Thursday 24 May 2018

A Simple Breeze : Hospitals and Grey Hairs!

" A Summers Breeze"
Work inspired by my new book "Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour"

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"Where are you?"

"Are you okay? "

I have received so many wonderful emails asking why my blog is quiet and asking if I am okay. I could lie, tell a fib and pretend everything has been fine but truthfully it hasn't been. But thankfully I am much better now and with specialists help we seem to be getting to what has been causing the extreme pain I have been in recently. In fact I am now pain free and I have more energy than ever before which is frightening. In fact so frightening that I ended up in hospital this week and I haven't told anyone other than close family.

What happened?

Well I have been gardening as relaxing therapy in between painting. But I must have been over enthusiastic on Tuesday. Maybe I should describe my idea of gardening. It isn't just pottering around weeding. Its' digging. Moving plants if necessary. Moving large pots if necessary. And we have a huge garden. In it is a pond and the borders around it had become overgrown so I decided to empty them. On my own. Digging up well embedded roots  and moving stones. During my over zealous activity I started to feel "odd"and mentioned it to John who luckily was at home at the time. I checked my pulse and my heart beat was racing, 180 bpm.  John checked and took my blood pressure which was really low and insisted I rang the doctor immediately who given the figures insisted I went straight to hospital. Confession, I wasn't feeling realy great at this point. Two ECGs later and I will be wearing a heart monitor for a while to find out whats' going on. I have been told to call an ambulance should it ever happen again. Serious advise. When asked by the hospital team how long I had been gardening for I had to admit seven hours non stop apart from drinking water.  Thats' quite a lot when it was all continual strenuous work.  And my heart obviously wasn't happy!
I will behave now. 
She says with fingers uncrossed as its' hard to type with your fingers crossed. But I am smiling! You see , when I am painting or teaching I stay out of trouble health wise. But when I have time to myself I tend to go nuts and over do things. 
So the moral of the story is I probably should teach more and avoid strenous digging etc!
( Joking aside, it wasn't funny and I know  the outcome could have been far more serious ) 


I feel fantastic today. And perhaps realise for heavy jobs in the garden I could get someone else in. Maybe that's a thought!

But back to painting. Oh boy I'm having so much fun. I wish I could share all that is going on in my studio. I'm so excited about the colours and techniques I'm working with. They are fabulous!

I'll add to my blog more often now and try to give a few tips on how to have fun and keep that element of experimenting high which often leads to gorgeously refreshing results.

By the way, the painting above was created from the woodland and meadow area of my cottage garden. This was filmed as a work in progress and there is a description on how to use gold pigment in your work in the chapter its' held in. 

Thank you so much for all your well wishes, they really did cheer me and make me realise how very lucky I am to have friends like you.

Did you miss me?

I am back!!!



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5 comments:

Cruiseartist said...

Oh wow girl. I have been some of your route as it is usually scary when I am left unsupervised as well. I have 2 heart arrhythmia's and the "electrical" heart doctor told me when your heart races it might be because your blood pressure has fallen. You like me are a pale one so probably have low blood pressure to begin with and when it gets low our heart rate goes up and it becomes a vicious circle. He said to drink gatoraid or I find coconut water works well too. this brings the blood pressure back up and eventually slows the heart. I did the heart meds for about 12 years and have been off them for 2 and a half years now so really feel for you. Done the heart monitor thing a few times and know it's not that much fun. So please take care of you and have some coconut water in your fridge at all times. I even get the powder sticks and have one in my purse so if it happens while I am out I can get water and fix that problem. All the best girl and I will pray

a woman who is said...

You need to calm down and paint girl LOL! I only spent a few hours in the garden yesterday and I am paying for it today. Seven hours? Those projects can really get you sucked in. I think I need some help these days too! Glad you are feeling better!

Deb Reitz said...

YES, We missed you! So happy you are back and feeling better. I learned the same thing about 5 years ago...I have a huge garden too and spent hours moving plants, spreading mulch. Only with me I injured my back. I was down for the count for 3 months. I kept pushing when I knew my back didn’t feel right.
I’m so happy to see your painting and can not wait for your new book! I already have it on preorder. Take Care,

Lorraine said...

Please don't overdo it in the garden! Especially doing heavy manual work!
You must take care of yourself and found out what is happening.
In the meantime I look forward to reading your posts and since attending your workshop in April I am even more excited to paint!

Jplaisier said...

Glad you’re okay! Looking forward to spending time with you by perusing/reading your newest book. A wonderful addition to my library.