Starting over after the accident

I have not worked on this blog for a long time. 

In 2009 I was hit by a car.  It was very serious, I suffered a traumatic brain injury that has changed my life completely. When I say it has changed my life, I truly mean every aspect of my life. 

My professional career as an artist suffered as a result of the accident.  Normally, over the last 12 years, I have always had a rotating collection of oil paintings.  I would always have at least five new works, three or more that I was working on, and three or more that were leaving the studio door in sales.  I was able to keep that up because I was able to paint all of the time, every spare moment that I had I painted.  As a result of my recovery time, my remaining works were sold without me being able to create replacements.  

I intend to rebuild my collection, and then open sales up again.  I will be taking commissions and continuing with my commercial works during this rebuild of my studio collection. I will need some time, as I work slower than before.  

Before the accident...

I worked full time and very often worked overtime.  I was never working less than 40 hours a week.  I went to college part time and maintained a 4.0 grade average.  I also was working on my oil paintings daily and maintaining a professional career in the arts as a professional artist. 

My average daily schedule was...

Wake up about 5:30 or 6am, get ready for my day and then start working on my oil paintings.  I worked on my paintings until 7am when I had to leave for work.  I worked a full 8 hour day. On school days I went to class then came home and did my study work until about 12 or 1am.  On days I didn't have class, I went right out to the studio and painted until about 12 or 1am.  Then I was right back up at 5:30 again.  On my two days off (if I had not signed up for overtime which I did on a regular basis), I worked in the studio all day from 7 or 8 am until about 2am.  I didn't go out more than once or twice a month, and when I did, I had a pretty good time.  I also rode my bike everywhere and I was in fantastic shape. 

I had lived this very busy life for 12 years straight.  It was who I was and I loved it. 

My life after the accident...

First off, I was out of work for a year and four months.  The entire time I was completely unable to paint.  I first started back to work 4 days a week, but had to reduce my work hours to three days according to my doctor.  I can't paint for very long because I live with a bad headache every day.  When I say a bad headache every day, I mean it.  I have been on 15 different kinds of drugs to help with my headaches. Nothing works.  I'm tired all the time.  Not just tired, exhausted. 

I can't ride my bike for several reasons, the Number One reason being that if I exert myself, I'll get a migraine headache that lasts an entire day. 

So needless to say, it will take me longer to create a new set of oil paintings, as I cannot work fast and my responsibilities commercially are pretty heavy.  Eventually things will return to normal for me.  I will keep posting as I complete work.

-Adam