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AnneLawsonArt My art work

May was a crazy month

What a crazy month it was…..

I was most impacted by my Fella being ill and then needing to be in hospital for 6 nights. He is on the mend, but recovery is slow.

He had deranged* blood tests as a result of a reaction to heart medication he had been on for a couple of years.

(* Deranged is the medical term! I love it.)

So you can see where a lot of my time has been spent — on caring and hospital visits. Extras like gardening and blogging have been way down the list of things to do. 😪 And even when I had time I found I didn’t have the mental and emotional energy. These times can be quite anxious.

Underlying these demands was knowing that my exhibition date (early August) was coming closer. I tried to find pockets of time to work on my collages. Then I was asked if I was still interested in exhibiting at my local library.

One collage in my current series of mangroves
Another in the mangroves series

Just to recap….at the end of 2019 I was asked by the Incinerator Art Gallery, a gallery run by our local council, if I was interested in putting my work in the Ascot Vale Library. Of course! Then 20bloody20 came along and the library was closed for many months. Add to the mix the liaison person left. I put the exhibition on the backburner.

It came off the backburner this month with a meeting with the new liaison person. She was wonderfully enthusiastic and wanted works to hang from mid-July to November. Fantastic, but now I really need to get going with my creations!

I have been given a little breathing space with another lockdown in Victoria. Today we found out that the lockdown has been extended from the original seven days for another seven. Not that I want this virus to be threatening us in this way, but it has given me time.

Another eventful happening was that the Fella and I got our first dose of the vaccine. I got a sticker and a lolly pop 🤗

Now it is just a matter of actually using the time…..

By anne54

Botanic artist

37 replies on “May was a crazy month”

Hi Anne, I hope your husband is ok now but it’s scary times to be in hospital. I really love your new work, and good luck with the exhibitions! Unless you panic, I find deadlines do stir up the creative juices!

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Thank you for your good wishes. I was really grateful that I could visit and be with him in hospital. We know of countries and times where patients have had no one to hold their hands.
Deadlines do make me work in a more focused way!

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And here we were all thinking – “good riddance 2020” and now it’s mid 2021 and we are still not really back to Level 0 (the term Jacinda says will eventually arrive when the whole world is back on deck).

I”m pleased to hear that you’ve had to get your “art skates on” – that at least will mean you’ve got to get all the other “ducks in a row” so that daily you have time to make those works for both shows…

“deranged” gotta love that – I thought that is what they said about Ned Kelly!

It looks like I might have to sift (tidy them up) through my finished artworks – get over the idea I had about the sales and at least start seeing some of them grace another persons home.

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In Melbourne we certainly hoped that it was all behind us. Unfortunately it is not. This variety seems to spread way more easily, hence the extension of our lockdown. I know it affects many, many people, but since the hospital stay we have been very staying very close to home anyway.
Yes, I definitely have my ‘art skates on’!

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I hope your fella makes a full recovery – I get the collywobbles any time I have ever had to visit a hospital so I can imagine how stressful it was for you.
i am deeply envious of your lollipop. I did ask for a sticker but they didn’t have any 😒

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I get very anxious when he is in hospital, as he gets very disorientated and agitated. I have been called in at night to help settle him down. So I get very anxious whenever the phone rings. Fortunately he was pretty right this time.
Not many people I know got a lollipop, so I feel very special!

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Relieved to hear your ‘deranged’ husband (hope you don’t mind, the levity, I couldn’t resist!) in on a path towards recovery. Very difficult times for you two. All the more reason to allow yourself to delight in the process of prepping for those upcoming shows…
And congrats on getting jabbed! One step at a time, eh?
hugs

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I’m so sorry to hear that ‘the fella’ has been ill again – such a worry and a lot of work visiting and then caring.It’s great that your library exhibition is on again! I hope the deadlines don’t rob your work of the pleasure you get from doing it Take care and when you have time do show us the work you have created and the exhibition itself.

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It is worrying time when someone you love is in hospital. I am sure you went through many similar feelings and times when your husband was so ill.
It is good news about the library, although with this new lockdown it is closed again. Sigh. However, I am sure we will be right to go by July.

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I’m sure your guy loves to be considered deranged. Hope he’s on a smooth road of recovery. As for the show, don’t sweat it too much. It will come together (says a person who only finished up her final pieces for her solo show a few days before the show!). Hopefully if you’re a piece or two short, they’ll be understanding. As for your jabs…hooray! Mine are done…but no one gave me a lollipop ☹️

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Ah, you know my Fella well! He loves to be teased.
I have a back-up plan for the Library, as I have some oil pastel trees that I think will hang nicely as a group. And I have a little more time for the bigger exhibition in August. So I am pretty confident, but only if I keep at it. I am sure you understand that need to plug away at things!

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Thanks Sharon. I was so grateful he was in hospital at a time when I could easily visit and be with himI. How awful it must have been for people with loved ones in hospital who they could see. It is good to have the exhibitions to work towards as I have something else to think about and work on.

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I’m sorry to hear the Fella has been hospitalised. I do love these medical terms: deranged is an excellent one, also ‘elderly primigravida’ to describe anyone over 30 giving birth for the first time. My own personal diagnosis is ‘inappropriate tachycardia’ – as if tachycardia was *ever* appropriate!
Good luck with the exhibition portfolio, I know you can do it. 🙂

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Trust you to have inappropriate tachycardia! The GP made me smile…he had a technical conversation with the doctor in the Emergency department we were to go to about the blood results, which he ended by saying “He’s pretty crook”! The Fella is on the mend. It is slow, but I don’t have to hover around him quite so much.

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I am calling it “20bloody20” from now on. I am so sorry that your fella has been so ill!. 2021 is turning out to be very stressful for so many people in many different ways. I didnt get a lollipop or sticker when I got my jabs (I seemed to a bit a head of the queue thanks to my 9-day hospital visit in 20bloody20).

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Unfortunately 20bloody20 is a very apt term. It was a shocker of a year, wasn’t it? I am glad you have been vaccinated. The UK is way ahead of us here in Australia, although our current outbreak and lockdown has motivated hundreds of thousands to get the jab.

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I didn’t realise that there had been an outbreak and lockdown in Oz again. I am delighted to have had my second vaccination. Just waiting for my husband, Séamas, to get his second this week now! Still taking care wearing masks, though!

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How is the vaccination programme going in your part of the world? My husband and I have both been done now. The Delta/Indian variant is now spreading like a tiny cloud on the horizon.

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I know a lot of people are very stressed this 4th time around, but the fact that we can keep working suggests that we’re a lot cooler about everything this time. If we can make plans, we’re okay. 🙂

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What an unhappy adventure; I’m glad to hear that things are turning positively now, even if slow. We had our own trip the ER a couple of weeks ago, and just avoided incarceration, because the doc was a good sport. Hopefully now you are able to focus in on the exhibit and are so inspired the pieces nearly collage themselves! Hugs!

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Thanks for your good wishes, Kathy. I hope your visit to the ER has been resolved now. It is always such a stressful time, and how good of your doctor to resolve it. The exhibition is definitely in my sights now.

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We are doing well here. DH had his steroid shot on Friday, and he is responding as expected. We are hoping things continue to improve through the next few weeks. The wedding is June 19, so if things go as per usual, he should be feeling good and able to enjoy the day.

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I have two more sewing projects to finish here, then time to pack up supplies for the trek to Montana! Got Max sorted this morning, so that is a load off. He is going to stay home, and enjoy my neighbor’s fenced yard while we are gone. That will be better for him and for us…a 14 year old dog doesn’t need two trips to Montana in a month!

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Aww, Tierney, now I am blushing! That is very kind of you to say those things. Tearing up the paper for the mangroves has been quite therapeutic, and I am pleased with the results.

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Hi Anne, lovely to catch up with you here after what feels like months/. I’m so sorry about your hubby being ill, and a very worrying time. Six days in hospital I’m sure felt very long indeed! At least you had something to work on in the mean time for some distraction.

Well done for your exhibition spot, a nice long one too, where you can share your wonderful creations. The libraries over here in the Borders have been closed all this time, and actually I’ve just been to a countryside visitor centre close by to me which is part of the councils musems and galleries services. it has become so derelict looking it will take a lot of work to get it looking smart again. It’s actually where I exhibited last and it felt the perfect place. Now I’d be surprised if they have anything planned at all.
Good luck with your sorting out of what to display and any work you want to do. Mostly though, enjoy it, as you’ve earned it. So well done, Anne :>)

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Nothing like a good natter, so let's have a chat!

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