I haven’t posted for a while. I finally relaxed and indulged in a bit of art therapy. I’ve been making some arty cards, here they are:
I am starting to use the stampboard plaques I made such a lot of a while ago. I have also used some of my own sculpted paper items from the moulds I made, on the right my ancient Aunt’s face. In the centre the hands of the S&H. Centre and left paper dolls from Tim Holtz and in each a wonderful stamped image from AALL & Create that says Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life, it sure does, and some bits of lovely Stamperia rice paper.
Over the long awfulness, what kept me going was watching crafty shopping channels and buying stuff. The OH has not been happy about the parcels arriving. I am so glad that dies for die cutting and bits of paper for cutting with the dies (for die cutting) are basically flat. All the time I was stuck in hospital and all the previous years caring for my mother I kept thinking of all the arty stuff I was missing and then, when I crashed and burned, I kept thinking of how I might never get to it, so I collected and collected and now I am finally well enough to use it.
I am going to have to stop and tidy up, or more precisely, rearrange the piles of junk, as the S&H and gang are coming tomorrow. As it’s my birthday I’m taking them out for lunch, though to be fair I do that every time they come and I enjoy it. There are quite a few child-friendly restaurants locally with proper food for children.
And afterwards, back to the art. Art of all kinds is a wonderful way of processing all the stuff that happens to you in life. Like vomiting up buckets of blood, it gets rid of all the bad stuff, except in a non violent and undangerous way
I am also writing and might soon be gardening, though the OH is going to have a workshop which will involve chopping up the lawn and laying concrete. Also, in the front of the house, the drive is going to be widened so the S&H and DIL can park when they come. We are living on what has turned into a busy road and need to make access safe. So maybe not gardening until all the construction is done.
And then more art therapy until I feel cleansed of all the terrible things that have happened over the last year. I had a dreadful year when I was 33; I had a miscarriage and cancer and two lots of surgery. At 66 I had a broken arm and cancer and surgery for each. I wonder what will happen at 99? I believe life is cyclical. As you get older you do sometimes think: Oh hello, been here before. Maybe that’s what life is about, learning. Perhaps if the lessons get harder it’s a sign of progress in the curriculum. Fortunately if the lessons are really hard there is art because:
