Chris Edmunds had intended to spend more time painting when he retired in 2016 after three decades at General Electric. But the Middletown Springs man ended up caregiving for his son Derrick, who died of cancer later that same year at age 38. Grief, coupled with “all the negativity” happening in the world, derailed his creative efforts for years.
Going into 2025, Edmunds, who is 70, needed a dose of daily positivity, he said: “I wanted to get back into doing something and have some purpose in my life.” He resolved to make one 5-by-7-inch painting every day — and each painting had to include an apple.
Every morning, Edmunds said, he’d put on the same CD of classical music and sit down to paint. In the first weeks of the year, he worked from observation, painting an apple in front of him. But, he said, “I much prefer — and always have — painting out of my head, because I can’t make a mistake there … It’s a different process — it’s like trying to do math instead of just letting something take you.”
Gradually, Edmunds began painting whatever he wanted — a field of cows, for instance, with an apple balanced on a fence post. “It’s almost like I started hiding them.” Still, an apple appears in every picture, save one: “For April Fool’s Day, I did a tomato.”
Edmunds was surprised at how beneficial the exercise was. It got him moving and working in a way he hadn’t before. “My main concern was just to find an hour a day at least, or some time a day, where I can start and finish a project,” he said.
For 2026, he’s continuing the daily practice, though expanding his subject matter beyond apples. Going into the project, he thought, I’m going to set my bar as low as I can and achieve it. “It’s funny how that little achievement changed the rest of the day,” Edmunds said.
This article appears in The Wellness Issue 2026.
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