Is it truly almost 22 months since I posted here?
I suppose after things went so badly awry with my commitment to this project, it was hard to come back and look at how well it had started.
So, what happened?
In short, Life.
Life and Family and Loss.
Since early 2011, I had been caring on and off for my mother, whose health had begun to decline.
For the most part she was well enough to manage in her own place, despite a few minor setbacks which required extra support from me, and eventually, input from aged care providers. There were a few brief hospital stays and a couple of stretches when she needed to come and stay with me for a while, until she was able to cope in her own home again.
I won't go into the whole sorry story, but, as so often happens with ageing parents, her care needs increased, and after a few hospital stays, and longer and longer periods in my care, our lives required some readjustment.
I shelved this project, and other creative pursuits, apart from just pottering about in the studio now and then to give myself an outlet. Feeling burnt out, I also quit my casual job, so there was less money available for materials, etc.
Mum came to stay with me to recuperate after a spell in hospital mid-year, and despite her great wish to return to her own home, was never quite well enough again to be able to do so.
Sadly, she passed away in hospital on February 1st this year. One year to the day since my last active post here.
Before she went into hospital that last time, she had made me promise to get back on with my work.
I was able to tell her about a number of exhibition proposals and submissions I'd made, and she was so pleased to see me doing something constructive about my jewellery again. She was gone just a few days too soon to hear the news that all my submissions had met with success.
Working on my pieces for the four shows I've been included in this year helped to keep me going through the processes of grieving, and sorting things out. Mum would have been proud.
So, what now?
Well, I have a small solo show scheduled for the end of next year, and a few other ideas ticking over.
I may record some of that on my other blog (Betty's Shed) as things progress. In the meantime, just taking one day at a time. 366 in 2012 was an idea I loved, and one I will come back to at some point, perhaps in a slightly different form. Maybe next leap year - 2016 - maybe sooner. Who knows?
Watch this space. I have ideas brewing. When one of them is ready to share, this will be the place.
