Category: Drawing

Cats

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Cat inside a number four
Cat in long grass with wild garlic

Recent drawings on greetings cards for various life events. Mixed media, Bic Cristal biro (black and green) with watercolour crayons. The cat sitting on a hill is near some wild garlic, which has been given darker green foliage since the photo was taken. I wondered why Ramsbottom is called that, or which other names were considered at that meeting. A bit of etymological reading suggested ransoms and the bottom of a hill. Wild garlic valley, obviously.

Sweet Peas

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Graphite and watercolour crayon drawing on paper

The old people used to say they grew sweet peas because you don’t have to bend far to smell the blooms. This is the first time I’ve grown some for a few years. The last attempts ended with little stems surrounded by slug trails.

Today’s drawing of the sweet peas might inspire the usual questions: “but what will you do with it when it’s finished?” etc. Well, since you ask, parts of it might be used for a family tree project. The little spirals are interesting, and could be a useful link between the names and dates of the more complex ancestors.

Other lives

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Middle of Winter

The winter of 1985-86 was spent discussing methods of suicide. Could he wait for ten years or so, to see if circumstances changed? No. The two years of recovery after the last episode had seemed endless to him. When I pointed out that previous overdoses had inspired vomiting, so maybe the physical body had a strong life force, I was apparently ‘sick’.

The aftermath of an overdose isn’t as calm and peaceful as it appears in novels and films.

So many options, so little time

I thought I could go out for twenty minutes at a time, and would be back with suitable first aid skills. The kitchen knives were hidden. The washing line had been discreetly removed. There wasn’t any strong alcohol around, and he hadn’t been able to get a doctor’s appointment or any useful medication. He hadn’t been outside for weeks.

Who would find the deceased? When the plans seemed to be inevitable I suggested he should be close to a hospital at the end. Other people, who wanted to live, could benefit from healthy discarded organs, couldn’t they? This thought wasn’t well received.

Mostly you are the main character in the story. Sometimes you are helping someone else’s tale to unfold. There again, you might unwittingly be in the background of a much bigger drama. Your actions might affect the audience for many years hence.