Last year following spinal surgery I was unable to stand for very long and was not able to paint at all for several months. I needed to adapt my painting style which had been to stand and paint on a vertical canvas, often walking back and forth to view the work from various distances. I found that I was able to sit and paint again. I started experimenting with gouache on paper and found this media produced the same intense colors as the oil sticks that I loved. The freedom of working with the brush again was exhilarating. I am still working on that series, exploring color in a manner that can be obtained with the gouache with layering, diluting the color, reworking, overlapping in new tones. Fortunately I now can stand for long periods and work on large panels with oil stick again.