It's been a while since I posted a journal entry. For the past few months I've been focusing on healing and doing a mostly okay job with that... mostly being the keyword. I was feeling really good up until I became overconfident with my leg and took a shortcut by vaulting over a fence (for the record, I had excellent form for not having done a lazy vault in months!). The loud POP I heard and the intense pain I felt in my leg lead me to being worried I had re-broken it but fortunately I just ticked off a tendon. My leg was x-rayed again and the bone is healing very nicely (x-ray of my leg hidden for the squeamish). I'm just really impatient with this process...
Anyway, I wanted to provide a quick update about the Paintings for Julian 2014 project, first to express my sincere appreciation for everyone's support and second to check-in about the project overall and show you some paintings!
Thanks Everyone!
Thanks to all of you, I raised $675 for the Children's Cancer Research Fund's Time to Fly event which was held on Saturday, June 21st. The event was fantastic and I was very impressed with the organizers who were able to move the entire event to a new location in a matter of days after Harriet Island flooded and was deemed unusable for such an event. The new location was Phalen Park in St. Paul and we had a beautiful day for the walk/run. Unfortunately I was still recovering from breaking my fibula in May so I was not able to participate in the walk but I did attend the event and brought my hula hoop to play at our team's tent.
Brought my hoop to stay entertained at the tent while the Joggers for Julian team walked in the 5K. I made my dress from previous year's t-shirts and that hoop is a special hoop I had made in memory of Julian.
Project Status Update
This year was successful beyond my expectations. Last year was the first time I offered to paint portraits in exchange for donations to Children's Cancer Research Fund and while I didn't reach my goal of $250, I felt like my project was well received and resonated with people.
I decided to offer it again this year and this time I set my initial fundraising goal at what felt like a more reasonable goal of $200. But you all helped me blow that goal out of the water by raising more than triple that amount! Thank you for your generosity and letting me paint your pets or sharing the original post with friends and family.
So far I've finished three portraits and I'm excited to share them with you. I can't wait to share the rest!
Snowfoot - Scratchboard
This dapper cat was the perfect subject for a scratchboard. For being only my second scratchboard, I'm pretty pleased with the result. The sponsor for this painting is a generous and dear friend of mine who I cherish greatly, Thank you for your support!
Darwin - Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
My friend Mika told me about her idea to mimic the Sistine Chapel because her cat Darwin had a tendency to gnaw on her finger in a way that resembled the famed painting of God reaching out to Adam. I had so much fun bringing this idea to life for Mika!
Milo - Gouache and Ink on Yupo paper
This portrait has extra significance to me because Milo was a member of my racetrack family. He passed away very suddenly earlier this year. When one of the donors contributed enough money for multiple portraits and asked me to pay it forward to someone, I knew I had to reach out to Milo's mom. I have very little experience with gouache but I'm very happy with how this piece turned out.
There are 7 more paintings in this project, I've got my work cut out for me if I have any hope of getting them all wrapped up in 2014!
Thanks again to everyone who donated or supported this project by sharing via social media. It means the world to me and Julian's family. Maybe next year we can raise even more!