A teabag of grief
In my recent findings and research around art and grief, I have been writing more. Some words you may relate to...
In my recent findings and research around art and grief, I have been writing more. Some words you may relate to...
What a beautiful evening to celebrate the last day in my Holywood studio before I moved to Lisburn Road in South Belfast in August! Photos by Jamie Trimble. Nibbles but Suzie Lee ( who has a new cookbook out!) A little bit about my collection of work...
I am positive that a psychologist could glance at my words and give an explanation far greater than the surface level thoughts I have around my deep rooted grief and what it looks like. However, in this message I will unravel such thoughts and you can nod your head in agreement or pause to think if you relate.
Not babies not yet grown. I wished them to school, now I wait on their return. Breast pads, velcro and routine replaced by Crisp packets, consoles and trampoline. The beats of three hearts outside of me. Hearts started in my uterus. Excluding baby M. 14 weeks, heart stopped, hospital bed, taxi home. Her...
The beauty of running my own business is that I adapt and shift each month depending on new projects. The not so beautiful thing is that when a pandemic hits, your business plans come to a sudden halt. 2020 is my point of reference for this...
Go away grief
Grief, you are the boyfriend I never asked for and the meal I didn’t order. You are the loud symbols in my silence always craving for my attention...The medics on the front line are the heroes and I made a doctor figure demo on my youtube to demonstrate the appreciation I feel for them. As well as the government, farmers, postal workers and many more keyworkers keeping this country afloat. But I...
Image credit Gather and Tides
I'm all for clearing out junk in the home. So much so I even made a post about minimalism here. My husband views my 'tendency' for "gutting out" as a bit of an illness. This urge to clear out normally raises it's ugly head on a weekend. You know the kind- all is well and quiet in the world of family time, there are no work emails to distract the mind, a general state of untidiness has already descended the minute the lads come in from school and dump their School bags on the Friday. So, with all of this in front of my very eyes, I take a head staggers and start to trail everything out. Literally. "You have to crack an egg to make an omelette" my good friend once said. Nothing will do except a good clear out from top to bottom of a drawer, a medicine cabinet, the baby's room, my shoe boxes, even the pots and pans can take a bashing. Feeling overwhelmed by "stuff" is something I struggle with. It sits better with me knowing that someone somewhere else can use what I no longer will. Looking around my house and feeling overwhelmed often is perhaps not the best trait for someone who is in the business of selling prints which in themselves can be viewed as "stuff". Perhaps it is to the detriment of my yearly income that I don't like to harp on about sales over and over again, but if you meet me for more than five minutes you will learn that my driving force behind these long hours, juggling three kids (one aged six months) and keeping a large number of people happy on social media, e mail and face to face, is not to line my pockets.Eyebrows on fleek in my High School days (middle pic).
As a child I was aware that School was to be respected, attended and adhered to. I enjoyed my time in the classroom. But being pushed in one direction or the other regarding education was not in my Mum's nature. Maybe she had a peace that things would work out for me and my brother. Or maybe it was because she, like me,placed more importance on the need to try one's best and to embrace the School environment as a whole, rather than push specific results. I "failed" my eleven plus at the age of 11 and went to a High school instead of a Grammar school.The Aslan special edition print is available HERE and you can personalise it with a quote from Narnia.
I am not keen on promoting my products to the heavens when the hallmark holidays like Mother's day and Valentines day come up on the calendar.My husband Michael and I knew before we were engaged that we wanted to adopt. In fact early on in our relationship we openly discussed our desires to adopt and found common ground.
We decided that whether we had birth children or not, it didn’t make a difference- we wanted to adopt and grow a family alongside or after or before we had kids-