Just before beginning this painting I broke my right hand—my painting hand!—and I found myself forced to function with my fingers, wrist, and arm immobilized in a cast. Determined not to let the injury stop me from painting, I employed several tricks to circumvent my temporary infirmity.

First, I took a paintbrush with me to the doctor's office so that the cast could be molded around my hand holding the brush. That way I could still paint large areas with that hand. Then I relearned how to paint with my left hand. Although I am not ambidextrous, I had done some left-handed artwork before and I managed.

The most interesting trick though was devised by my good friend John Crawford, who is a top-notch engineer. John masterminded a radio-controlled, solenoid-operated airbrush for me, which allowed my left hand to work the air brush strapped to the cast on my right arm!

However there was one hitch...the crystal in the transmitter was set on a frequency that allowed interference from local CB traffic, and at times my airbrush would mysteriously sputter into life and begin spraying on its own!