Hospital doodle #11
Oil pastels, marker pen and watercolour pencil on paper.
The Return
Tag: survival
Resistance
Hospital doodle #10. Oil pastels, watercolour pencils and marker pen on paper.
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Hospital doodle number 7. There are a family of seagulls nesting on the rooftop outside my window; Sam, Silver who has a limp and Claude who is still a youngster. They peer through my window begging for scraps. Pigeons and wagtails also congregate. Watching birds all day long, I’m hoping I may grow wings too and escape. 😂 In my crazier moments I wonder if they are the reincarnated souls of patients who have died in this room…if the window opened wider they would definitely come in!
Doodle #4
Another one of my hospital drawings- I have family in Ukraine so the war is very personal to me. This drawing using oil pastels and marker pens is called Path in Poltava Oblast, Central Ukraine. Feedback welcome 🙏😊
I’m Back – Sort Of!
I’ve had a very long absence from WordPress ever since I was admitted to hospital with complications due to long Covid. Ten weeks on and I’m still incarcerated. I have no poems in me at the moment but have been producing a daily doodle. These started out as a bit of art therapy- just a quick sketch while propped up in my bed. But they seem to have evolved into something more.
I have decided to share them in the hope some of you may find them interesting. Comments and feedback very welcome!
The Wall
This weekend I discovered the most marvellous novel that I’d never heard of before. Its called The Wall by the Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer, first published in 1968. Although classified as science fiction and ecofeminist it is really a profound philosophical meditation on solitude and the relationship between humans and the natural world. It contains beautifully intense descriptions of the close bonds that we can form with animals without being sentimental. The story is set in the Alps and recounts in diary format one woman’s struggle to survive in total isolation. The mysterious transparent wall that appears over night is a metaphor for the divisions between us all in a time when we interact with screens more than other living beings. The book was ahead of its time in anticipating many social and environmental issues we struggle with today. The Wall is one of the most powerful novels I have ever read and I would absolutely recommend it particularly if you are a person with a love for animals and nature.
Life
I am always astounded by the strength of life force in nature if unhindered by human activity, the pollution of drugs and chemicals. A few weeks ago I cut a couple of branches from my Woolly Willow tree (yes, it’s really called that or Salix Lanata if you want to be formal). They were covered in gorgeous catkins and made a stunning statement in a vase in my hallway. When I decided to throw them out I was surprised to see they had grown roots so now they are destined for a new life in the garden next to their mother tree. Happy trees! I have many different willow trees; scarlet, golden, black, purple, Swiss, a ground cover variety, one that has spectacular black catkins in the spring. It is a wild, windy and wet location and yet they thrive. Branches may break off in a storm but they go on undaunted. If only we humans could do the same.
Renewal
Easter is my favourite festival. As a natural born pagan I love the nature symbolism and message of renewal and rebirth. Those of us lucky enough to be not living in a war zone are able to celebrate with flowers and chocolate. In the UK the weather has been kind and we see signs of new growth and green shoots in the gardens. The Russian Orthodox Easter is not till next weekend. I have many lovely memories of Easter rituals growing up in a Ukrainian family. Easter is a big event in the Orthodox Calendar. Special food is prepared in a basket including hand painted boiled eggs, cold meats and a sweet bread called Paska and then taken to the church to be blessed by the priest in a midnight ceremony. It is later eaten for breakfast on Easter Sunday. This year I am having a peaceful and joyful time although separated from loved ones and have enjoyed painting eggs for the first time in years! Also having fun with my new rainbow lantern, (really cool!) eating cake decorated with bluebells and bumble bees and delicious chocolates in the shape of butterflies.
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
Do Birds Sing in Mariupol?
Blue shadows of birds
skim over Mariupol
– speed west to the sun
Wild easterly winds
buckle and twist willow trees
– branches fall to ground
I hear frail birdsong
embracing a precious dawn
– pearls cast before swine
I hear God is change
all things must melt away – bones
– burn pale as newborns
Waking Up
I woke up crimson
autumn to gypsy
clouds a home
not my own.
Bonfires warm the cockles
said my neighbour as flames
split the dark.
I stirred wrathful
winter to trees
stripped of branches
only trunks remained.
I tried my best
said the Gardener spitting
dust and wielding a chain saw.
I roused one dizzy
spring to my lover
floating dead
in the fishpond.
Where were you this morning?
the police officer asked
but the carp refused to comment.
I woke one summer
night to blue flaring
beyond Ben’s farm
stressed over deadlines.
What the fuck’s going on?
asked the cat
tucking into her fish supper.
This poem is an example of my new work in progress, a poetry collection called Conversations With My Cat. More details here later.
The Purple Hermit 