A little something I thought I’d post…
encouragement
Beautiful Blogger Award
Imagine my surprise! Mary from The Backdoor Artist has nominated me for a Beautiful Blogger Award. Thank you, Mary!
The Rules A Few Guidelines:
- Thank the person who nominated you — tick.
- Post the award image to your page — tick.
- Tell seven facts about yourself — keep reading…
- Nominate 15* other bloggers for the award and let them know about the nomination.
*Some blogs suggest nominating seven other bloggers for the BBA and that’s the option I’ve decided to go with — not because I can’t think of 15 worthy nominees (I can think of way more than 15…) but because I like the number seven.
Seven Facts About Me:
- I met my husband in a band (I was singing and he was playing guitar).
- We will be celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary next week.
- We still sing together at open mic nights (and occasionally elsewhere).
- I write songs.
- Some of the songs I’ve written are rubbish.
- Some of the songs I’ve written are not rubbish.
- The last song I sang at open mic was Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights (yes, in the original key). Having done that, I’m now fearless — at least until next week.
Seven Beautiful Bloggers:
- Cecilia Heikkilä
- Clouds of Colour
- Creartfuldodger
- Errantry/Tanaudel
- Simple drawings about things that happen
- The Little Leaf
- Winter Owls
Thanks again to Mary for nominating me. To hear that I’m an inspiration… well… I was lost for words for a couple of days. And that’s unusual for me : ) Another seed planted.
Out of the blue
I’ve been spending a bit of time on digital illustrations lately and felt the need to get back to something altogether more analogue. So I spent an hour messing about with acrylics…
Whether it’s good, bad or mediocre — if I don’t create it, nobody else will.
On a good day…
Here is my completed entry for the Chronic Pain Awareness Month (New Zealand) charity auction/competition. As mentioned in my last post, this year’s theme is ‘the soul within’.
The competition is open to anyone who has a relationship with chronic pain and I suffered from monster migraines when I was a child. Doctors and specialists told me that I would ‘grow out of them’ and I have to admit they were right. It took more than twenty years (!!!) but they did eventually, slowly, bit by bit, diminish over time. The headaches I get now simply don’t compare. I’ve also had RSI/OOS in my hands. With rest, therapy, and a complete change of lifestyle, the condition is now under control. I still have bad days but it’s something I can live with. And I am very, VERY thankful.
An ordinary sparrow
Here are a few sparrow sketches for a painting I’m working on at the moment. I plan to enter it in a local art auction/competition which is held annually to promote awareness of chronic pain conditions. This year’s theme is ‘the soul within’.
The brick represents chronic pain (in my case, migraines and RSI/OOS) — enduring, exhausting, crippling pain. The sparrow represents hope of the soul — ordinary, everyday, garden-variety hope. On a good day, the soul within sings.
I may be wrong but I think my last — and only — art competition was when I was a teenager (maybe 13 or 14). It was a chalk drawing (on a sidewalk) of The Wizard of Oz. And I won. The prize was two tickets to see a live version of the musical. Ironically, I couldn’t use the tickets because of a monster migraine which hospitalised me.
Funny old thing, life.
Finding myself
Two versions of a dip pen doodle — full of unexpected outcomes. A lot like life, really. They were inspired by Anne Onsøien’s recent “Lost or found?” post. The first image is the original sketch which has been added to and messed about with in Photoshop. The second is the final watercolour sketch.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 