Where there's a will, there's a way.

 The stroke I had during my heart surgery left me with problems with sketching and drawing - and so with painting too.  I literally could not draw a straight line, or any line, for that matter.  Holding a pen or pencil or piece of charcoal, became a major issue, my hand would shake and arm would jerk.  Not conducive to happy sketching!  So for a long time, when energy allowed it, I would make things, either in resin or glass.  This is quite satisfying, but the easel sat forlornly at the back of my studio, looking neglected.

I have long wanted to try painting in a freer, more abstract way, but every attempt failed to satisfy.  Then, the other day, I watched someone on the internet,  "painting" without brushes....using found implements such as nail brushes, spatulas, sponges, and cake slices.  I tried an image - no brushes, just collage for texture, stencils, rags and a palette knife....but I found myself hanging on to the subject, an Acacia tree in the Negev desert.... and although there were interesting, abstract marks throughout, it was not loose or abstract in the end.   I took some photos of areas of the image, and preferred those sections, to the whole piece!

I decided to soldier on with another image, determined to create something fully abstract this time, with landscape in mind, but no particular motif.  Instead, I simply divided up the canvas in a way I thought might have a sense of landscape, stuck with a simple but dramatic colour scheme, and just beavered away with texture paste, spatula, and cake slice!  It was very liberating indeed, and also gratifying.  To know that despite the stroke, and despite the exhaustion which creeps in very fast, I can in fact create a work on canvas that excites me.  I hope it wasn't a fluke!!!

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It really goes to show....where there is a will, there is a way.