Changing of the Guard

Heraclitus was right: “The only constant in life is change.”

I’m really good at choosing doctors. I know this because I’ve been one happy patient for many years. Until now.

Three of my doctors have left me in shock. Because they have left. Period.

And they have left me wondering how I am going to replace them and change doctors.

I’ve had a 20-year relationship with one doctor. Not only was she highly qualified and intelligent, but her bedside manner was superior. She cared about my physical health, but she also cared about me as a person. She always made a point to ask me how my life was going. She was so happy when I adopted my daughter. In fact, each time we saw each other, she would beg to see pictures of my girl. And the physician would ooh and ahh over them.

So imagine my surprise when I recently called for an appointment, and I found out in the most impersonal manner possible that she retired in December. Considering this doctor’s kindness, I was shocked she didn’t send her patients notice of her impending retirement.

Another physician has been seeing me, maybe 10 years. And he has a great sense of humor and actually calls patients back the same day they call. He is also highly competent and caring, excellent qualities in a physician. He recently told me that he was going into his own practice where he felt he could better serve patients in a concierge medicine model. My insurance won’t cover his services.

The last doctor is a bit of a cheat. This one is Oliver’s veterinarian, not my doctor. However, over the 15 years or so that she’s been our veterinarian, I’ve grown attached to her. She is through-the-roof thorough, kind, and has an especially fierce heart for animals with health conditions. In fact, when our beloved tuxedo cat unexpectedly passed away, she had been taking care of an adult Himalayan cat who had almost died twice from severe urinary issues and was on a special diet. He had recovered from extensive surgery a while ago. 

This timid rescue cat feared all the veterinarian’s animals at home, so he had to be rehomed. About a week after our tuxedo cat died, this veterinarian called me and said, “This may be too soon, but I have a cat who needs a home.” Despite our grief, we agreed to take in Oliver, and he has turned out to be a sweet member of the family.

The veterinarian retired this year. And while we’ve kept in touch, it’s not the same, as she is no longer taking care of him. To express my gratitude to her for giving us Oliver, I gave her a picture of him that I painted.

Aptly titled Oliver

Of course, nothing compares to the man himself:

So, thinking of the veterinarian who retired and of painting, I continued Oliver’s latest portrait draft this week. This portrait won’t be for sale; rather, it will be hanging somewhere in our house:

First, I filled in his eyes – which look weird right now without pupils – and his nose. I always like painting the pupils last. I also worked on his other facial features and reworked the fur a bit, which all need improvement. 

The light green patch in the background is my artistic way of saying I didn’t like the bed I placed there, and I “erased” this element. I will add pure Viridian Green to the background after the light green paint dries, so it’s all one color.

Here is where I’m really struggling and way out of my element. I thought I’d mix Indian Red and Cadmium Red to get the unique color of the fabric at the bottom of the painting. But the photo of the blanket I took a picture of is actually a golden brown. I thought that all I had to do was pay attention to the darks and lights in the photo, not the color.

Wow. Was I ever wrong. 

Truth is, I’ve only done one fabric-type painting, Bride of Guangzhou, and I feel the fabric was OK, but not too good: 

Other than that, I have failed at every attempt to do fabrics. I finally went to the YouTube multiverse and got hooked on a 42-minute video on how to oil paint fabric from a photo. I am not looking to do photorealism; I just want to have the blanket look something like a blanket.

Of course, I have to wait for the paint on Oliver’s portrait to dry before I change the blanket color. The video said start with the darks in the folds first. So that’s what I’ll be doing. I have to turn the negative thoughts in my head into positive ones, some old mantra like “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” I’m a complete novice on painting fabric, getting the lighting and textures right, and everything in between. I’m really going out on a limb in attempting to paint a fabric.

Speaking of going out on a limb, I decided that the snowscape I was working on is finished. Adding snow to the foliage and branches, would dull them, I think. I like the trees as they are. I’m happy with how this painting turned out, and am calling it, simply, Snowscape.