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An Illustrated Guide to Blister Care and Prevention

10”x14” watercolor on paper

I am an artist who loves long walks.

While walking the Camino de Santiago, I came to see that tending blisters was an act of love, a way of living out these words: “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did it to me.” But love is not only intention—it is also preparation. My blister care kit became a ministry bag, filled with both prevention and healing.

Blister Care Kit Essentials

Good shoes: I reccomend trail running shoes with at least a thumb’s width at the toe (I love Altra Lone Peaks). Most blisters I saw came from boots or shoes that were too small.

Quality socks: Merino wool or other breathable fabrics. Keep shoes, socks, and feet clean—sand and dirt cause friction. On rainy days, change into dry socks midday.

GEHWOL Foot Cream: With eucalyptus, rosemary, lavender, lanolin, thyme, and camphor. Use after your shower at night and again in the morning. It moisturizes, helps prevent blisters (and athlete’s foot), and smells amazing!

Blister wool: Place on hot spots to cushion and “eat” friction before it causes blisters. I passed this out on the Camino like cotton candy.

Needle, lighter, and alcohol wipe: For puncturing fluid-filled blisters safely.

Hydrocolloid bandages: Cover popped blisters until healed.

KT tape: My favorite for hot spots—more flexible than moleskin. Works especially well with blister wool on almost-healed or not-quite-formed blisters.

Toe caps: Reusable silicone covers that protect tricky between-the-toe blisters.

A few band-aids and antibiotic ointment.

This kit reminded me daily that care for the body can also be care for the soul. To tend another’s feet on the Camino is to step into the story of Christ himself, who knelt to wash dusty feet with love. The road humbles us all. Each shared step, each act of tenderness, reminds me that our journey is not only toward Santiago, but also toward seeing Christ revealed in the weary, the wounded, and the ordinary moments of care along the way.

Buen Camino!

P.s. I have now walked the Camino Frances from St. Jean Pied de Port to the end of the world (twice) with NO BLISTERS!

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Family Tree: Deep Roots Wide Branches

I’m so excited today I am prepping materials for family day at the DMA. I am the feature community artist and my project is: “Deep Roots and Wide Branches”

Come co-create a collaborative piece of art with me at the Dallas Museum of Art tomorrow!! Come write your family story into our collaborative art project. What makes your family special? Is it your deep roots or your wide stretching branches?

“my great granny made me feel like I was the only person on earth and that we had all the time in the world.”

“We all sit down every night for dinner at 6, and everyone can always bring a friend, it can be pretty crazy, but our dinner table is how I think of my home and family.”

Come paint, come play, and come write your story into our family tree. You will have the chance to try out a variety of mixed media tools and techniques, Our collaboration will be structured with enough direction to ensure success and enough freedom to allow for creative expression. DMA Saturday Nov. 2nd 11am-4pm

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Rooted Friendship

14”x11” oil on panel

“Friendship plants itself as a small unobtrusive seed; over time, it grows thick roots that wrap around your heart”. -Anna Lyndsey

My mom asked if I would paint a daisy image for the cover of a yearbook she was compiling. The yearbook was for PEO, a women’s group she has been part of for over 40 years. I have so much respect for the work and relationships she and her friends have nurtured through that organization. Like the seeds of a daisy, those friendships have grown thick roots around not only their hearts, but mine as well. (You know it is a deep friendship, when love extends to an adult daughter.)

So, here is the daisy, which I was delighted and honored to paint, and may their friendships continue to bloom for many years to come.

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Caleb

14”x11” oil on linen
Arts and Medicine. Baylor Hospital. Dallas, TX
I’m painting the little one next time! It was a super fun painting to do, the staff and patients loved watching it come to life!
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Cows and Clouds

11”x14” oil on panel
8” square oil on panel
11”x14” oil on panel

Workshop day 2 we painted cows and clouds, and talked about value and composition! It was a good day.

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Journey to the Cross

“Blessed are you pilgrim, if your backpack empties of things and your heart doesn’t know how to hold so many emotions.”

The Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross) is located on the Camino de Santiago. Specifically, it is located on the highest point of the French way between the towns of Manjarín and Foncebadón.

Pilgrims traditionally leave a stone at the Cruz de Ferro. Most people bring a stone from their home. The stone represents a burden: physical, and symbolic.

The cross is 550km (340 miles) from where we started in St. Jean Pied de Port, France.

The day we arrived in France, we got off the train and met a pilgrim I would end up walking many days with. She was 20 years older than me, and 20 times fitter than I was. We were, however, the same height, which it turns out is a key in determining stride. We made good walking partners. We shared stories as we walked. Like many pilgrims, our packs were too heavy at the beginning. The subject of the rocks came up a lot. She was carrying not only her rock, but rocks for friends who couldn’t walk the miles themselves to the Iron Cross. As our friendship increased, she shared that she was carrying a letter of forgiveness for a hurt that she had been holding into for more than 50 years, she planned to lay it at the iron cross.

Sometime before we reached the Cruz de Ferro, our rest days didn’t line up and me and my walking buddy were separated. The day we climbed to the cross, I walked in the pouring rain with my daughters. It was somber as we climbed the hill. The Cruz de Ferro wasn’t just a giant pile of rocks, there were letters, photos, baby shoes and all kinds of mementos. You could feel the emotions from the centuries piled up. I imagined the burdens and prayers floating to heaven in the stormy clouds. After days of separation, my friend and I met again at the exact moment we reached the cross. With a tear stained face, and a smile that stretched from ear to ear she told me “I left it at the foot of the cross and I feel lighter.”

Today is Good Friday. As I journey to the cross today, my journey will be the same symbolic one Christians have journeyed for centuries. My pilgrimage will be the stations of the cross. Since the Middle Ages, people unable to walk a religious pilgrimage, would walk the stations.

The cross will be waiting for us.

48”x24” mixed media. “Journey to the Cross”

Detail