I've had to take a break from painting because I haven't been feeling very well, but I'm on a new diet. We'll see how that works. So let's get started. So I hit a rough patch about a month ago. Well, it's been slow going, but anyway the last month has been a little bit difficult. And I'm trying a new diet and I'm trying the FODMAP diet. FODMAP Yeah, very restrictive. And it seemed to be working, but there's not a lot of joy in this diet. I've got to say no flour, no dairy, and you can do the math and figure out the rest. So anyway, the whole point is to get me healthier, have more nutrition, and of course to eat. So when you don't get a good nutrition, you don't have good energy. When you don't have good energy, you don't have good cognitive skills, and it takes cognitive skills to paint. So I've been missing painting, but I haven't wanted to approach it until I felt like I had enough mental bandwidth to do it. So how do you get started after a long break? Because by now my paints are dry, which I almost never let happen, but it has happened. So the first thing I wanted to do was paint just something for fun, something that would be probably not a terrible challenge necessarily. It wouldn't take a lot of brain power, but something that would be fun and a little bit humorous for me. So I had this picture of these two little puppies, and I really wanted to paint them. So I got started. And it didn't feel as strange as I thought it would feel. I think if you've been painting for a long period of time, there is something to be said for muscle memory, taking over. There are times when I had some cognitive lags or times when I thought I should clean my brush or I should wait for something to dry. And I just didn't have the, like the energy to do that, which is kind of strange, but I said just go with it. The whole idea here is to have some fun. So I'm doing what I usually do. I put in my darkest darks first, which I will darken later. And then I'm putting in my medium patches, and then I will put in my lights. Now I've already established where my lights are. My lightest lights are the yellow of the lines on the street, and also some highlights on the back of the dogs. And I put some Naples yellow in there just as a place filler. So I had something that could respond to. So I like the movement of these dogs. And there is something about these kind of weener dogs that when they're moving, it just cracks me up. I don't know what it is. They're comical. I hear they're really, really nice pets. Of course, I have big dogs, so, but having a really small dog, like a little lap dog like this must be really enjoyable, I would think. Certainly, when it comes to taking and picking up your dog and putting it in the car, which has been happening lately with our rough Collie and boy, she does. She will just hunk her down and not want to get up. So we have to do the lifting. And it's strange because she's going for her walk that she enjoys, but she hasn't made that connection yet. She just will not make the jump. Collie's don't tend to like to jump very much. They'll go for miles and miles and miles, but they're not really jumpers. So now what I'm doing here is I've put in my darks, I've put in my mediums, I've put in my lights, and I'm pretty determined not to leave any of the whites of the paper white, except for the sneaker that one trainer that's happening where the owner is kind of pulling the dogs a little bit. I want to make that white. In order to make that white, it means that I'm going to have to gray down what the other whites that are left in the painting. Now I'll strengthen the yellow. That's not going to change the value in any way, but it does change the intensity. It's brighter now. And we're nearing pretty much what I consider the end of the painting. I should have switched to a bigger brush at one point, but again, I seem to have this cognitive lag, but I think if you've taken time off in painting for a period of time, you really just have to cut yourself some slack. You know, like anything else, it takes a little while to get back into the groove. And I hope to be painting again daily, but I can't say for sure if that's going to happen or not, but what I can say is that I've missed it, and that painting is a part of my life that keeps me engaged, it keeps me interested, and it's an important part of the recipe, as important as eating, sleeping, and positive thinking are for me painting is important too. And this is probably the longest period of time that I took off. But I'm glad to be back. It felt good to do it, and boy, it made the time pass. And sometimes when you're recovering from something, time just becomes a little bit of an enemy because the days and the nights can be really, really long. And I thought, well, if nothing else, I did this today, and that felt good. So I hope you enjoy this. If you've had a long break from painting, find something that you love or something that you would just enjoy. Don't judge it and get started because it's the only way to get the engines going again. So as I always say, remember to keep the whites your paper white, which I only did with the sneaker, even your paint's wet, which I did not do. I let them dry out. Mass for value, mix for color, I definitely did that here. And please join my YouTube channel, and I will see you next time. And if you'd be so kind, because it's been such a long break, leave me a comment below. I'd like to know what's been happening for you. What have I been missing? I've got a feeling like I stepped away for a long period of time. Maybe it's my imagination. I don't know. Anyway, see you next time. Okay, bye bye.