Recovering from keyhole surgery to remove gallbladder
Being in the best health you can be is a good start

It seems that my blog musings have been all about health challenges lately. In truth, that has been my reality and I’m hoping that this recovery after having my gallbladder removed is the last for the foreseeable future. It has caused me considerable pain for the last three years. Covid-19 interrupted surgical plans for everyone, including me.

Doing a Little Happy Dance Grateful That I Can See Properly AgainI have finally recovered from double vision and been discharged from the eye hospital and I’m super happy!

I must admit, four months of struggling to see anything without a double image did get me down, and there were times when I wondered if my eyes would ever get back to normal.

Sudden Double Vision is Scary and A Major Challenge for an Artist

Double vision is another setback but I’m not giving up. I’m figuring out how to deal with it.

Well life has thrown another curve ball. Not only am I still on hold, almost a year later, like tens of thousands of other souls waiting for routine surgery that will make my life a little easier, but over Christmas I woke up to severe double vision. It certainly creates a challenge

 The early stages of my painting of a corn flower. A work in progress.

Sometimes, a break from painting is as good as the feel of painting itself, and a break was much needed this summer.

Picking up a brush after a much needed break feels good. Sometimes life gets in the way of things. Health problems, other life pressures and not to mention a global pandemic of Covid that had quickly reached our local area. Everything just shut

 Art Doodle Sketch Welcoming in the New Year of 2020

Bringing in the new year of 2020 was a welcome hope for the future, not least because the entire Christmas period was a comatose blur under the influence of the dreaded flu bug!

All new years begin with hopes and dreams, and after the last year of sad loss and so many hospital visits that I’ve lost count, the hope of the sun shining on our lives is even greater.

Art Doodle Sketches of Trials of Life
The simple act of art doodling in a sketchbook can be very therapeutic. Sometimes pictures convey emotions more than words can.

Where does the time go when life just takes over? January disappeared into the ether while I lay comatose under the duvet suffering from flu. February threw curve balls left, right and centre.

Rushed hospital visits, tests and scans, not all mine, but family too. It really wakes you up from dreamily going through life. There is a saying that when life throws lemons at you, make lemonade. But sometimes, making

 Art Doodle 2019 New Year Celebration

The last several months of 2018 have been challenging. My health confined me, and for a while it was comforting to rest up and recuperate. It’s difficult, well almost impossible to be inspired when I’m feeling ill and in pain. But I am beginning to feel more able now, and no longer wish to be in confinement. It is time to throw back the curtains and once again say “Hello World!”

 Creating a Garden Is Like Creating a Painting

Gardening Is Like Painting, The Spade Is My Brush, The Flowers Are My Paint and The Ground Is My Canvas

They say gardening is great for mental health, and it definitely is. It has helped me to pick myself up, dust myself off and re-evaluate what is important in life.

Art, painting wise, has been a bit of a barren few months where I seem to have lost my way, maybe because I found myself in a situation that was unsustainable. The decision to put my brush down for a few months has

 Peace lilies sketch in response to ME CFS

I'm writing this blog because there is a silent group out there who have daily struggles that others are completely unaware of. I don't often talk about my "disability" because it puts me in a box, but very occasionally I feel the need to shout it from the roof tops.