As 2014 draws to a close I wonder how on earth I got through these last three months.
Back in Sept I started college, had been diagnosed with ITP a month before, just when my course started so did my treatment for ITP, this was not part of the plan.
I bloody did it though, caught two buses every morning and got myself into classes, did what was required and more.
The side effects of the drugs Prednisone and Rituximab were very debilitating to say the least, the list is very very long. The outcome will not be known for a few months, at least my platelete count is 201 as of yesterday, from a count of 10 which had me admitted to hospital a few months ago, I am living each day as it comes.
College has been fabulous, the tutors have been so supportive, being in an art college environment has been wonderful, such a learning curve. Thought I knew so much, couldn't have been more wrong, thought that my drawing skills were a none starter, nope not bad actually, found out (sort of knew it) that I'm a natural pattern maker. Negatives were, that I always want to have a finished product, years of making jewellery, cards and a few other things. The main objective was always to sell my creations, in the "Art" world it is the opposite, it's the journey, the planning, drawing and making notes in a sketchbook that matter more, if in the end what you create is finished, then good, if not, it does not matter.
Contextual studies did my head in at first, choosing a famous artist to research and write about was the easy bit, I had never done any sort of academic writing in my life and found it daunting, a gap of 42 years is not recommended, that's why an access course is necessary for someone like me, it breaks you in gently to what is ahead when you do a degree. I am now starting to enjoy researching and writing.
So all in all its been very hard work, enjoyable and so worth the effort, believe me when I say hard work, just because it's "Art" does not mean to say it's easy, it's not, but you learn so much about yourself.
Here are few of the "Artists" I have written about and some that are in the works.
Louise Bourgeois, Marc Chagall, Tamara de Lempicka, Sonia Delaunay and Oskar Schlemmer.
all can be found on my pinterest boards, links at the top of the page.
