Looking back on 2021

 

Last year it snowed in January. As well as snow, this is the month for reflection on the past year. When I look back I realise I didn`t post a single blog in 2021. It was a challenging year for all of us, starting with another lockdown. I used the enforced isolation to follow Este MacLeod's brilliant on-line art course, Imaginarium. A lot of the course used organic inspiration, like this cactus and these mushrooms: 

Then I painted a terrarium to house the mushrooms!

As my final piece for the course I painted this imaginary vase of flowers.

So, it was a good, creative start. I also got excited about the early flowers which appeared in the garden in February.

But later in February everything creative ground to a halt when my father had a catastrophic fall. He was hospitalised for a long time and finally returned home in April in a bedbound state. He died in September. Here he is in the good times, a force of nature.

Even though Dad had a team of professional carers to look after him, much of my emotional energy was taken up with supporting him and it gave me a lot of insight to how draining it is to be a long-term carer. Although the tulips came up as usual in the spring, this is the only picture I took of them:

I have searched through my galleries, but this is the last picture of flowers that I took throughout the year. Even when I arranged the flowers for Dad's coffin, I didn`t have the heart, or the inclination, to take a photograph of them. I am so pleased that Jessie loves flowers and she kept our joint instagram account (just.add.flowers) alive all year. She is also encouraging Cormac (already 2 and three quarters!) to see things that grow and to forage about in parks and in the garden. This little collection of autumnal offerings (with Tiger!) can`t help but make me smile.

I am really hoping that 2022 will be better and that some creative energy and some inspiration will return to me.

Happy New Year to you all. May 2022 bring everything you hope for