carrying him!

Turns out, I needed a cesarean section as baby was breech. It all went great. I am in baby heaven! I did, however, require 6 weeks of recovery before I could lift anything heavier than baby and 6 months of no intense core exercises, for risk of tearing sutures inside! Needless to say, this totally decimated my core strength.

Fast-forward to the first couple weeks of this season at the skhill. I was feeling great! It was a beautiful day. There was an inversion, so it was sunny and warmer on the hill than in the valley. I didn't feel like skiing that day but when I heard it was sunny up there I decided to go. It was my fourth day of the season and I was not disappointed when I arrived on top. I was blown away by the view. I swore to capture that moment in a painting.

Then, I took off at an asshole speed, forgetting that I has fresh stitches inside! I had some good tunes and it all went great. Until I approached the chairlift. I had a slow person doddling around in front of me, when a very fast skier approached from behind and passed me. Like a car on the highway, I instinctively sped up and before I knew it, I had passed the slow skier and that is when we entered a cloud (I had been preoccupied will maneuvering around my fellow skiers to notice the poor visibility ahead).

Next thing I knew, I came to an expected roller and before I knew it, I realize that a second kicker had formed that I had not expected. The hill changes every year slightly and I had failed to account for this and assumed I knew the terrain perfectly. This was just one of a series of mistakes I made that day.

This mistake cost me. I immediately fell under the force of my own weight and started to slide towards a but of a ledge into the lower hill, which was still closed for the season. Any other time, I would have taken the fall as-is. I thought of my stitches and feared what could be on the other side of my fall and so I put the breaks on and offered myself up to the consequences of digging my edges in at high speed. It seemed like the outcome with the least amount of internal bleeding involved!

Anyways, a short story short - I fucked up but made the most of my fucked up situation. This brings me to end of this chapter. The rest of the story will come when the painting is done. Soon! I hope you enjoyed following my artistic process a bit and I will do more of these if people upvote this post and follow me for more. I would love to hear your comments, too!