Cream and strawberries #752

Daily painting #752 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

New Year, new energy and time to focus on some exciting things for 2017!

Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, food, friends over, celebrations and awesome holidays at hotels with amazing food does not bode well for sugar-free eating! Lots of our good habits started to slip as the holiday wore on! But then it was holidays...and Christmas...and New Year and I am not going to beat myself up about it. 

Instead we are straight back on a sugar-free crusade and the best part of it is that the whole family agreed that the moment we arrived home from our holiday, we were all on board for a sugar-free lifestyle again! The interesting thing is that all four of us noticed changes again as sugar started creeping back in...changes in skin, weight, irritability and moodiness, altered sleep and both my daughter and son at some point had stomach cramps and funny tummies (particularly after eating puddings, chocolate etc). The dreaded 3am monster woke me nearly every morning, despite the fact that I was relaxed and on holiday and should have been sleeping like dream! I felt tired all day with no energy and at night I couldn't sleep! The frightening thing is that I can't even say we consumed large amounts of sugar...just the odd thing creeping back in and lots of eating out and celebrating...what a difference it made! Scary stuff!!

So strawberries with maybe a little drizzle of cream if I am feeling decadent is about as close as we are all going to get to any kind of after dinner treats for a while! I am happy about that!

I have been splashing, sploshing, experimenting and being brave with paint for the last few days, to try get back into studio mode! Its SO good to be back in my studio! I have also been reworking some large canvases that I was working on last year....but I always come back to spending some time doing a quick little study. So a little painting for you today. These little studies ground me. They make me observe, be still and contemplative and really focus my attention. They are like my little studio meditations. 

Wishing you all a fabulous 2017...it is good to be back!

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