How do I balance working hard and keeping going no matter what with self care?

Last month, I had planned this blog to be about the second half of the practical pre-event preparations I am doing to get ready for my Fireweed show 12-14th April 2024 at SaltSpace Gallery in Glasgow, but then life happened, and now I’m going to talk mostly about what’s been going on inside me lately, and only a bit about the practicalities this time.

It was this time 4 years ago I started acrylic painting. I had been doing drawing and a bit of oil painting up till then but it was a weekend hobby at that point. I started doing daily walks during lockdown in spring 2020, and they initiated the inspiration for the works that have followed in terms of most of the paintings since I discovered that acrylic painting was my thing. In May 2024 I’m doing an exhibition with my friends Elisabeth Grant and Pascale Steenkiste called Life in Colour. Its taking place on 24-26th May at Nicolls, Glasgow. It will include some of my work from the last four years, except for the recent Fireweed series.

A big part of my practice since that time up until last autumn was the daily walks in the parks in Glasgow. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to do my daily walks due to a problem with my hip. It’s developed over the last 18 months or so and got bad enough that I had to stop walking and do swimming instead. I have spent the last few months working on getting ready for the shows coming up, working my day job, and trying to exercise and rehab my hip. The result is that I got rather tired and run down and had a cold for the last 2 weeks. It has slowed me down and made me rest, and to intentionally be more gentle with myself. Fortunately despite the cold and such, I still have plenty of time for getting ready for the two exhibitions.

Practically, I have been getting the paintings for Fireweed ready to hang by framing the small ones and painting the side of the big ones. They have had hanging fixtures installed, and been labelled ready to pack. I have decided on how to pack and transport everything, bought a SumUp machine, ordered most of the items I need, and got my helpers arranged. I have also picked out some paintings for Life in Colour. Those are all ready to go other than packing up. And, finally I have a short and restful holiday booked in between the two events.

Today, I had a lovely walk in the spring sunshine. It was joyful being able to walk more comfortably, if rather slowly, again. I have worked hard to get to be able to do that. And it’s noticeably now spring! My favourite time of year, full of rising energy. Today I found some photos of my first attempts using acrylics as well 🙂. Made me really appreciate that I’ve come a long way on my creative journey. I can remember really finding it tricky to paint with acrylics when I started, but absolutely loving it anyway. I’m glad I kept going.

Have any unexpected lessons in life turned up for you lately? I’d love to hear about it.