I was fortunate to be able to purchase some new Michelle Ward stencils recently. I had been thinking about the Frond Collection ever since Michele released them, and I was finally able to get them. And boy, they were worth the wait … I love them. I’ve just been playing round with them using gesso, inks, fluid acrylics, and working in three different journals to see what happens on the various surfaces. Here’s some of what I’ve done so far.
Things are not simple in our household at the moment. The latest news is that Tony is having quite major surgery on the 23rd December and will probably be in hospital for 7-10 days. In the midst of all the upheaval, what I know is this – there may be drama, pain and worry, but there’s also love.
Things are not easy at the moment; Tony has an appointment with the vascular surgeon today, it’s almost time to inter Mum’s ashes etc. 12 plus hours with my art supplies yesterday was very soothing. Here’s just one of the pages I completed in my art journal.
It’s a year next Sunday that Mum died and we’ll be putting her ashes in beside Dad at Patea cemetery. After Mum died I had bad dreams – okay, nightmares – for quite a while but gradually they eased. From time to time I still have bad dreams, but without the same intensity. In the worst dreams I drag Dad into it, and he’s been gone over 20 years.
But now the dreams are back, and getting worse. I have a real thing about bodies being in wet ground, which is why all our animals get cremated. I can tell you the logic; they’re dead, it doesn’t matter, it’s nature happening etc. My head knows that, but my heart panics about them being in wet ground. I get anxious and upset.
I totally get that Mum is dead, and her ashes are in a sealed and waterproof cremation box. The fact that the ground is wet for next Sunday’s interment doesn’t matter. Except that, for me, it does, it *really* does. I need it to stop raining. Please let it stop raining…
Cath Sheard Art 