Well it's definitely not a painting I am sharing with you today, I wish it were! When asked by others what was going to break my continuous daily painting spell, I would joke that it would probably have to be something serious like landing up in hospital or such like to get me to stop as NOT painting had become harder than finding the time to paint. It had become such an integral part of my daily routine after 560 days without a break, the entire process had become meditative and almost necessary to my everyday existence! Well I must have jinxed myself and I can only say I am grateful the accident was mine and no one else that I care dearly about! On Monday morning I tripped on the staircase at home, trying to avoid my cat and fell down half a flight of stairs! My husband took me to our local hospital and thank goodness all I had done was break my ankle bone and severely bruised my body as I landed on a concrete treated surface. It could have been much worse but I was in such pain that I wanted to be physically ill! Fortunately the orthopedic surgeon has made the decision to keep a moon boot on the leg and immobilize the break as the bones could be aligned. He will reassess it in 2 weeks time. I am trying to avoid having surgery to pin the bones. So I was at hospital before I had even loaded my daily painting (or even had a morning shower!!!!) and have not yet been able to paint since. Between a heady cocktail of painkillers and the need to stay absolutely still or as still as possible, I have been unable to paint. I have sobbed out of pain, frustration and the absolute heartbreak of having to end 560 consecutive days of daily painting. It would have been amazing to complete another 365 consecutive days (730 days of daily painting that would have been) and I was so very close but it was not meant to be! 560 days of daily painting is still an amazing achievement!
So for now I concentrate on healing and keeping as still as possible to avoid having any surgery and I hope to be daily painting again soon! I will be less focused on the number of days I have painted for and more focused on the joy of engaging daily in little painting exercises which have become as important to my painting as they have been to my soul. Taking time out to engage daily in something creative is not only a blessing but it is like a daily top up to your creative tank. It gets you painting and focussing on the joy of painting rather than the end result! It forces you to just DO and not overthink too much as one can do when working on larger pieces of work. I have shared many paintings that quite frankly don't work and I am okay with that! It's good to make mistakes...it's how we grow...it's how we learn! So my lesson right now is never make the mistake again of trying to avoid the cat on the staircase, if she happens to fall instead of you chances are she will land her feet a lot better than you! Mistake made....lesson learnt!
Thanks for all the messages from everyone and sorry if I have not replied to them all. I hope to be daily painting and sharing again soon....as soon as I can move a bit more! I have received such lovely messages from all of you saying how much you are missing seeing the daily paintings and that warms my heart....thank you! Click on the link below and you can browse through some 'oldies' until I can start sharing again..... Thank you Heidi
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