Suffering For Your Art

What you are looking at is the under side of my arm. Now before you think I have some sort of horrible disease or disfigurement...I don't. I keep my mohair in tubs to keep it safe and organized. But I have allergies. One of my allergies is to wool. Mohair is a type of wool in it's purest form, and sometimes I have a bad reaction to it. I am also allergic to dust, mold, pretty much anything that grows with the exception of rag weed, (go figure) milk, nuts, chocolate, oats, potatoes, eggs, most metals including gold, and a whole host of other things. With the exception of oats, which I have always been allergic to, I developed the rest of these allergies late in life. It can happen to anyone. I live with the hope that they will go away someday as quickly as they came.

So what you are looking at is my arm after I reached into a tub of mohair for about ten seconds. Those nasty looking welts are hives. I took that pic about an hour ago and they are still there. They itch, they burn, and there isn't much I can do to get rid of them other than take allergy meds or just wait it out. Today I chose to suffer because the meds put me to sleep and I had work to do.

I know that an artist suffering for their work is an old cliche', but some of us really do it. In fact sometimes I break out like that everyday once or twice a day for weeks at a time. If anyone out there has any info on how to get rid of hives when they hit, I would love to hear it!

Now I am going to take my arm, grin and bear it and go back to work!