Update: Dates in a Life Project 2019

One more month to go working on the Dates in a Life Project, my year-long painting project documenting the number of steps I walk each day. This photo shows my walking through November 2019.

Now that the clocks have changed and it gets dark before 5pm walking is a bit of a challenge. As it goes colder outside in this winter, it'll be even more of a challenge.

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps. 

To keep track of steps, I was using the Health app in my iPhone. Now I'm using Pedometer.

The daily background color changes season-to-season in this painting. I changed the daily background color from a bright yellow for the summer, to Indian Yellow Hue on September 24th. It was Teal Blue for Winter, then Green for Spring. When Winter starts on December 22, I'll change the color back to Teal Blue.

I use the daily background color to document my daily steps in fractions of 250 steps. As an example, after 2000 steps (which would be the icon with no paint), I'm painting colors to show as close as I can to 2250, 2500, 2750, and then up to 2999, instead of then rounding up to 3000 steps.

One note about the yellow icons for walking over 20,000 steps and the yellow background color for summer. It's a problem differentiating the steps icons next to the background color. I will most likely repaint the background color to a lighter yellow before I finish the year. I also think the bright yellow is not working well with the Teal Blue for Winter and the Green for Spring. I think the lighter yellow will be much better, but I'll make my decision about it after I start using the Indian Yellow Hue in Autumn.

This painting measures 47.5" x 34" and is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

New Work: Mending Fences - New Kidney

The Mending Fences - New Kidney series documents images connected with my son receiving a new kidney. The paintings include textures of monoprinted construction fences, painting, stitching, and photographs collaged on 8" x 8" x 1.5" cradled board.

Mending Fences - New Kidney New Imaging

Mending Fences - New Kidney New Normal

Work in Progress - Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation

Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation documents time after I was accepted as a kidney donor, and everything connected on my end toward my son receiving a kidney and my eventual donation.

My son was born with Dent Disease, a rare x-linked kidney disease that was passed from my father through me to him. Because his kidney disease was starting to progress, I decided to be tested in hope that I could donate indirectly to him because we do not share the same blood type.

The process of testing took 220 days from the day I first applied to the day I was accepted as a kidney donor. I was approved on July 23, 2019. A donor was quickly found for my son, and he received a kidney in late October.

This image shows the 120 days and counting as I waited to be matched on the National Kidney Registry with someone who is in need of a kidney with my blood type, and as I prepare to donate in the not too distant future.

There are symbols that represent applying, each medical test (urine, blood, x-rays, and scans), phone calls or emails with the medical team about testing, travel across the US to the hospital for some of the tests, talking to kidney donors, recipients and my son, as well as his transplant, and just passing time while I wait to donate.

I decided not to use a calendar format, as I did for my Dates in a Life (Walking) Project paintings. The thin white lines under a square highlight Saturdays and Sundays to give a sense of time.

The black lines under a square highlight the time my kidney is listed and until a recipient is found.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

Update: Dates in a Life Project 2019

October is over and I'm closer to finishing my Dates in a Life Project, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walk each day. 

I used to use the Health app in my iPhone to keep track of steps, but now I'm using the Pedometer app. Apple reworked Health and it isn't easily showing the weekly number of steps, miles, and stairs climbed.

To represent each thousand steps walked, I use a system of symbols instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps. 

I also use a daily background color to document my daily steps in fractions of 250 steps. As an example, after 2000 steps (which would be the icon with no paint), I'm painting colors to show as close as I can to 2250, 2500, 2750, and then up to 2999, instead of then rounding up to 3000 steps.

The daily background color changes season-to-season in this painting. The daily background color is now Indian Yellow Hue, representing Autumn. It was Teal Blue for Winter, then Green for Spring, then a bright yellow for the summer. When Winter starts again in December, I'll change the color back to Teal Blue.

This painting measures 47.5" x 34" and is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

Work in progress - Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation

Work in progress - Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation documents time after I was accepted as a kidney donor, and everything connected on my end toward my son receiving a kidney and my eventual donation.

My son was born with an x-linked kidney disease that was passed from my father through me to him. Because his kidney disease was starting to progress, I decided to be tested in hope that I could donate indirectly to him because we do not share the same blood type.

The process of testing took 220 days from the day I first applied to the day I was accepted as a kidney donor. I was approved on July 23, 2019. A donor was quickly found for my son, and he receive a kidney this past week. 

This painting shows the 95 days and counting as I wait to be matched on the National Kidney Registry with someone who is in need of a kidney with my blood type.

There are symbols that represent applying, each medical test (urine, blood, x-rays, and scans), phone calls or emails with the medical team about testing, travel across the US to the hospital for some of the tests, talking to kidney donors, recipients and my son, as well as his transplant, and just passing time while I wait to donate.

I decided not to use a calendar format, as I did for my Dates in a Life (Walking) Project paintings. The thin white lines under a square highlight Saturdays and Sundays to give a sense of time.

The black lines under a square highlight the time my kidney is listed and until a recipient is found.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

New Work: Dates in a Life: Kidney Donor Testing

My son was born with an x-linked kidney disease that was passed from my father through me to him. Because his kidney disease was starting to progress, I decided to be tested in hope that I could donate indirectly to him because we do not share the same blood type.

The process of testing took 220 days from the day I first applied to the day I was accepted as a kidney donor. I decided not to use a calendar format for this piece, as I did for my Dates in a Life (Walking) Project paintings. The thin white lines under a square highlight Saturdays and Sundays to give a sense of time. 

I applied to be a donor on December 20, 2018. I was approved on July 23, 2019. A donor has been found for my son, and he is scheduled to receive a kidney in Seattle near the end of October. I am waiting to be matched with someone with my blood type who is in need of a kidney.

This painting, Dates in a Life: Kidney Donor Testing documents testing and everything connected to my applying and being accepted as a kidney donor.

There are symbols that represent applying, each medical test (urine, blood, x-rays, and scans), phone calls or email with the medial team about testing, travel across the US to the hospital for some of the tests, talking to kidney donors and recipients, and just passing time while I went through the process.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

My plan is to make one or two more paintings that document my son receiving his kidney from a donor and my donating a kidney to someone in exchange.

Update: Dates in a Life Project 2019

Now that September is over, I'm three quarters of the way through working on the Dates in a Life Project is a year-long painting project documenting the number of steps I walk each day. 

Walking in September was a little bit of a challenge because I couldn't walk at dusk because there was a EEE threat due to mosquitos in many towns in eastern MA. The county did spray a few weeks ago, but that was only about 40% effective and I didn't think I could put enough bug spray on to protect myself. I haven't added paint to document that for most of the days it was a problem in September, but I will before my next update.

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps. 

To keep track of steps, I use the Health app in my iPhone. 

The daily background color changes season-to-season in this painting. I changed the daily background color from a bright yellow for the summer, to Indian Yellow Hue on September 24th. It was Teal Blue for Winter, then Green for Spring. When Winter starts again in December, I'll change the color back to Teal Blue.

I use the daily background color to document my daily steps in fractions of 250 steps. As an example, after 2000 steps (which would be the icon with no paint), I'm painting colors to show as close as I can to 2250, 2500, 2750, and then up to 2999, instead of then rounding up to 3000 steps.

One note about the yellow icons for walking over 20,000 steps and the yellow background color for summer. It's a problem differentiating the steps icons next to the background color. I will most likely repaint the background color to a lighter yellow before I finish the year. I also think the bright yellow is not working well with the Teal Blue for Winter and the Green for Spring. I think the lighter yellow will be much better, but I'll make my decision about it after I start using the Indian Yellow Hue in Autumn.

This painting measures 47.5" x 34" and is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.