Hello friends and followers; sorry I’ve been absent for a while; been treated and in recovery from a rather unwelcome breast cancer. But I’m back! With an exhibition of paintings opening in Poundbury at the end of the month (Monday September 30th) at The Duchess of Cornwall Inn (more on that later).
The timing of my cancer journey has mirrored that of King Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall, who has been at the front of my mind since her ‘end of chemo’ video.
Sifting through my artworks, contemplating which to include in the exhibition, I came across this oil sketch of a corgi which I painted three days after my surgery, as part of the Strada January Daily Painting Challenge.
It doesn’t make the cut for the exhibition but as a requirement of the Strada Challenge I posted it online on January 19th with these words:
‘It has come to one’s attention that one is not the only person recovering from surgery this week. So the fake bronze corgi has been summoned from the garden to keep one company in convalescence. Red, White and Blue Flowers to say ‘Recover Well Your Majesties’.
I received so much kindness; the beautiful vase and posy in the foreground just one example of a thoughtful gift by post (ivy&bud). But I was also told by a well-meaning friend, before a radioactive isotope bone scan checking for secondaries, that I must not worry or entertain anxious thoughts, and by others, including the breast surgeon, that I should look on the bright side.
I found these comments hugely unhelpful; everyone with cancer or any other debilitating disease must handle their journey as they will and not assume they know how it is for others. So even though Kate’s (or more likely the Cambridge PR team’s) video has left me feeling disquieted and as though I need to ‘buck up’ a bit more, of course I wish her well.
The corgi stayed in the house until Spring, cheerfully standing guard in the hallway; but then we love dogs in our house as the paintings that have made the cut, and even been made into prints will demonstrate – more soon.
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