Wishes for the New Year

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and productive 2014.

Productivity can be exhausting…

These past few months have been filled with physical challenges for me, including not one, but two knee surgeries (the second to fix an unusual problem with the first), anemia brought on by said knee surgery, and finally, a Christmas celebration in the hospital as I faced gall bladder surgery. Many thanks to the kind doctors and nurses (especially my patient wife) as they helped me through these issues. I’m humbled by the kindness of strangers and blessed by the love of my family and reminded daily to be grateful for these challenges, because I am alive and able to face them.

Today, I am feeling considerably better and definitely looking forward to the new year. Excited for the day I can brave the stairs and enter the art studio again, paintbrush in hand, to imagine life before ready surgery, sterile hospitals and modern medicine. While I will always love history, and wish that I had been around to traverse the mountains with the fur trappers, for now at least, I am glad to live in modern times.With that in mind, I once again, wish you a happy, healthy and productive 2014.

Remember to be kind

It’s a season for hustle and bustle, shopping and travel. The news is filled with stories of black Friday shopping horror, weather related travel delays and various atrocities around the globe, with only the occasional mention of acts of kindness from one stranger to another… I’m thinking of the individuals leaving large tips for wait staff, volunteers manning and collecting for food banks and toy drives, those that take the time to hold a door, or simply smile at someone.

Simple acts of kindness make all the difference. So, remember to be kind.

The Good Samaritan
Gale F. Trapp

The Good Samaritan

Santa’s Last Stop

Santa’s Last Stop
Gale F. Trapp, 2012
Acrylic on board

One last stop on a remote country road and this tired “Santa” finishes his route, but not before bringing joy to excited children and relief to tired parents. I wonder though, will he actually be able to make it home?