Can’tdle • 5″x7″ watercolor & ink on 6″x8″ paper

My last year’s resolution was to take more selfies and I failed miserably. To take a selfie, you need a certain flick-of-the-wrist to turn your hand with your phone at your face and take a photo, and also to remember to do that, and I don’t have that. But at least I have a cramp in my hand and a headache.

I might as well learn to play the guitar – this would take just as much effort, but make the world a better place. Instead of learning a whole new instrument, I’d like to use the flick-of-the-wrist I already have and write. I’ve decided that my 2024 resolution is to share more of my stories.

If you’re reading this by email, you’ve been getting my newsletters for a while and now you’re about to join me and 133 other subscribers on my new adventures every Tuesday: in painting, hiking, and grocery shopping. Or you’re about to unsubscribe. Choose your own adventure, no hard feelings.

The rollercoaster of life is taking us through a series of holidays again and there’s a lot of apples. I’ve been loving Honeycrisp apples, in particular, and painted “Can’tdle.” It’s a juxtaposition of candles and apples, and apple candles.

Just don’t go too far into the core because the apple seeds can be poisonous. Can’tdle is how an apple can be angry for having its fruit eaten but not the seeds from which it can be reproduced. Something to chew on…

This painting was brought to you by a series of carefully-placed boops.

♥ Tatyana